“The kernel, the soul – let us go further and say the substance, the bulk, the actual and valuable material of all human utterances – is plagiarism.”

The combinatorial nature of creativity is something I think about a great deal, so this 1903 letter Mark Twain wrote to his friend Helen Keller, found in Mark Twain’s Letters, Vol. 2 of 2, makes me nod with the manic indefatigability of a dashboard bobble-head dog. In this excerpt, Twain addresses some plagiarism charges that had been made against Keller some 11 years prior, when her short story “The Frost King” was found to be strikingly similar to Margaret Canby’s “Frost Fairies.” Heller was acquitted after an investigation, but the incident stuck with Twain and prompted him to pen the following passionate words more than a decade later, which articulate just about everything I believe to be true of combinatorial creativity and the myth of originality:

Oh, dear me, how unspeakably funny and owlishly idiotic and grotesque was that ‘plagiarism’ farce! As if there was much of anything in any human utterance, oral or written, except plagiarism! The kernel, the soul – let us go further and say the substance, the bulk, the actual and valuable material of all human utterances – is plagiarism. For substantially all ideas are second-hand, consciously and unconsciously drawn from a million outside sources, and daily use by the garnerer with a pride and satisfaction born of the superstition that he originated them; whereas there is not a rag of originality about them anywhere except the little discoloration they get from his mental and moral calibre and his temperament, and which is revealed in characteristics of phrasing. When a great orator makes a great speech you are listening to ten centuries and ten thousand men – but we call it his speech, and really some exceedingly small portion of it is his. But not enough to signify. It is merely a Waterloo. It is Wellington’s battle, in some degree, and we call it his; but there are others that contributed. It takes a thousand men to invent a telegraph, or a steam engine, or a phonograph, or a telephone or any other important thing – and the last man gets the credit and we forget the others. He added his little mite – that is all he did. These object lessons should teach us that ninety-nine parts of all things that proceed from the intellect are plagiarisms, pure and simple; and the lesson ought to make us modest. But nothing can do that.

Steve Jobs, of course, knew this when he famously proclaimed that “creativity is just connecting things” – and Kirby Ferguson reminds us that Jobs didn’t technically invent any of the things that made him into a cultural icon, he merely perfected them to a point of genius. Still, this fear of unoriginality – and, at its extreme, plagiarism – plagues the creative ego like no other malady. No one has countered this paradox more eloquently and succinctly than Salvador Dalí:

Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing.

Those receiving this by e-mail can watch this video by clicking on the yellow link or visiting newparadigmdigest.com. Enjoy!

Paradise or Oblivion details the root causes of the systemic value disorders and detrimental symptoms caused by our current established system. This video presentation advocates a new socio-economic system, which is updated to present-day knowledge, featuring the life-long work of Social Engineer, Futurist, Inventor and Industrial Designer Jacque Fresco, which he calls a Resource-Based Economy.

The film details the need to outgrow the dated and inefficient methods of politics, law, business, or any other “establishment” notions of human affairs, and use the methods of science, combined with high technology, to provide for the needs of all the world’s people. It is not based on the opinions of the political and financial elite or on illusionary so-called democracies, but on maintaining a dynamic equilibrium with the planet that could ultimately provide abundance for all people.

Paradise or Oblivion, by The Venus Project, introduces the viewer to a more appropriate value system that would be required to enable this caring and holistic approach to benefit human civilization. This alternative surpasses the need for a monetary-based, controlled, and scarcity-oriented environment, which we find ourselves in today.

*This is NOT the “major motion picture” that The Venus Project is working towards but rather is a 52 min. documentary to introduce the aims and proposals to new people. Paradise or Oblivion will be released in March 2012 and we will post a link to the documentary as soon as it is released.

In the meantime, if you are not familiar with the work of Jacque Fresco and his Venus Project, here is a link to his highly informative newsletter and The Venue Project site. Fresco is one of the most brilliant minds of our time and his visionary proposals make total sense. He just raised funds to hire a screenwriter to develop a feature film that can inform the world that a solution exists to humanity’s challenges. This film cannot arrive too soon. Like Buckminster Fuller before him, the world is fortunate to have his brilliant mind and heart in service to life. NPD will continue to update readers on Jacque’s progress as it means our progress.

This is a 6 week on-line course available from Catherine Ann Jones. We will email you when your new lesson is available and you will be able to login and read each lesson on-line or print as they become available. Your first lesson will be available immediately after you enroll.
Are you merely surviving or are you living creatively?

Survival has become a dominant theme in today’s world – both personally and collectively.

One of the down sides of being locked into survival mode is that surviving sometimes takes over altogether – and the quality of living lessens or even ends. In order to live, and not merely survive, a sense of creative living must return. Creativity tends the mind and soul while survival focuses only on the body. Both are necessary for a full life.

Can one expand and no longer live solely a linear existence yet also embrace a creative journey? If so, how to step back from literal life and its daily demands, and see beyond? Can one view relationships not as possessions, but as life markers on the journey, as opportunities for the growth of the soul?

Might we discover alternative ways of creating and sustaining new forms of community which nurture our essential humanity? What are some ways of connecting us to ourselves, to each other, to the earth, and to the greater mysterious reality that is the source of all we know?

