idea | The Direction of Intention

A Fragile Thing [David’s blog on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on November 25, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

“A new idea is delicate. It can be killed by a sneer or a yawn; it can be stabbed to death by a quip and worried to death by a frown on the right man’s brow.” ~ Ovid

I continue to replay in my mind the moment that the young man, the expectant father, told us that he intended to home school his child. He said that he didn’t want his child’s mind filled with the wild ideas peddled in public schools. He wanted his child to know-only-the-facts. Just the facts. I’ve previously written about this so it clearly continues to bother me.

I wanted to tell him that democracy is not a fact. It is an idea. It bothers me that I didn’t say what I was thinking. I wanted to tell him that he was being fooled by leaders who want to keep his child – and all people – ignorant. Learning – education – is about the pursuit of questions and active engagement with ideas. It is not about the-facts-in-isolation.

I wanted to tell him that the quickest way to numb a mind is to steep it in isolated facts. Solving difficult problems, facing complex challenges, is predicated upon the capacity to entertain ideas. It’s not so easy to gaslight a populace that regularly exercises their power to question. Gaslighting is a snap with people who’ve been schooled to rely on just-the-facts, especially when the “facts” are crafted by the wily fox. Facts-in-isolation permit folks to wield words like “socialism” like a weapon with no real understanding of the sword that they swing. It’s been a useful Republican scare-word since the 1950’s because very few who brandish the word understand what it actually represents. Understanding requires the ability to ask questions, to compare, to contrast, to consider. To doubt.

Ideas are dynamic. Facts are static. Minds are dynamic but can too easily be made static.

“Democracy’s a very fragile thing. You have to take care of democracy. As soon as you stop being responsible to it and allow it to turn into scare tactics, it’s no longer democracy, is it? It’s something else. It may be an inch away from totalitarianism.” ~ Sam Shepard

Relative to the history of the world, democracy is a new idea. Like a new-born, it is delicate and requires nurturing and constant attention. It requires the constant feeding and stimulus of a curious mind. Today, we find ourselves, the stewards of democracy, an inch away from totalitarianism. We are witness to the realization of a Republican dream: the dismantling of the Department of Education, a war against our colleges and universities waged to eliminate the pursuit of ideas in favor of the state-approved facts.

Democracy is a fragile thing. It’s a new idea and the new idea is delicate. Its genius is to question, to compare and debate. It renews itself through collaboration and compromise. It pursues a more perfect union knowing that it can never arrive there since it is an idea, not a place or achievement. Democracy, like all vital ideas, is a relationship that requires tending.

It haunts me, what I wanted to say to the new father but did not: it is no small choice to stifle a questioning mind in favor of a pre-approved fact. This might be a good time to question what you think.

read Kerri’s blog post about A FRAGILE THING

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Filed under: Awakening, Education, Two Artists Tuesday | Tagged: artistry, curiosity, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, democracy, education, facts, idea, ideas, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, learning, Ovid, questions, Sam Shepard, story, studio melange, the melange | 1 Comment »

Follow The Twine [on DR Thursday]

Posted on November 18, 2021 by davidrobinsoncreative

[Day #2 of no image upload capacity so, for the melange image, see Kerri’s post or visit the Melange]

Follow the thick neon pink twine, winding through the park, and you’ll eventually come to a giant ball of string. I delighted in the thought that an enormous barn-sized Kitty, had recently been at play. Across the park giant flowers towered into the blue sky. Strolling beneath the stems and petals gave us an ant’s perspective.

Imagination. It’s working all of the time. And, sometimes it takes a giant ball of pink neon twine to make it visible. When we look forward to an event or dread a meeting, we are in full imagination. What else? When we desire a certain future or run fast from an opportunity, we are deep in our imagination. Kerri’s toes curl every time she drives under the train trestle while a train passes overhead: she imagines disaster.

I wish I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard in my life, from students or clients or friends, who’ve said, “I don’t have a good imagination.” The greatest figment of imagination is the notion that there are greater or lesser degrees of imagination. Sense making, personal story, idea generation, brainstorming, hypothesis checking, retirement planning…are all processes of imagination. We sense the world and then story it and the story always begins with the generation of an image. To be human is to be a wild. imaginer.

I’m privy these days to many thought models and process maps. I’ve spent the past 48 hours in a deep conceptual exercise. Emerging from my office at night I squint at Kerri and say, “My brain is tired.” The lovely paradox about the models and maps and conceptual paths is that they are not real. A map of the city is not the city. A model for product development is not product development, it is a map at best, a place to locate the imagination. The imagination uses itself to discover itself.

And, therein lives the paradox: imagination is as much about “discover” as it is about “invent.” We imagine our future so we can walk toward what we already see. As every artist knows, the canvas tells you where to go, the character tells the writer where the story turns. We discover ourselves in our imagination. Follow the pink twine far enough and you’ll eventually come to a giant ball of string.

read Kerri’s blog post about PINK NEON

Filed under: Art, Creativity, DR Thursday, Identity, Metaphor, Perspective | Tagged: artistry, brainstorming, Chicago Botanical Gardens, conceptual, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, discover, future, idea, imagination, invent, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, maps, models, past, senses, story, story. sense making, storying, storytelling, studio melange, the melange | Leave a comment »

Learn It Again and Again [on DR Thursday]

Posted on May 7, 2020 by davidrobinsoncreative

the story of a miss copy

“I begin with an idea and then it becomes something else.” ~ Pablo Picasso

This trail of images, all on the same canvas, is an idea trying hard not to become something else. It is a series of fitful starts and dissatisfied restarts. It is not uncommon, when I feel that my well is dry, to start a painting and shove it through many phases of discontent. I pull on it and push on it like so much taffy.

I’ve learned (or I am making it up at this very moment) that this exercise of discontent is important. It is a necessary skill to develop – not to get too attached to an idea or invested in how it “should” be. When my well is empty, I generally stumble into this old mistake: I try to force a result. I try to make it happen. I somehow forget that the best work is a relationship, a process that has very little to do with muscle and everything to do with heart. And so, I roll through a series of forced images.

And then, one day, I throw up my hands and all thoughts of my precious idea go out the window. I let go. And that is the exact moment that the idea becomes something else and the painting can finally begin.

read Kerri’s blog post about THE STORY OF A MISS