it starts something like this then
people grow up but then some of them
manage to retain this quality when they
grow up and that’s when interesting
things start to happen for example when
rural Dahl was a little boy he wanted to
be a chocolate inventor for the local
Cadbury factory but then he grew up and
he had to go fight in the war the Second
World War he came back after all of that
and he never forgot his little dream and
he gave us this Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory one of the best
children’s stories that the world has
ever seen
when kids are afraid of the monsters
under the bed we tell them create a
story so that they don’t feel afraid
anymore
when children face problems they try to
internalize it in a way that this that
is familiar to them in their own
internal universe they try to find rules
that make sense to them in their own
little heads just like Calvin is doing
here what is well what am I talking
about here see if you think about it
this is an interesting way of trying to
deal with problems it might seem
impractical at first but it really isn’t
it’s all about imagination because
sometimes all you need is a fresh
perspective so that you can look at work
look at the problems in the world and
try to figure things out it’s all about
the imagination and art is the syntax of
imagination it’s one of the unique ways
that a person can express themselves and
this is what I’m here to talk about
today self expression take a look at
this this is the painting called Liberty
leading the people it’s from around the
time of the French Revolution here’s an
example closer to home
this is Buncombe Chandra Chattopadhyay
the man who composed one day mathram our
national song the point I’m trying to
make here is images words and sounds
they move people that’s why we’re so
moved by speeches if a person makes a
rising speech people are stirred into
action a song or a poem can move people
into tears and this begs the question
what is art I’m not going to give you
the definition that Wikipedia or the
dictionaries are going to give you
because those are verbose complicated
convoluted technical definitions that
have no place here art is simply
humanity trying to understand itself and
the world
that is it so as a species as a group of
beings in the universe all of art is our
mouthpiece our way of identifying with
the universe around us and the
interesting thing is not only do we
create art what we inflict it on the
universe around us consider this these
are the pillars of creation they are so
named because as you can see they do
resemble pillars and they’re part of the
Eagle Nebula which is where stars are
born but this begs another question why
is the scientific world littered with
eccentric names like these because it’s
us humans that study it and humans
well we’re capable of logic analytical
reasoning mathematical ability but at
the same time we are emotional creatures
we’re social creatures we need to
interact with the world around us and
more importantly we are people who have
thoughts jumping around from one place
to another no different from a monkey
now every creature lives according to a
certain code which is decided by the
natural inborn instincts in it similarly
humans also have instincts there are the
common ones like hunger thirst the urge
to move around but those are biological
instincts and we can set them aside
because if that’s what we’re looking at
how different are we from animals unlike
animals we’re the only ones that are
capable of unique thought and that’s
where the psychological instincts come
in like the need to be like the need to
be heard the need to stand out so
history is flittered naturally because
of this with several examples of man’s
urge to leave behind a legacy that can
be seen ears and years later some of
these people they become inventors and
thinkers some people become artists by
trying to interpret the world around
themselves in a medium of their choice
it could be anything
when I started writing poetry I didn’t
have any such lofty goals I was I guess
9 or 10 years old and I all just wanted
to make the words rhyme and I was really
happy with how I could create a unique
narrative with a few words that I had at
my disposal but over the years I still
kept writing poetry but the reasons that
I was doing it kept changing and
evolving and one of those which I’m
going to tell you about is my need to
continuously reinvent and improve myself
you see the thing about improving
something is it requires constant review
you cannot work on something if you
don’t know what it is how it works and
what it means for example if I want to
make a birdhouse I need to know what
kind of birds are coming to my backyard
I need to know how big they are so that
I can decide the size of this thing I
need to know what tree I have to put it
on similarly if you or I want to become
better people we need to be better in
tune with ourselves you need to
understand yourself every inch in every
thought inside out take the example of a
sculpture if he’s going to be working on
a sculpture or a statue he needs to know
what kind of rock he’s working on if he
doesn’t know whether it’s sandstone or
granite or marble he won’t be able to
use the appropriate tools and he won’t
know whether the right amount of
pressure is being used because otherwise
he’s gonna end up breaking the stone I
need to know my own flaws so that I can
change myself I need to study and
reflect on the world around me if I want
to exist with it in harmony take a
metaphor for example since I’m a poet
you’re gonna have to deal with those all
of us each and every human being is like
unshaped stone but at the same time
we’re also the sculptures of our own
personalities and our own destinies and
that’s exactly what it is and it all
involves introspection and meditation
self-expression is such a vital tool for
just this very reason it’s the best way
you can stay in touch with your
emotional side now I’ve come across a
lot of people that laugh at the idea of
being you know emotionally attuned they
think that it’s a weakness being
emotionally attuned isn’t about being
moody or being sensitive
it’s about mental fortitude it’s about
embracing your feelings as a human
because that’s when you’re able to
control yourself and this is why it’s a
strength and not a weakness and I
actually have an example for you on this
in the world of Harry Potter
Albus Dumbledore keeps saying that love
is the greatest power that any man can
possess what is he trying to say well
through the course of the story Harry
and his friends are able to overcome all
sorts of obstacles because their hearts
are in the right place call it emotional
intelligence my point is you cannot hope
to do good in this world if you don’t
embrace what it means to be
in the Star Wars world Master Yoda has
this to say luminous beings we are not
this crude matter see look at animals
and birds they’re wild and untamed world
but nobody ever calls them passionate
creatures humans we are passionate
creatures we have that urge and the need
to be creative we need to imagine things
it’s these things which give us the
