Imitations of Life

"The Imitations of Life"
by Laren Grey Umphlett

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but imitation is a limitation. We lost upright primates tend to be drawn to certain interests and we often replicate that which is appealing to our senses. Repetition is a human quality, like a dog chasing its own tail. Our thick skulls bang walls over and over and the echoes can be heard through the eons. Art, in its truest sense and various forms, transcends this repetition. The influences of that which we admire become art when transcended rather than traditionalized. An imitation is not an innovation. Uniqueness is built upon the influences of the world and act as new steps in the continuing ascension of human expression. We can create these towering heights from the broken pieces of tradition.

If we look at a few of the great artists of different fields- Mozart, Bruce Lee, Picasso, Jimmy Hendrix, Stanley Kubrick, Leonardo di Vinci, Django Reinhardt, Salvador Dali, Meryl Streep, Peter Gabriel, Charlie Chaplin, Muhammed Ali, Daniel Day-Lewis, Edgar Allen Poe, Ernest Hemingway, Jackson Pollack, Henry David Thoreau, Richard Pryor, Mark Rothko, and many other amazing souls that have notched their mark into the tree of life- we will see the common denominator of uniqueness among them. Each took some endeavor, such as music, writing, visual art, film, storytelling, comedy, or expressive personality, and transformed these fields through the filter of their being. Could you imagine a world in which innovators chose only to imitate rather than innovate?

The primary purpose of artistic expression is to transform art and break the mold. There is no act more non-conformist and revolutionary than the expression of an artistic mind. There is no greater love for the world, and no greater cause, than the creation of art that mystifies the senses of the hearts and minds of people. Art, with all of its beauty, pain, purpose, struggle, reflection, and joy is what makes us human. Art is the mechanics of mechanism, the flavors of taste, the spirit of ghosts, the brush strokes of pigments, the meaning of the vibrations of sound, the imagination that drives exploration, the beauty of existence, and the creation of transcendence.

It can be understood that every person on Earth is meant, at a biological, psychological, and spiritual level, to be an artist. This is to say that we each have a deep need for expression. Those with no mechanism or outlet for such expression will find a sense of worthlessness in existence. Yet, if each of us can shed the limitations of imitations, we would each find a spark of expression deep within. When we add the fuel of influence we create a new fire. These heavy jackets we wear are soaked with the foul water of the expectations of our minds and society. If we step beyond those realms, we step into art.

Today, in each of our artistic expressions, we are the Picassos and the Mozarts of our present culture. In a world of more and more imitation it is important to add the spices of unique expression to the bland and bulky fodder of society. We should each strive for the greatness of uniqueness. We are the filters of Universal expression and being. Everything we do is either confined to subtle parameters or explodes into Universal function. Let us splatter this world with amazements that our collective senses can not ignore. Art awakens souls, and the world needs a cure for soullessness.

"This world is but a canvas to our imagination."
-Henry David Thoreau

Laren Grey Umphlett
The Author of "The Power of Perception"
www.larengreyumphlett.com
www.facebook.com/ThePowerOfPerception
Laren Grey Umphlett is an Austin based fitness trainer, wrestling coach, writer, and sometimes pseudo-philosopher.