This manifesto is a tool for bringing together thoughts and ideas I have gathered on my personal ethics and philosophy. They encompass my current outlook in life, from the way I deal with my relationships to the way I create art, and more.
By writing this manifesto, I am creating a simple framework for myself, to help me guide and focus my actions whenever I feel stuck or uncertain.
It is my attempt at striking a balance between The Unknown and my need to create a solid enough stand from where I can further expand into whatever is to become of my life.
As an added nuance, this is a live document that will continue to expand and evolve along with me. Something I can update whenever I find a new insight or understanding that compliments the items on this list.
My hope is that, by the end of this first year of ‘manifestation’, I will have a written record of the knowledge and experiences gained, as well as a track of the changes gone through.
📖 Stuff, n.
1. Matter, material, articles, or activities of a specified or indeterminate kind that are being referred to, indicated, or implied.
2. The basic constituents or characteristics of something or someone.
Source.
I am a complex living organism that mutates through time.
By making ‘stuff’, I am refusing to encapsulate myself into a single neat category for the sake of simplification.
Instead, I am opening myself to the infinite potentiality of The Unknown.
Stuff is everything I do. It encompasses the multidimensionality of my being. It is Life itself – the ultimate medium.
I am worthy of being loved exactly as I am. My being brings value wherever it goes for the simple act of existing.
Whatever is within my reach is exactly the tool I require to build and create what is already bursting out of me.
Grounding myself on this insight helps me remove the anxiety and fears of The Unknown.
This is the biggest value I am currently cultivating. It is an infinite game in which the ultimate prize is to simply play it.
Whenever I picture myself in the future, whenever I think of myself in the past, whenever I find myself in the present, I realize that the most important goal I can strive for in my life is the amount and quality of my presence.
Over and over, life has taught me in multiple ways about its importance. The benefits and blessings of being present in any given moment, as well as the consequences of not being so.
At its most basic, what I mean by ‘presence’ is simply the awareness I have of myself within the boundaries of my body and its senses. A complete embodiment of what it feels to be me.
Given the fact that my subjective experience is the only point of view I will ever get to witness within the space of this life, paying utmost attention to it is a top priority.
Being present is being united with what is known.
Any sort of creation – be it art, business, relationships, etc. – is the consequence of an underlying process.
By doing and going through the process, there is already an element of success, regardless of the outcome.
A process is not a fixed, immutable entity. If it is is not working, whether by lack of results or enjoyment, either change the mind’s perception of it or the process altogether.
This entails having a solid base within me from which to shrink or expand depending on what a situation might require.
Though it may be hard and slow to build at first, it helps create things that are aligned with myself and the values I want to bring forward into the world.
Practicing this forces me to be humble, to be patient, to have faith, to accept the way life shifts and rolls and moves me to roll along or fight against it even though we will still end up laying on the floor.
This is not about removing the drive to be. It is about taking effortless actions that leave enough leeway for adapting to the shape of circumstances as they arise.
In an era of instant gratification, in which the value of a person can be quantified by engagement rates, think longterm.
Being present in the now doesn’t exclude the ability to think over wide spans of time.
I am building a lifelong practice.
There is no rush.
When living creatively, “mistakes” can often open pathways that I wouldn’t have thought of otherwise. Stay open to those. At worst, they become feedback.
This is not to say that mistakes don’t carry consequences, just that they are not fully definitive of someone or something.
Mediums come in all sort of shapes.
They are the channels through which a person expresses their inner world.
Not only relegated to the arts. They can also be found in other types of activities, such as sports, businesses and personal relationships.
When looked at carefully, mediums become a way of understanding oneself. The way I act and interact within the realms of a specific medium informs how I act and interact with the rest of reality.
