Art is useless, and so am I

me too.

Well said Derek, and good on you for making this change.

I have also grappled with this before. I played drums in several bands for years and at some point just decided that it wasn't the best use of my time or brain-power to spend that much effort hauling my gear, practicing, performing, etc. It started feeling too much like work (and work that had no benefactor other than myself).

Now, I feel more joy when I play and purely do it for fun and relaxation and as a fun activity with my kids. That is valuable, if not useful.

Which foreign language?

Useful isn't one of ART's descriptors.
Essential in terms of humans expressing
themselves maybe but not "useful". It's
an intelligently provocative (as opposed to
unintelligent and aggressive, etc) stance,
Derek. Thanks for the wisdom.

Art can be useless, but it can change people who experience it. A person can have a bad day, and a song can help me it a better day!

Love it Derek. If we're honest with ourselves, we know that creating any form of art can be a selfish and indulgent endeavor that takes us away from being "useful". Some people may get joy from your creation, which is great. Some of us may actually get money from art/music, which is also great. But Ricky Nelson has a lyric I remember. "You can't please everyone so you got to please yourself."

Art may be useless but it is fun.

Love, B

Have you read The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron? It could be wonderfully helpful in your process of rediscovering choosing things for yourself.

Thank you with all of my heart for this. I've been writing a ton more, and blogging. It's for me. I love your phrase, "For the time being, I'm nobody's tool." Hear hear! And thank you for giving me and the rest of us permission to have fun and create without the end user in mind. Love from the Frontier of Wyoming!

Ouch. Truth bomb just blew up all over me and messed up my hair. Dammit, Sivers.

A bit of levity to go with your much heavier thoughts:
Tools: When the only tool you have is a screwdriver, every problem looks like a can of paint.
Usefulness: (Whatever you choose to denigrate) is about as useful as one tube of epoxy. I'm probably dating myself on that one.

Bravo for making the switch. You give us enough as it is. Now you are still useful to yourself and your family. It is a priority to make yourselves happy. And in time your happiness will still rub onto us, because you will share other great experiences and advice! Be happy, Derek!

art is not useless, in some ways its more useful than purposely useful things, all things are epheremerisl on different time scales. think back in time do you know who invented lightbulb..how bout phonograph, metal guitar strings,mp3 codec, these are useful things embedded into fabric of our daily lives we take for granted

Now. how bout munsons scream, or bethovens fifth, who invented he minor 7th to major chord resolution is responsible for countless emotional tension and releases.

i don't think you or simon sinek, is necessarily a better thinker than plato or einstein, but you being you IS useful to the now as we tend to get distracted and lost.

each bite of food you have, comes from an unfathomable supply chain that parallels our own exist stance in an unbroken chain to he very first moment of time. they have had to fight all manners of natural disasters, and species change, most are not known and will never be, almost none have labels or are remembered as such. so trying to be useful in pursuit of immortal is truly uselessness, but all have our time on shakespear ( or tedx) stage.

whe you are happy you are powerul in creating change, and you cannot measure the true impact on your future self or those who it impacts. play is the natural learning state. don't judge yourself prematurely, each language forces you to think and see the world in different ways, some thoughts cannot be expressed in a language, who is to say what secrets, insights that may come tomorrow.

play on my brother in creative arms, be like a for e of nature, the wind doesn't second guess itself if it's blowing the tight way, it just is,

I do believe music has a "useful" purpose, but its purpose isn't what most people think.

Music gave me a place to collect my thoughts, organize my ideas, pace myself, and taught me the importance of discipline and practice. I wouldn't be a functional person today without it, I'm pretty sure. In that sense, it was very "useful" to me.

But it has nothing to do with self-expression, which is what everyone thinks art is supposed to be about. That's where the disconnect between art and utility lies -- why it becomes a source of torment for many, rather than the joy that it should be.

I've been really considering what the scope is for my art... what is the audience and does that even matter? I find art often has use or meaning, completely unintended by the artist, or at the very least unknown. I think wondering about the scope and audience of the art I want to do, because it feels like it's art that's meant to be shared, that the sharing and participation is part of the art... has given me a lot of pause before working on the art I want to create.