ability to look within and master
ourselves creativity imagination
ingenuity self-expression these are the
pillars on which humanity rests its
present laurels these are the only
reasons that we’ve evolved so much as a
species all our achievements throughout
the past decades and centuries is
because of all of this now I’ve spoken
about the individual level and how
self-expression can help you there and
that means that leads us to society what
happens when everyone in it is better
for themselves when you have a society
of enlightened people and enriched
people height with heightened sense of
self words society is gonna be much
better for it over the last few decades
we’ve managed to change the world so
much the science fiction writers like
Jews were noir Isaac Asimov will look at
the world that we’ve created and stare
and wonder but here’s the thing all of
us us we haven’t really changed we’re
still the same sort of people that we
were fifty hundred years ago and that’s
because we’re all human and that’s not a
bad thing the only problem is that we
don’t really connect with each other
anymore we don’t connect with our
surroundings we don’t connect with our
fellow people and that’s where the
problem is what this means is when
you’re in tune with yourself you can
safely turn your attention to the world
outside because you have one less person
to worry about when you’ve got yourself
figured out you don’t have to worry
about you know your own personal inter
problems you’ve got yourself for it up
you’ve got yourself figured out you can
safely turn your attention to the world
around you because now you have the time
and energy to invest in it I’m sorry
about that so my point here is it’s all
about self-expression and meditation I’m
not saying that all of you have to
become artists I want you guys to
embrace art but not become not it’s not
about being
in the pursuit of becoming an artist
it’s about giving yourself an activity
or a hobby that you really like doing
it’s about giving yourself a personal
space where you can sit down do what you
like and that’s when all your thoughts
can let themselves collect each other
and that’s essentially the point of
meditation it’s where everything just
starts to click it can be as simple as
keeping a personal journal or becoming
or something as crazy as becoming a
street artist the point is you don’t
have to become an artist how does
society speak to itself society speaks
to itself when everyone in it speaks up
for themselves and most importantly
society improves when everybody speaks
up to themselves that’s when things
change and when things improve now I’m
gonna go back to the beginning and speak
about monsters under the bed when I was
a child my parents took me to a strange
place a temple of stone with dark gray
pillars and gray columns and dark
tunnels no different from the eyes of
the poor that start begging right
outside the gates like I said it was a
strange place but I got the same feeling
from that place which I get when I look
at my grandfather and his bookshelf
lined with wisdom and tempered by the
seasons I put my face to the cool stone
and heard the ancient hum of the earth
beneath me so when I started to get
bored I decided I had to explore this
place I walked inside it went through
the alleyways and the dark corridors and
the cool stone hum to my ears once again
and my jacket rustled over them as I
went through the alleyways opened up to
one several rows and rows of dark
pillars and alleyways and there are so
many different patterns and shapes and
fantastic figures and as I walk past
them I realized that none of us really
ever grow up you see when I looked at
these patterns and figures I realized
that there’s no difference between them
and the doodles that I and my brother
made in the bedroom wall at home you see
children we don’t really ever grow up
we just whitewash the walls because
we’re afraid that everyone will laugh
when they see the red and purple crayons
on the wall when I was nine years old my
father took us to the beach I realized
that there are
grown-ups on the beach do you want to
know how I can tell it’s because
everyone builds castles of San everyone
laughs when each wave hits you only tell
the difference when the tide comes in
and dissolves all those sand castles the
children they will cry when the water
floods their cut when the water floods
their towers and their walls and the
adults they’ll just smile as the water
comes by it tickles their feet and goes
away children never really grow up and I
realized one thing right there there are
no grown-ups on the beach because we
never really leave that child behind
none of us really grow up we’re all
still the same misty eyed gangly need
and scruffy face people but the only
problem is we don’t really look at the
world with wonder anymore when the child
is stuck in a traffic jam in a car he’ll
look to either side on the left and the
right and he’ll try and laugh with the
other boys and girls stuck in the red
black blue cars and the yellow taxis
when a grown-up man is stuck in traffic
he doesn’t wonder why red is first stop
amber is forget ready and why blue isn’t
for go
but his daughter in the backseat wants
to know why the clouds are grey and
gloomy when it starts to rain his son
wants to know why the raindrops are
racing across the windscreen as daddy
guns it down the streets nobody has the
time to answer these questions and even
if they do they don’t know what to say
because we just don’t wander like
children anymore when it rains we don’t
find the rainbows but the children going
to school in their big yellow school bus
find that rainbow and shout with glee
when they see it they find the rainbow
because they know where to look for it
and we do not they find the rainbow
because they know because they want to
find it when the skies clear up what we
do we just fold our own brothers put
them away and walk away into another day
so naturally when I was a little boy I
wondered why adults are so boring and so
silent and then I grew up myself too and
I started to look around at the world
wide-eyed with wonder in a way that my
five-year-old self would never have seen
the world at three feet tall but
eventually I realized that if I wanted
to be as happy and carefree as I was
when I was a five year old boy I needed
to get down on my knees
and look at the world like I was three
feet tall once again I am I’m a big boy
now I’m grown-up I’m stronger I’m
smarter but if I don’t get down on my
knees and look like I’m still three feet
tall I don’t find the monsters under my
bed and if I didn’t do that I wouldn’t
have made friends with them you see
being a grown-up isn’t easy all of us to
grow up being a grown-up isn’t difficult
because we have so many problems to fix
being a grown-up is difficult because
we’re afraid to wonder at things like we
used to when we were little boys and
little girls if you try to do that too
if you got down on your knees and crouch
down and looked at the monsters under
your bed I – I you’d be able to make
your peace with them – just like I did all you have to do is try thank you