“You should stick to making music and poetry instead of writing your long political articles with an axe to grind”. So wrote someone to me recently. Here’s my answer: “I never cease to be amazed by the number of people who say this to me. Ironically, liberal types are especially good at trying to suppress the freethinking thoughts and writings of others who shake their tree and rattle their cage. Mind you, conservatives are getting pretty good at it too — especially those who are insanely enslaved to government lies and engage in the cult of the personality (e.g. worship Donald Trump!). So here’s the bottom-line: I will never allow control-freaks to dictate what I can and cannot write or sing. No one can dictate to me what I should do, simply because they find my artistry disturbing or they don’t agree with what’s been written. I cannot even understand why anyone should want to… unless they simply desire to shut me up. It is clear that they have no grasp of what it really means to be an artist. The true artist is the pioneer and avant-garde of society (as indeed s/he is duty-bound to be). Because of this, s/he must forever search out Truth and be the conscience of the world, exposing anything which is not compatible with freedom and love. Then his or her art will be dynamic and a real harbinger of change.

Thus, an artist is very different from an entertainer. An entertainer is defined as “a person who tries to please or amuse”. To entertain is “to hold the attention of people with something amusing or diverting”. An artist is never first and foremost an entertainer. The primary role of the artist is not to amuse or divert people or set out to please them — although those things may happen during the course of performing his or her art; but they are incidental rather than intentional goals. Some people may happen to find an artist’s work “entertaining” but that does not make the artist into an entertainer. Once you have a relationship with the public whereby they expect you to be entertaining, amusing, diverting or pleasing, you will kowtow to those expectations and cease to be a true artist flowering in the crucible of independent creativity. The public will thereby own you and you will merely be a tool to titillate their senses. The true artist does not shy away even from the possibility of displeasing people if he or she believes that to be beneficial to the fulfilment of the art. A true artist does not seek what is best for the artist but what is best for the souls of those with whom the art is connecting. Sometimes (actually, mostly!) people have to be made uncomfortable or challenged in order to grow; and growth is the real business of the artist — both for the artist and for those who are touched by the art.

You see, my friend, an artist who isn’t an activist and pioneer of change through the exposing of lies and the propagation of Truth is no artist at all but a mere entertainer — a “patsy” for the diversionary desires of the masses. Why do you think that the first thing which evil dictators do is to “disappear” or assassinate true artists, writers, thinkers and academics? Because they know very well that they represent competition! They don’t want anyone around who would be likely to see through their lies and insanity. They also do not want the people to be educated and enabled to be discerning. True art can influence the way that people think and will always, by its very nature, inevitably engender ideas of freedom, love, insight and an unwillingness to be shackled or deceived. This is a nightmare for governments and is why they will always feel threatened by true art and those who create it. Thus, we can see that art is a major civilising and ameliorating influence on this planet. It is one of the forces which bridges this world from its present aeon of subterfuge, betrayal, deception, conflict, mendacity and false authority to the new aeon of openness, honour, truth, integrity, peace and wisdom. This is why it is so important to create true art and to understand its dissident purpose and subversive power in the world today.

Incidentally, I absolutely love the word “dissident”. 💖 It comes from the Latin, sedere, to sit, coupled with the prefix “dis-”. If you are a dissident, there is a “dis” in the way that you sit with people. 🙂 To be a dissident means to sit apart from the majority (or even from all, if that must needs be). This isn’t a petulant, arrogant or grumpy sort of sitting apart but a spiritually and morally-necessary one. As a parallel, it is no coincidence that the word, “sanctify”, comes from a compound of the Latin words sanctus, holy, and facere, to make — to be made holy, to be consecrated, separated or set apart. A genuine artist is a holy dissident — sanctified and set apart from the mass of people in order to be a faithful servant of Truth and Light. In fact, I also see myself in relation to my art as a servant of the Divine (the fount and source of all Truth and Light). All artists who are servants of Truth and Light are also servants of God, whether they know it or not. 😉

So, to all those who want to shut me up and confine me to making a bit of light music and the occasional pretty poem, I say this: “I am a holy dissident, dedicated to Truth, Light and their Divine source!” You can’t mess with that. And neither can I. God is my employer. He “pays my wages” and guides my daily work. Thus, I am my own greatest critic and hold myself to the highest standards. If you can ever show me that what I write is false, then I will gladly retract it all, for I never want to be a propagator of untruth.

Lies and deception are the twin-foundation of the world in this present age. Almost everything propagated by humans on this planet is fake. I know you may find that shocking but if you examine it carefully, you will see that it is true. Fake media, fake television, fake promises, fake politicians, wars based on fake premises, fake smiles everywhere, fake adverts, fake fidelity, fake products, fake marriages, fake philanthropy (e.g. charity as a tax avoidance technique), fake contracts, with masses of scams and frauds based on fakery. Mostpeople wear a mask and hide behind a plethora of disguises. 🤡 (It is no coincidence that the highest paid people and the most revered in the world are those who pretend to be other people for a living. Hollywood is the ultimate factory of fakery!). The artist is not here to make you feel comfortable and cosy with that fakery. It is the duty of the artist to expose the masks, disguises, lies and deception and to point the way to Truth and reality. (It is also the ongoing duty of the artist to destroy his or her own masks and untruth before s/he can practise being an artist honestly). For this reason, a true artist will always be an enemy of the state and of all government which seeks to control and destroy. Therefore, those who try to silence genuine artists are really aligning themselves with corrupt authority and the worst of dictators.

So when controlling people say to me “Stick to the music and pretty poems!” I will simply laugh in their faces. (I might even tickle them under their armpits to loosen up their rigid, corseted mindset). For I am an unashamed dissident! If you sliced me in two at the waist, you would find “Irredeemable Dissident” written in a circle of neon lettering, like in Blackpool rock! I am everything your conditioned mind warned you about. I am the nightmare which every authoritarian and anal-retentive dreads. I am a thorn in the side of every politically-correct and religiously-correct human. I am the “turbulent priest” who corrupt kings and other leaders want to silence. I am unleashable and on the loose. So please put your seatbelt on if you want to continue in my company! I would love to have you around. 💖

© 2018, Alan Morrison / The Diakrisis Project. All Rights Reserved. 
 
[The copyright on my works is merely to protect them from any wanton plagiarism which could result in undesirable changes (as has actually happened!). Readers are free to reproduce my work, so long as it is in the same format and with the exact same content and its origin is acknowledged]