10/20/10

Passion

This was originally posted at thepublicrecord.com/Stever in the Video Blog area there.
Part of the blog is in text below for those of you who prefer that. ;)




I saw an old ad online for Elizabeth Taylor’s Passion Perfume. It seemed like a migraine in a bottle to me. Most perfumes do that. I have learned to appreciate the smell of a breeze, well not in the city of course, but if you go to the ocean, the breeze entices us. It almost bullies us into submission.

I grew up around lakes and streams though, where the breeze was just faint enough to lure you into investigation. To me, that is what a scent should do. It should make you want more and should make you want to explore. I also like scents that are appropriate and indicative of the surroundings. I would prefer something be delicately represented rather than overwhelm a room in an attempt to control. Too many planted scents on us and around us force a reaction instead of encouraging exploration.

Suffice to say, I think tacking the word ‘Passion’ on at the front of Perfume is ridiculous. Are you trying to sell us on the idea that your perfume will make someone passionate? It’s overkill to misuse such a fantastic word.

Passion is way too dimensional to just insinuate the one meaning. Could it be part of the culmination of feelings? Absolutely! But ‘boy meets girl, boy smells girl, boy wakes up next to girl’ isn’t what ignited and then sustained the night of passion. If they truly did experience this once in a lifetime event as the ad would have you believe, there’s a good chance there were some underlying factors.

By definition, the word has several meanings. I recognize this! Passion can mean lust and desire or strong love, but can also mean strong hate. It can mean having an outburst of emotion.

My favorite meaning is; ‘a strong or extravagant fondness, enthusiasm or desire for anything.’ They gave the example; a passion for music. Well, of course, that is my favorite meaning.

Do you know why it’s the perfect example and why I think people will use it to explain their desire to make music or even listen to music? Because I believe the multi-tiered meaning of passion is right on par with the perpetual journey of music. It’s no wonder that sparks will fly exponentially between artists and musicians because now you’ve ignited a passion in two souls whose multidimensional journeys have met at the intersecting point on the graph. Now add extra elements onto your graph so its 3rd and 4th dimensions come in and your passion is explosive.

What dimensions can we add to heighten the passion? Well of course there are stimulants like alcohol and drugs, but what if you are going for the sustainable high? Why does our passion come and go like the seasons? I believe it’s because it’s generally based on something as thin as paper and inspired by a perfume ad.

We tend to hate music without depth. I hear it a lot from people. If they hate the music on the radio, it’s generally because it’s produced for the masses with monetary intentions. So what is it about the music we love that inspires us so much? Most people will say, “I love it because it has depth.”

What are the third and fourth dimensions? We want to know there was a story behind it. More than that, we want to know there is a person behind it. Go list your top 10 favorite artists of all time and I bet you know something about them. There is a background that they either shared with everyone, the news shared with everyone or even better, their lyrics shared with you.

If lyrics have the ability to translate an individual’s passion, it’s pretty indisputable. There are certain visual artists and musicians in the world who undeniably rank as the passionate ones. You know them, not because you’ve dissected them but because you have lived vicariously through them. Their passion is like the breeze. They don’t get in your face and force you to love them, you love them because their breeze was faint enough to entice you into investigation. When we feel drawn to someone, it’s generally because of our intrigue, that initial scent. But the depth of water which meets us around the corner could be a muddy puddle or it could be the high tide which washes over us and we ride the wave of their power.

Passion does have several tiers, but the one I want to be part of is the culmination of all of them. I don’t want a single dimension which leaves me depressed and disappointed.

I think many of us feel this way. Our passion for something we love comes and goes. I think the only way we can sustain it is by throwing our complete self into it; our vulnerable side, our anger, our love, our courage. If there is something you love, you should do it even if nobody sees you. If you are frustrated that nobody sees you, is it possible that too many things are distracting you in your peripheral vision? Caring what someone on the outside thinks takes you out of the headspace needed to fulfill your art and creativity! Why? It’s because your story becomes tainted, not told.

I think if we become distracted, there is the potential for our passion to fade…and consequently die. If we create because the passion burns under our skin to do so, how can it go anywhere? If you think your muse is dead or you have become uninspired, is it possible you are looking for it outside of your own honesty? By that I mean being honest with yourself? When you sit down to write, draw, paint or make music, are you questioning if your own work is worthwhile or are you doing it because you carry a wild enthusiasm for it.

Too often we chase a society-promoted passion like perfume when there is something in our own spirit waiting to have a relationship with us.

If you have harnessed that, then you are ready to share! But if you are sharing with the hopes that someone will love you or your art and only then will you have adequate passion, may I humble suggest you are doing it in the wrong order.

What is amazing to me is that it’s been raining outside and I’m unaffected like when I was depressed. I think it’s because the things I love to do are not dependent upon sunshine and my imagination is so on fire lately that I don’t have to look for inspiration.

Ok arguably, I was inspired today by a perfume ad to write. Whatever. ;)

Walking barefoot in the creek,
Karen :)
“It is the passion that is in a kiss that gives to it its sweetness; it is the affection in a kiss that sanctifies it.” ~Christian Nestell Bovee

Do we have the element of affection? And is this what makes it sustainable?

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