Writings 1997 -2006

writings
Written By Steve Firkins

Essays, stories and journal writings from Curvism: The Journey of an Artist (thoughts on art, nature, economics, politics and spirituality).

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Freedom

America needs to wake up. American democratic freedom is dying. The free rein of laissez-faire capitalism is killing true democratic freedom around the world. Capitalistic freedom and democratic freedom are not the same cause or force and should never be equated. Capitalistic freedom is a false god. True democratic freedom is the only force that has the possibility of controlling and containing the corrupting power of capitalism. Democratic freedom is the last hope of the hopeless.

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Buddha and the Wilderness

Every time I get a chance to escape the man-made world, I see it from the perspective that it’s all a man-made illusion and that it suffers mostly from unnatural causes made by humans themselves. Consequently, I realize that if it’s all an illusion and man-made, then it can be imagined differently … remade, recreated. Humans have the capacity to choose to live differently, to establish and live by economic systems based on needs, equity, fairness, justice, compassion, respect, mutual aid, cooperation, and love. Not greed.

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No More New Roads

What business do the Republicans have building more roads in our National Forests? Big business! The special interests of the timber, mining, oil, coal, uranium, cattle, natural gas, and tourist industries all want new roads built so they can get their machines into the last remaining wilderness areas and their hands on the last remaining natural resources currently controlled and protected by the federal government.

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Bad News

We have cut our umbilical cord to mother earth. Believing we are independent, we have forgotten our ties with nature. Our individual lives are now directly dependent and chained to the life and growth of the machine. There’s something wrong with this way of life, something inhuman about this way of living.

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Routines and Rituals

Rituals are the qualities we add to our lives to counterbalance the large quantity of routines we are obligated to perform. A small amount of quality can counterbalance a very large quantity.

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September 30, 2002

Only care and compassion can cure these planetary ailments. Science and commerce can be used as tools, but left to their own devices, will only make matters worse.

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Old God, New God

Each and every one of our transactions, transgressions, deeds, words, and thoughts are monitored and recorded forever, traceable and unerasable. Science did away with the old God and took God’s place.

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Heaven and Retirement

The afterlife of heavenly paradise has been replaced by the golden years of retirement, but only if you work hard all your working years serving the scientific economic system and follow all its rules. People must constantly worry about how they spend and save their time and money and what investments they make to be able to afford a comfortable retirement.

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Love or Money

When god is money, people and resources are enslaved and forced to serve the power of money. Love is the only real choice we have that can counteract or at least counterbalance the power of money. When god is love, money can serve as a tool of love.

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Follow the River to Freedom

I think that maybe if I keep going I can connect with Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer, and Jim the slave and we can follow the river to freedom. I can see us now. I would ask Huck, “How far is it to freedom?” and I would ask Tom, “How long will it take to get there?” Of Jim the slave I would ask the hardest question of all, “How will we know when we are free?”

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The Art of Sorrow

My days are full of sorrow. I’m sad about all the sadness I see in the world. Sorrow surrounds me. Pain and suffering is everywhere, constantly continuing.

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What is the Value of Art?

I am rich in art. My garage is full of art. My studio is full of art. My home is full of art. For a long time, I have been hoping to make an honest living with my art and hoping to change the world with my art.

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What’s Wrong With Capitalism?

January and February 2000. - So here we are, at the beginning of a new century, a new millennium. Will it be a new beginning or will it be more of the same? Now what do we do and where do we go from here? What’s wrong with the way things are? What’s wrong with capitalism?

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A New Millennium

Our language gives us many words for specific actions we can take to undo the damage we have done and to live more wisely on this earth. I offer a list of verbs to guide our actions.

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The Art of Curvism and Avant-Garde Art

True artists, the avant-garde artists, seek the truth, not necessarily the truth of knowledge, which is the scientific approach, but rather the truth of wisdom.

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Morel Mushroom Hunting

Morels are shy and sly. You can look right at them and not see them, even if you are looking for them. But if you do see one, you will probably see more near by. Looking for morel mushrooms is magical. Finding them is even more magical. They symbolize pure wildness.

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Concerning Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Nature

Emerson goes even further to clarify the difference between Reason and Spirit. “That which, intellectually considered, we call Reason, considered in relation to nature, we call Spirit. Spirit is the Creator. Spirit hath life in itself.”

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Walking with Thoreau

When I leave the road and the path to walk in the wilderness, I am immediately and intimately surrounded by nature.

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Traveling with John Muir

Whereas Muir’s father believed the road to God was straight and narrow, Muir himself found a way that was curved and expansive, leading to a wilderness where God was everywhere.

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ART

And then there’s art. How can one add art to life and live in healthy balance? I find this difficult to do, almost impossible. I find it almost impossible just to juggle the first three tasks of family, work and self. But then to add art! How can it be done?

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The Universe is Alive

The universe is alive. It moves all around me as I sit, still as a rock, in the middle of a meadow.

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JULY 1, 1998

The Earth loved us, gave birth to us, gave us all that we needed, gave us a home, gave us an opportunity, gave us a chance, gave us love.

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When Jesus Returns

When Jesus returns, his message will be: I’m not coming back. Even if I did return, I don’t think I could save you from the mess you’ve gotten yourselves into.

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Curvism: Art and Philosophy

We live in boxes, work in cubicles; we are caged in, rarely getting out to touch the earth and be surrounded by the sky. When we walk, it’s across a paved parking lot. Big city life, suburbia, small-town living. Modern life. How did this happen?

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The Replica

In the very beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth and then created man. Together they tried to create the earthly world, but they could not. They envisioned the world differently; so they went their separate ways, each creating their own world.

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Steve Firkins
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Nature and Climate Change
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