Muss es sein? Es muss sein!

- Beethoven String Quartet No. 16 op.135  "The Difficult Decision"

Finished unbearable lightness of being.

It was strangely just the book I should be reading at this time in my life. Lately I've had a lot of decisions about what to do, the right next step to take and they are no where near done - and the more I gather will they ever be. Kundera uses existentialism in a way thats easier to apply to the realities of life. It's not any less...'hard lined' then directly pulling from Sartre or Nietzsche but rather shows all the facets of how it can be applied to the physical and emotional/mental.

I think the book makes a great marriage between the concepts of Angst and the Absurd from beginning to end with the literal name and overall concept. In many ways the book is a well laid research paper with the thesis of "the unbearable lightness of being". Yes there exists existential angst but as soon as you feel it it's negated by the Absurd and the continuing absurdity of the individual life because either it does not recur or it does. You either have no way of knowing what decision is good or bad having nothing to compare it to or you have infinite trials to choose another path. I'm not even sure I summed that up correctly - thus why I think the book does so well. It's not really a concept to be put forth in a sentence.

Either way, I was able to identify with the characters but also remain objective enough to actually absorb the concepts and not just be swept into the plot. I loved the way it was written and it has given me plenty to think about, not only as far as existing in Authenticity but how to evolve my art to the next level - which I really think will be an exploration of motifs. It's something I've played with in the past, my own set of motifs are fairly re-occuring but I think incorporating a  wider recognised set of symbols and making them more concrete would give me an outlet for my dreams and a level of symbolism I've till now glossed over and give greater depth to my work. In the past I think my symbols have been too obtuse and self-referential and maybe that will be rewarding to viewers if I ever become famous enough to have biopics made about me or if I explain it to some but..... it all comes back to Anna Karenina. By that I mean that yes the canon of literature or form is just that, old and archaic but working within the canon is a great way to directly communicate visually, and since I'm not painting apostles it's time I picked more recognisable symbols. I think my 'western canon' played with this idea but went at it the wrong way, both too literally and in a limiting - surface based fashion.