Exercises are designed to serve as catalysts in re-discovering a creative life beyond survival. This course invites you to explore within and discover a creative solution for the often overpowering problems of today. Beyond Survival is a way to return home, an invitation to the muse, a bridge back to creativity and to Self. For more info www.wayofstory.com

TOPICS COVERED
• Survival versus Living
• Letting Go Conditioned Patterns – both inherited and learned
• Accepting Dharma: Your Inner Calling
• The Many Names of Wealth
• Life as Relationship
• Create Your Life at Each Moment

“Beyond Survival is a gem! You seemed really in the flow, and the flow carries us into effortless inspiration. You took the time to give us many fascinating exercises, each one a doorway for the soul”.
- Dianne Skafte, Ph.D, Listening to the Oracle

“Catherine showed me how to write my way out of the darkness and into the Light”.
- Beth T., Athens, GA

“A spiritual experience as well as practical.”
- Gard J., Boulder City, NV

ABOUT CATHERINE ANN JONES
Catherine Ann Jones holds a graduate degree in Depth Psychology and Archetypal Mythology from Pacifica Graduate Institute where she has also taught. After playing major roles in over fifty plays, she wrote a play about Virginia Woolf (On the Edge) about her struggle with madness in a world gone mad, i.e., WWII. The play won a National Endowment for the Arts Award. Ten of her plays, including Calamity Jane (both play and musical) and The Women of Cedar Creek, have won multiple awards and are produced both in and out of New York. Her films include The Christmas Wife (Jason Robards & Julie Harris), Unlikely Angel (Dolly Parton), and the popular TV series, Touched by an Angel.

A Fulbright Research Scholar to India studying shamanism, she has taught at The New School University, University of Southern California, Pacifica Graduate Institute, and the Esalen and the Omega Institutes. Her book, The Way of Story: the craft & soul of writing, is used in many schools, including New York University writing programs. Ms. Jones lives in Ojai, California, and leads The Way of Story and Heal Yourself with Writing workshops throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. Beyond Survival is her third online course for www.dailyom.com. Or go to www.wayofstory.com

Catherine will be a speaker at GATE 2 this weekend.

So great design is essential to products and services and their visual language promotes brand affinity and loyalty assuming the product or service is of a high quality and thus informs consumer buying decisions. In short, given a well designed product or service, the logo becomes visual shorthand for the brand and buying decision wither for or against. Poor design can insure an underwhelming desire to purchase. So selecting a designer is a critical part of the business development decision tree.

In a world of commodification of everything, its not surprising that you can find websites offering $29 logos. At the opposite end of the spectrum are world-class designers like Santa Barbara based Benjamin Cziller who, for the past 20+ years, has worked with clients including The Skirball Center (Los Angeles), Technicolor, Capital Records, Guess?/George Marciano, CBS, Marriott, Richard Gere (Tibet House), International Medical Corps, UCLA, Virgin Records, The Sculpture Foundation and Season for Non-Violence. Amplifyd’s services include Launch Campaigns, Brand Identities and Applications, Book and CD covers, Film Posters, Product Packaging, and Web Site Design and Development.

Ben recently launched his new updated website, www.amplifyd.com

John Raatz, a Public Relations and Marketing professional and founder of GATE (Global Alliance for Transformational Entertainment) has this to say about Ben:

“For nearly 20 years, the art direction and graphics work for The Visioneering Group and our clients has been provided by Benjamin Cziller. Ben is a world-class creative director and designer and has worked on projects that span both the commerce sector, as well as social/humanitarian foundations and organizations.”

“Ben is committed to creating clear, effective and memorable graphic impressions for clients and projects that address the humanitarian, social and spiritual issues he finds most meaningful, the kinds of projects that Visioneering has embraced for almost 25 years.”

“Ben is not only a world-class designer, he¹s a world-class human being.”

- John Raatz

If you or anyone you know is in need of a distinct visual identity for your product or service on which to build a brand, you should consider a conversation with Ben. I have known him for over 20 years and never hesitate to recommended his services to friends and associates looking for memorable world class design. Ben delivers exceptional work on time and budget and reflects the highest business integrity in all his dealings.

Over the course of the first year of business the team designed and produced half a dozen new products including The Recycled Wallet, made of newspapers and plastic bags collected off the streets of India; The People Pendant, made of recycled acrylic scraps from a Chicago-area sign maker, and their Upcycled line of t-shirts which highlight the lasting value of apparel.

In the summer of 2010, Holstee launched a new area of their site, Curated x Holstee. Following the mantra “Curating with a Conscience” the Holstee team seeks some of the most beautiful and innovative sustainable designs and shares them with their community though their video reviews, newsletter and shop.

If you like this Holstee Manifesto poster, you can hang one in your space or give it as a gift in the form of a t-shirt or greeting cards by clicking here.

Nelson Mandela didn’t always look like a visionary. For 27 years, he simply looked like a prisoner, locked up for antiapartheid activism. What seemed like a long exercise in futility is now legend: after his release, he became his country’s president, and today is an icon of commitment and compassion. Fortunately, visionary thinkers aren’t always imprisoned, but they are often ridiculed, marginalized, or just plain dismissed for proposing big ideas that sound outlandish to others. To prove that dreams are possible, Utne Reader highlights a few of the lofty, laudable, and reachable goals of 25 visionaries.

For more, click here.