but I always felt that what was trying to be said in a polite manner was that I am a dreamer, a stargazer, and a romantic. In fact, I admire those who are able to dream, stargaze, and romanticize. I am not one of those. I am the one always trying to figure out how to make the nobler dreams come true. What are the nuts and bolts of it? When I take it apart, what does it look like – how does it work? Efficiency and streamlining are my favorite ideals to bask in. No, I am not an idealist: one who pursues high or noble principles. I am more a mechanic, a pragmatist, and an advocate for the ones with the higher ideals and nobler purpose. I appreciate rough edges and flaws as symbols of humanity, rather than seeking perfection, idealism. Free expression, even if it is painful or ugly or even on occasion offensive to some viewers, is reflective of ourselves.

Let me share some inspiration that makes a lot of sense. Robert Rabbin, a prolific spiritual consultant to the business world, says,
“I don’t know why we have traded away our human beingness for transcendent ideals… We love the idea that we are emptiness, or silence, or pure consciousness. We are these things, but not exclusively… That’s the hard part: to integrate enormous endlessness with our daily life… If we are going to ascend, then let us remember to descend. If we are going to travel to otherworldly realms, let’s not forget to come back to the kitchen where we eat.”

I pair this with the lecture I heard by Rev. Dr. Marty Martins recently on the National Day of Prayer. He talked about strangers. He made several literary references, mostly of religious context. It being our moral duty not to turn the stranger away and such. The stranger being of a multitude of races, or faces, ethnicity, sizes, shapes. Of course, he reminds us the reality of this is to err with caution, not naiveté. My mind, however, went to Camus’ Stranger. Have you read it? Unaware. The one without emotion. The one who kills the Arab on the Beach.

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So where is this kitchen where we eat? Maybe it is in the embrace and forgiveness of a long lost family member, or in memory, or in a poem. Maybe it is in hidden in the simple things. Many artists, in their journey, take vows of solitude to meditate on their art. Maybe it is in moments of solitude. Maybe in our kitchen we serve the joy of the unveiling, the revelation of the art and the converging of friends.

Where are we in Maslow’s ‘hierarchy of need’ individually, as a community, as a state, as a country? And does this pyramid infer that we need creativity, we need achievement, we need love as we need safety, and food. Is the food we make in our kitchen just to keep us physiologically functioning, or do we serve food for the soul, for the intellect, and for the spirit?

Food for the soul. The intrinsic value of the arts radiates immeasurable silent worth for physical health, mental health, spiritual health. The arts are aesthetic, for the senses, as well as expressive, of the senses. The aesthetic or the purgative content exorcizes the spirit and soul of the artist as well the viewer. This fulfills our distinctly human need for self-actualization and self-transcendence (spiritual peace). The Arts documents our collective culture leaving behind noteworthy bits of what will be later studied as a part of history, a part of our legacy.

Greg Mortensen says we must live in hope. And I do believe, without it, we have nothing in which to even consider building.

Cleaning our kitchen, making it work.

Like a car without an engine sometimes.

We innately look for the aesthetic value: beauty, power, utility, validation.