As I NAVIGATE the VICISSITUDES between SPURTS of creative-productive GENIUS and ALTERNATING "Steemit Nervous BREAKDOWNS" I've started to ARRIVE at a bit of a REVELATION that BEYOND the LIGHTNESS and DARKNESS embodied in the EXPERIENCES we have on this MATERIAL plane there lies a HIGHER REALM of STYLE. That is, there is a TRANSCENDANT dimension SUPERIMPOSED over this MUNDANE "reality" in which we can EXPRESS ourselves through the FUSION of "positive" and "negative" PROPERTIES which INHERENTLY RISE ABOVE duality. ALL of the greatest THINKERS, WRITERS, "SCIENTISTS" and ARTISTS throughout history have been able to TAP INTO the SOURCE of this STYLE. For each of us this style is unique. Einstein was an accomplished (hobby) violinist. Bukowski's QUASI-fictional "dirty realism" explored the DARK side of human nature as it manifests in the hard, TRAGIC-comic realities of daily existence. Some of the MOST REVERED abstract painters throughout history attained fame by SIMPLY DUMPING their PAINT - by the BUCKETLOADS - onto their canvases, JUST to see what kind of AESTHETIC "MESS" it could make. In other words, these TRAILBLAZERS had been able to TAP into a FORCE which lies BOTH WITHIN and ABOVE this relatively BLAND "reality"; a SPIRIT which embued their creations with something UNIQUELY SPECIAL and INDESCRIBABLE outside of the BOUNDS of the creative work itself. This ECLECTIC TRIBE of VISIONARIES had opened a CHANNEL between THEMSELVES - and ORDINARY existence - and a HIGHER REALM in which their ART exists.

Shake Your Digital Booty

So it is on Steemit. Steemit is merely the NEXT EVOLUTION of the ARTIST'S CANVAS. It is a FOUR-DIMENSIONAL PLATFORM which enables us to SPEW our CREATIVE JUICES into a MULTIMEDIA form which is BOTH unique, AND has a WIDE RANGE of creative potential. I use the term "artist" here in its WIDEST SENSE, which includes ANY creative endeavor. On Steemit, writers can devise new ways to MERGE their writing with photography, video, music, and a WIDE RANGE of other artistic (and even TRADITIONALLY NON-artistic) formats, including the more "hard" sciences. Photographers can EVOLVE into "PHOTO-poets". Programmers can create the next MASTERPIECE BOT which generates MASSIVE CREATIVE and PRODUCTIVE benefits for everyone on the platform. Cryptocurrency investors can get "DOWN AND DIRTY" in expressing their ANALYTIC PROWESS through FUNKY price charts PACKED with colorful illustrations of ELABORATE market processes. In other words, Steemit raises the "FUNK FACTOR" so that EVERYONE participating on the platform can ELEVATE their skills and TALENTS to a HIGHER LEVEL. Steemit is like a "VIRTUAL DANCE-floor" where we all BUST OUT in FREESTYLE FLUSHES of digital BACK-SPINS and HANDSTANDS, intermixed with "moon walks", and the occasional "ROBOT".

The 21st Century Renaissance

But before this turns into a TREATISE on the "golden age" of the 1980s, with its timeless TECHNOTRONIC music genres, cult films, MTV debut, break-dancing, and BIG HAIR, let's bring this idea into the LARGER HISTORICAL context, right on THROUGH to the present EPOCH. Art has ALWAYS existed, and WILL ALWAYS exist, AS LONG as more advanced HOMO-nid and NON-HOMO-nid CREATURES - like those "TALKING BABOONS called "homo sapiens"" - ROAM around THIS planet (and ALL OTHER planets and EXOplanets BOTH IN and BEYOND this galaxy) - and are able to engage in ADVANCED, ABSTRACT, CREATIVE thought and speculation - that is, the kind of MENTAL ACTIVITY which has enabled us to CRAWL out of the ocean, CLIMB down from the trees, and start mixing together various NATURAL RESOURCES into such complex and advanced functioning tools as : forks, houses, jazz music, toilets, computers, cars, COCKTAILS, and neutron BOMBS. In other words, WHEREVER there are COGNITIVELY ADVANCED beings with the CAPACITY to engage in "HIGHER-level", CREATIVE THOUGHT there is the POTENTIAL to HARNESS and CHANNEL the HIGHER-DIMENSIONAL SPIRITUAL ENERGY, which can then be made to MANIFEST on the 3-D plane in the FORM of "style". STYLE is the POWER which NEUTERS digital music, when compared to analog recordings. STYLE is what TRANSFORMS material SCIENCE into MAGIC. STYLE is a NANO-VIRUS lying DORMANT in its TECHNOLOGICAL HOST, preparing to RE-AWAKEN and NEUTRALIZE the cold, hard, DESTRUCTIVE "force" of MATERIALISM from growing into a CANCER which consumes everything in its WAKE. Style is the ILLOGICAL "BITCH-master" which RISES from the DEPTH of RATIONALISM and turns it into HER BITCH. Picasso TAPPED INTO style as he tried to EXPRESS the MADNESS of WAR, and whose ONLY expression could be PARTIALLY-attained through PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES of TIME-SPACE and "mental energy" into the "distorted", CUBIST reality whose PHYSICS exists BEYOND the 3-D world. It is STYLE which creates the MAGNIFICENT PATTERNS and COLORS in the MUSHROOM CLOUD of a nuclear BLAST. It is STYLE which FUELS our NERVOUS BREAKDOWNS, and DELIVERS us HALF-CONSCIOUS and HALF-NAKED in a DUMPSTER on the WRONG side of town, BRUISED and BLOODIED at the ANTI-CLIMAX of a week-long BENDER of HARD LIQUOR and/or CRACK-cocaine. Without STYLE the world is DEAD and MEANINGLESS.

