The Graduate’s Dilemma
With a 4.0 GPA and a degree bound with pomp and splendor, the arrogant pride of the young graduate can be seen in the smirk that has not faced reality. The trials the graduate has faced have been real, no doubt, but always with a sense of triviality and thought-out construction. It’s a game that promotes grit and intense thinking, but it also breeds mediocrity and blandness of mind.
The inability to significantly fail, and the fact that failure is a permanent stain, mean that the genus of true creativity is not the standard for the student's mind. The academic is bound by rules and constructs that promote congruency with the followed norm. To follow the maxims of the classroom means to be rewarded, at least in thought or sentiment, by the powers of the institutions. The bitter frustration of the aspiring creative and the tortured artist perfecting his craft are lost to a pseudo creation of overseen professionalism. The drone is born long before he enters the cubicle, and he is only deceived because he has been programmed to think in the way that the office environment does. He lives and breathes bureaucracy in the way that his minds functions and dictates new ideas because it has been so ingrained from a young age.
As a consequence of the relentless pursuit for scholastic perfection, the creative gift is at great risk of being lost. The true competitive advantage, the unique brand that would bring true life to society, is drowned out by the sea of overused and rehashed ideas that give rise to MBAs who are only worth the title they own. The true joy that is at the heart of wonderous creation is lost both to the corporation and the world. Even if the creative mind is remembered, it is never cultivated in a way that the scholastic mind is. The academic muse is primed to seek success at all cost, but the creative seed is left to amble in accepted mediocrity for the sake of psychological release. There is no relentless pursuit for greatness in the domains that would bring us true fulfillment.
This is not to say that abandoning all care to pursue creative expression should be the response to failing the creative energy, but rather should be a reminder not to get lost in the sea of other responsibilities that come our way. When the soul is weighed down by the necessities of jobs and life that may not fill the soul with life, there needs to be an element to the system that brings vitality back to it all. To have a personal muse is potential salvation from the soul-sucking effects of much of the work that society deems worthy of merit. It might not be possible to leave an industry that is your livelihood or feeds your family even if you don’t really like it, so having the means to give the gift of true creation can be a way to bring ingenuity back to your mind. The mind can then be honed through multifaceted ways of solving problems that arise from creation.
It is so easy to become bitter with the questless society that is the modern age. The dreams of being a pirate, sorcerer, or adventurer are quickly lost to the necessities of reality. If we can find a way to integrate the quest for magic in some way, it can bring a sense of wonder to the work that we are tasked with doing. To give the time to express your best gift, even if it be infinitesimal, can be the difference between bitterness and wholeness.
