How open are you?

[shakahislop]

it's an affective state that we try to raise one another to. it's hard to get there without a collective effort. being closed off is the default.

it feels great to be open. but there is a lot that needs to be in place to get there. not least time and encouragement

 

[pattycakes_]

If its encouragement you're after, dissensus.com is the place to be!

 

[william kent]

I'm not particularly open and I often feel other people are putting on a performance of openness, not that I can describe what someone being genuinely open would look like. I just feel so much of any interaction is performance, people copying the way they've seen characters behave in media, people doing what they think you're supposed to do in a given situation, using the words they think they're supposed to use. I don't know how you avoid it though, just seems to be the way it works. We learn from each other.

 

[Corpsey]

I'm open all hours

 

[Corpsey]

If one were to photograph my mindset it would be an exact replica of goatse

 

[Mr. Tea]

If one were to photograph my mindset it would be an exact replica of goatse

I had no idea you were married! When did that happen?

 

[Corpsey]

I'm more open than the borders in Biden's America

 

[pattycakes_]

When I think of a bunch of artists I admire, I think it was their inability to close themselves in the way the OP is getting at that made them what they were. Sun Ra, Joni Mitchell, Jimi Hendrix, could make a looong list but those three are a decent cross section. Did it lead to suffering or self abuse? Of course, it's part of the package. Can lead to an early end, too. The world doesn't cater to those types in the way an idealist such as myself would hope, and in the end it's to our own detriment. But it's the way it is, so those who are placed on the artist's path basically have no choice but to go through the storm, or just spend less time on certain toxic web forums. Nah j/k, but I guess they're either lucky with the people they end up surrounded with or not. Going it alone doesn't work, not with your head in the clouds, so you just hope whoever or whatever it is sends you some good reinforcements.

 

[william kent]

One indicator's if someone picks up on your language and starts to use the same words and phrases as you. Accent's another. Some people will start to unwittingly take them on. I remember reading somewhere that Beckett never lost a hint of his despite so much time abroad and it made absolute sense from reading his fiction. A very closed off man, despite being an artist. Paradox of repeatedly opening up about and expressing how closed off he was.

 

[Mr. Tea]

A very closed off man, despite being an artist.

Is this really all that paradoxical, though? I wouldn't be surprised if it's quite common in artists, especially those in the auteur mould, rather than those who are part of a 'scene' where everyone is (at least in theory) constantly exchanging ideas and influencing each other (or at least ripping off the trailblazers).

 

[william kent]

Is this really all that paradoxical, though? I wouldn't be surprised if it's quite common in artists, especially those in the auteur mould, rather than those who are part of a 'scene' where everyone is (at least in theory) constantly exchanging ideas and influencing each other (or at least ripping off the trailblazers).

I think it is. An artist expresses themselves, which is the opposite of being closed off. You're revealing yourself to an audience. Someone like him who's revealing how closed off he is puts themself in a strange position.

 

[Mr. Tea]

I think it is. An artist expresses themselves, which is the opposite of being closed off. You're revealing yourself to an audience. Someone like him who's revealing how closed off he is puts themself in a strange position.

But you could be a one-way valve, generating all your own ideas ab initio and then broadcasting them to the world.

I'm not saying this is how, say, Aphex Twin operates, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was how he likes to think of himself.

 

[Murphy]

Neither of my folks’ accents shifted much through life

Had an uncle who went native on the south coast somewhere and he copped so much flack for being a wannabe Saxon at family reunions, I mean it was hilarious if he was accompanied by a new waif because the ridicule would be dialled up to 11/10 by mid morning

Respect to Beckett for knowing the difference

 

[pattycakes_]

There's more than one type of artist, guys.

 

[pattycakes_]

Marlon Brando vs Dennis Hopper

 

[pattycakes_]

Loads of overlap in abilities between the two, but starting from very different bases

 

[william kent]

There's more than one type of artist, guys.

Right, but they're all expressing themselves in some form, which is an open act.

 

[pattycakes_]

Brando left himself open, often to his own detriment

Hopper was more in control/calculated about it. Could open himself when he chose, but it wasn't his base, so different info streams passed through him. Had his demons in other forms, but he probably didn't suffer in the same way Brando did

 

[william kent]

Brando left himself open, often to his own detriment

Hopper was more in control/calculated about it. Could open himself when he chose, but it wasn't his base, so different info streams passed through him. Had his demons in other forms, but he probably didn't suffer in the same way Brando did

Hopper still chose to perform for an audience though. Anything you do on a stage will say something about you. The only way to avoid that is to not open up at all and not get on stage. You could get up there and say I hate expressing myself, I'm lying about everything, I'm holding it all back, and that would say something about you and you'd still be revealing yourself.

 

[pattycakes_]

I'm not saying he wasn't open, I'm just distinguishing it from the original point about the Sun Ra, Joni, Jimi types. It's a different type of open. One can't help it, the other is more in control