We must be INSPIRED!

I've thought a lot about what I do and why – over and over I've heard myself think "The thing I care most about is ART". This always struck me as odd – why ART? Why not something more important like family, world peace, etc. you know what I mean.

This has been a source of personal perplexity for a long, long time. Then it hit me – ART, the activity that I engage in and work to see to it that others have the opportunity to engage in - the activity that is so close to my inner core that I feel that I would die if someone took it away from me - is not what I care about most, is not what motivates me to get out of bed in the morning, is not what causes me to bury my head in spreadsheets 40 hours a week to help keep and art school running.

ART is not my purpose – it's one of the things I do because I am inspired by my world and the people in my life.

INSPIRATION is my cause and my purpose.

INSPIRATION is the primary necessity for life.

Before we seek the most basic, physical needs of food, water, and protection from the elements, we must be inspired with the belief that our lives matter. One might argue that the instinct for survival trumps any higher-brain activity like "being inspired" and will always kick in to see to it that we will live to see another day. But that is not the case. The mind is complex. Survival is about seeing ourselves in context with others. Survival is dependent on meaning. A person who has lost sight of the meaning of their own precious life will wither, even refusing to engage in the most basic activity of eating.

We must be INSPIRED to live and we must INSPIRE others with the meaning out of which our own lives grow.