Art = you + me & a cup of herbal tea.

What do you think an artist is? An imbecile who only has his eyes if he is a painter, or his ears if he is a musician, or a lyre at every level of his heart if he is a poet, or, if he is a boxer, only his muscle? On the contrary, he is at the same time a political being, constantly alert to the heartrending, burning, or happy events in the world, molding himself in their likeness.

~ Pablo Picasso 

Anything that I could add after Picasso’s word juice, is going to taste more like tap water. But I’ll try anyway.

Drum roll…

Introducing elephant culture.

From the depths of the winter soul, with not that much of a face and a homeless body tired of ghosting around; with fingers made of icicles tapping on a plastic keyboard; with a rabbit-hole voice and caffeinated eyes; tired reader should definitely bookmark elephant journal’s brand new, culture homepage.

Why? Well, since you insist,

elephant culture is elephant journal’s new section dedicated to the arts and last time I checked everyone was an artist because life was unscripted and they had to create it from scratch and no one survived but everyone tried and in the meantime, they added their daily creations to the universal life-collage that is you plus me plus everyone we know.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQk3Zh71dGA?rel=0

 

By “culture” we mean everything that’s not vital to the body but imperative to the heart. It doesn’t exclude but it’s not centered on love and relationships, for which we already have a page (click to access Luv Heart); or around the deeper, super spiritual you, for which we also have another page (click to access Transcendental Heart).

Culture includes anything from fine art, music, theater, film and entertainment to coffee, gastronomy, traveling and different ways of enjoying this major art of being human.

Culture is the life mojo that you don’t need in order to survive, but —borrowing Thoreau‘s wisdom— “only to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to put to rout all that is not life; and not when [we] come to die, discover that [we] have not lived.” (Walden)

There’s only one thing better than living: sucking out all that marrow of life in good company; co-creating daily life-marrow. So please, click here to access the Creative Heart (and check it often).

If you want to help us breathe better, give us a hand by doing any of the following, huggable things:

Like our Facebook page and invite your friends to do the same (by clicking the Invite Friends buttons placed both on the left and right side of the page – no more excuses for your dyslexia); you can also share the posts you enjoy on your wall via or tagging elephant culture.

Follow @MindfulCulture on Twitter.

Heart ele culture  and Best of elephant culture on Pinterest. 

Send your contribution (article, art sample, mindful bark, etc.) to [email protected] so we can all benefit from your vision of the world.

Treat any elephant (including yourself) to some fair-trade organic coffee or herbal tea. (I’m into anything Vanilla).                          

Thanks in advance for your big, greenly spirit with restless eyes and sepia heart.

Life is strange, sad and beautiful. Do have it for breakfast. It’s a direct order from Bach.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7edkwJsgN0?rel=0

And don’t you go unless you’re coming back. ‘Cause if you didn’t, it’d be like tragedy and I’d just cry and cry. But if you must, help yourself to some poetry for the dark moments.

As I often tell my hypothetical children, “always do literary drugs, my darlings, it’s the healthiest thing”.

 

who knows if the moon’s

a balloon, coming out of a keen city

in the sky–filled with pretty people?

(and if you and i should

 

get into it, if they

should take me and take you into their balloon,

why then

we’d go up higher with all the pretty people

 

than houses and steeples and clouds:

go sailing

away and away sailing into a keen

city which nobody’s ever visited, where

 

always

it’s

spring) and everyone’s

in love and flowers pick themselves.

~ e.e. cummings

We might as well turn our sinking ship into a song…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYywXhixVW0?rel=0

 

[Photos: Robert Doisneau / Edward Hopper / Screenshot]

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