What’s up, Doc?

I’d rather be here now

is an experiment in sharing… a train of thought, a description of artistic process, a rant, a joke, a picture, a story… we’ll see how it goes.

IRBHN is about life, art and process. It’s about the weirdness of being human. It’s about transcendence, desire, and living in a body.

I am beginning this project without knowing what it will become. That’s the only way I can begin. Make. Write. Draw. Share.

Even though this will require adherence to certain schedules and systems, I don’t want to phone it in. If there is any point in doing this at all, it is to engage in the spiritual practice of not phoning it in. Or texting it. I want to offer you my presence. That is the challenge for me, all the time.

Presence requires attention to the particular in the context of it’s only mystery, and I like it. Keeping my focus on the particular saves me from myself in the same way that being stuck in a body and a life span holds me on this earth and yes, forces me to deal with the omniscient present.

Let’s just click our ruby slippers together three times and say, There’s no place like the present; there’s no place like the present.

The Process of Artmaking

Okay, the last part of that quote is too judgmental for my taste. I don’t think either/or is compassionate enough towards the human condition. I love the first sentence though. The reason why bringing forth what is within you will save you is because to do that you have to grapple with yourself—and you have to accept yourself too.

I want to encourage us to see ourselves as artists, because that is what we are—what we have to be. People who call themselves artists, who admit to being artists, who give themselves permission to be artists, are accepting a certain kind of responsibility for being human. A responsibility we all have, whether we know it or not. Art is what we make; art or trouble. What I want to encourage is not any particular set of beliefs or constructs; I want to encourage space… interior space.

Not Knowing as a practice…

Not knowing is one of the best tools we have for expanding awareness. Not knowing doesn’t mean not knowing or seeing anything. It means allowing oneself to see pictures, or data, or systems, or relationships (however you see) with lots of empty spaces, or missing pieces, like a half-done jigsaw puzzle, and trusting that in those spaces where the pieces are missing are not-yet-understood connections. It is exactly in those empty spaces that new ideas, new connections, new syntheses, can emerge. There is room for it. There is room for movement.

My deepest philosophy of life has to apply to my life, duh. I can’t go around promoting the idea that faith in not-knowing allows more space for new awareness and creative responses, without womanifesting that faith in my actions, in my work. I hope that by doing this work I will strengthen my own ability to trust the present to lead me where I need to go.

Daisi & JANE

This is where I will share the development of a webcomic/graphic novel called Daisi & Jane. At first I will share notes/drawings/ideas as I figure out more about what I want this to be and how to get it. I might ask you questions.

When I am ready to post the cartoon at a steady pace, it’s possible that I will make it into its own section of this publication. This would mean that people could subscribe to it separately, if they wanted to. Or maybe it will become the whole publication. Though I doubt it. I want this to be a blank notebook that I can fill with whatever feels worth sharing.

Why subscribe to I’d rather be here now?

Please subscribe if you are curious to see where this goes. Subscribe if you feel that it might be worthwhile, or fun, or helpful, to be part of the IRBHN community. I’m not putting anything I send out behind a paywall. You can unsubscribe as easily as you can subscribe. Many thanks.

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