Let's Get Down

ALL of us entered the Steemiverse as CYBER-KLUTZ NEOPHYTES. We HIT the "Steemit Virtual Dancefloor" like PROVERBIAL BULLS in the PROVERBIAL "China shop". AMBUSHED by NEW INFORMATION, and LIGHTS and SOUNDS, and ALL KINDS of "STRANGE attractors" and "PSYCHIC attackers", we didn't know which way was UP. We FALTERED around, MOVING out of STEP, BUMPING into each other, stepping on TOES, and falling FLAT on our VIRTUAL ASSES. We STRUGGLED (often UNSUCCESSFULLY) to CONJURE creative MASTERPIECES in a seemingly ENDLESS QUEST to "FIND the BEAT". We GAVE UP, we GOT up, and we TRIED AGAIN. With TIME and PERSISTANCE we kept our eyes open and STRUGGLED to keep PUSHING on. We watched what other were doing RIGHT, and we LEARNED from what WE and OTHERS were doing WRONG. We started putting together SHORT, CHOREOGRAPHED STRINGS of "literary SHUFFLES" and "poetic STRUTS". We started FINE-TUNING our EDITORIAL PROWESS in order to begin putting out a LOGICAL stream of INTERESTING and ENGAGING posts. We MINGLED with various PARTNERS, and began to STRETCH our "mental muscles" FURTHER each day. We began to learn how to TAKE WORDS and IMAGES and TURN them into OUR BITCH. We FUSED written WORDS with IMAGES into INCREASINGLY elaborate MULTIMEDIA "FREESTYLE phrases". Then suddenly - without even being FULLY CONSCIOUS of it - we found ourselves "in the flow", GLIDING through the air and ACROSS the floor, SPINNING on our heads, and GETTIN' "down and dirty" with SUSTAINED PHRASES of FANCY footwork. Like all GREAT ARTISTS throughout RECORDED HISTORY we began to REALIZE that the attainment of artistic EXCELLENCE arises BOTH from "standing on the shoulders of GIANTS", and PERPETUALLY making MISTAKES through EXPERIMENTATION and PRACTICE, and then BUILDING ON those mistakes to ultimately IMPROVE. We began ASCENDING the EVOLUTIONARY LADDER between awkward Steemit "newbie" to ASCENDED MASTER. Like Michael Jackson and his FLOCK of ZOMBIES, we began RESURRECTING from the GRAVEYARD to UNLEASH the "FORCES of HELL" in the form of GYRATING BUTTS and PELVIC THRUSTS - TAPPING into OUR OWN underworld, and DRAWING FORTH the HYPER-DIMENSIONAL power which PROPELS our ART into the REALM of the DEMONS and the GODS.

Today's Dreaded Homework Task

It's time to HIT THE FLOOR and start BUILDING our VOCABULARY of FREESTYLE Steemit moves. For the next week take 10 minutes each day to meditate on all of the INTERESTING things, and people, you have OBSERVED and/or INTERACTED WITH on Steemit - both YOUR OWN activities (and mental processes) and those of others. Pay SPECIAL attention to those SNIPPETS of content, or ideas, which you - or other people - shared which really PUSHED THE BOUNDS of normality, and/or opened your mind to some NEW ideas, ones which you can potentially implement in the MORE IMMEDIATE term, as well as those which you could take some time to develop further, and which could catalyze you developing some new SKILLS, INTERESTS, and/or TALENTS. For instance, perhaps a Steemit poster mixed two or more media in a unique way recently (like creating some ORIGINAL digitally enhanced images along with their usual poetry). Perhaps you discover a NEW poster who is utilizing one of the new third-party Steemit platforms (such as D-Tube) in an interesting and unique way, such as an blockchain-related music video using original artwork). WHATEVER it is, the key is that you want to IDENTIFY these interesting people, and their pieces of content, and begin to MEDITATE on ways in which you could INTEGRATE these "content gems" into YOUR OWN routine. By this, I am NOT saying that you should COPY what they are doing (although you actually COULD copy them, especially if you actually ASKED their permission to do so, and gave them some credit). But instead, I am talking about PROCESSING these new content ideas and the RE-PACKAGING and INTEGRATING them into your own "Steemit Dance Repitoire". Be sure to take some notes of your daily meditation session, for future reference, and to be able to monitor the evolution of your art over time, if you should wish to do so into the future. Give this technique a try and see if it helps to open up some creative doors, and help to take your Steemit experience to the "NEXT" level.

As usual, feel free to share your thoughts, ideas, challenges, insults, etc., and as you continue moving forward, just remember to take life (both ON and OFF Steemit)...

"One nervous breakdown at a time".

@transcript-junky