The Tao of DJ

Our Personal Mythology

Welcome artistic kin! I believe everyone here on good ol’ planet Earth is on a journey. A self-centric point of view birthed of the personal day-to-day makes up our own personal mythology. Free-will choices manifest an identity defined by our own thoughts, actions and deeds.

Many are content to forget and follow as that is the way the collective minds move. Watch fish swim in a school as they jolt left and right reacting, following. Others are destined to teach, give heed and heal with stories as old as “Cain & Able,” “Hades & Persephone” or “Sun & Moon”. We are lured by the chance to immortalize our works of art and accept the burden of the inspirational torch.

For viewers, listeners, watchers and observers, our art ultimately reinforces that common bond we all share. Artists/storytellers are descendants of the history-keeper/Shaman of the tribal past. Beyond their knowledge of history, their pondering of universal placement, they possess the ability to gift catharsis–a divine gift that can open a third eye. Awakened, vision transcends beyond the simple value of stimulus entertainment and shifts to a state of higher enlightenment.

Religion–now too-often a dirty word of divine truths buried deep underneath the selfish ambitions of men. The real prophets came from a direct calling. As is the way art awakens within the artist. These gifted few possess the artistic ability to convey an understanding of the human saga filled with heroes and villains, the very best and worst of us all. These combined stories illuminate to us the absolute fact that together we are but one divinely manifested web of bio-matter streaking across the vast universal void.

Heavy stuff, I know. 🙂

The personal sacrifices given by these enlisted artists often go misunderstood and unappreciated.  Parents of children “called” by the arts are often regarded as if a serious sentence of infliction has been passed upon their child. They fear that their child will not exist in society as a worker bee. They fear their loved one will fly treacherously towards the lure of the sun. But art is the glue of the universe.

I’ve always felt this deep calling to create. I’ve painted, sculpted, written and discovered that in my approach to most of the things I do in my life is art. I live inspired. I never chose this path so much as discovered it. I see what will be left at the end of this journey and the start of another beyond. So I create. I have embraced the medium of motion picture for its ability to share, relate and communicate a given story to many people. It is much easier than having the 500,000 viewers or so of “Dean Teaster’s Ghost Town” over for a cookout.

Now with other like-minded artists I’ve helped tell countless stories. [Good versus evil] [Monster versus man] (Man is usually the real monster) [Union North versus Confederate South] But most often it’s oneself versus oneself, the internal conflicts that make us human.

Anyway, I’m here to share my journey with all of you so you always KNOW that despite feeling misunderstood as an artist, you are not alone. I’m a simple man motivated and inspired to create. Don’t give others the power to extinguish your inner artistic fire. And lastly don’t procrastinate, do and that means NOW! Do and they will remember your name and your deeds. My mythology started as “There’s this one guy from Michigan…” Begin yours and thank you for sharing your time with me. May you learn from my mistakes and gain inspiration by my successes.

–DJ