One time I dj'ed for some friends, and it was a hot day and noone was on the dance floor. They were all instead off to the side in the shade enjoying cool beverages. I heard later that it was the best set of the weekend and that they all really loved it. *shrug* :) Thanks for continuing to share your posts.

I always liked your music Derek good to hear
it sounded like..you,
thats as good as it gets

Now i have kids, I remind them that its the art that is times arrow..

we know more artists/ thinkers names than bankers in our daily modern lexicon..
some 1000s of years old

Awesome to hear you are playing music again Derek!!!

Yep. I think you nailed it. But I think art can be a tool, too.

In my opinion ( not trying to militate it by any means), art can be considered a tool. Obviously it is not a physical tool at least when it comes to pictures hanging on the wall and so forth. But it might be viewed as a tool that can be used to adjust peoples minds. I have seen art that uplifted my mood. I have seen art that made me sad. I have seen art that made me wonder what the heck was going on. My mind was adjusted by the tool of art in all three instances. Can you think of a way to use a park to make an adjustment on somebody? I think big corporations do it all the time.

Welcome to the next level.... I have "acomplished" many things in various arenas over the years, and now, in the time I have left, my goal is to have a nice day and not be bored.... As a result of this new mandate, I only do what I enjoy, and as a result I am constantly learning and never bored. :)

Hi Derek. I'm so happy for you. I'm so happy that you're making music again after all these years. I hope it continues to bring you much and well-deserved happiness! Hope things are great in your corner of the world! Best/GeriR

There is no utility in a worthless life. Love you Derek.

Seriously bro, enjoy yourself. You obviously felt strongly enough about the concept to send me this email. Maybe you thought I would find it useful ? Maybe you want to stimulate conversation about the value of art ? How about that sculpture of the girl facing the Merrill Lynch bull on Wall St I just saw celebrating Women's Day. Or the Rap about the Statue of Liberty I heard on Move on.org. This is art. They both conveyed emotion. In this way, I found them useful. I cried. They moved me. Like a beautiful painting or a song. It's all good, Derek. It's all valuable. Like learning Chinese. It stimulates the mind. Cheers, buddy.

Wow. Quite a thought!

I think a lot of creatives are in the business of making "useful art" which in this frame of reference is a oxymoronic term.

I think your on to something though. In a way, Art made for arts sake that is useful is "accidentally useful".

Hope that makes sense!

-DJ

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” ~ Howard Thurman

You're right, I do disagree about "useless." Maybe it's a different definition of useful. If what you're doing is filling up your soul, I think that serves the world well. Carry on!

Everything is correct. What I mean is, we often try to make a little box to put ourselves in and call it The New Me. And then some time passes, and we deride that box and make a new one, with different limitations. Each time we think we've got it right this time. But why do we do this? Because we want to be doing things The Right Way. But why can't it all be right? We get something, and lose something, from each limitation we choose to constrain ourselves by. What is wrong now was right then. It all serves a purpose, adds a new piece to the puzzle of who we are. Maybe someday, with an open mind and calm heart, we may look back at all the pieces and where they sit, and see the whole picture.

A theme that's come up personally, lately, has been realizing how much I've spent my life trying to be useful/help others, but how much now I'm craving some time for me! Great post, Derek. Thank you.

Art is the product of using our tool of "creativity". It's important for me to remember as well that "art" is not always a commercial product.

Useless was the best thing I ever became!

I'm glad you're making art for art's sake! And it can be very useful as a healthy coping mechanism if viewed as nothing else. It allows you to express & decompress & sometimes other people can appreciate the outcome but that's not the point when it's just for you. Effectively creating space for your self/mind is so important... especially if people find you useful!

All my life, I've always found a way to give myself time to make art. Playing music has been a gift to myself for years. I play in two bands for the pure joy of playing--could care less if anyone listens or not, but it's cool when someone says--thanks, I liked that. I already put in my "useful" time in education and it's been okay to hang up those tools.

About to take the same steps as you Derek

Art has certainly been useless as far as making much money but it's fun. It also touches many peoples lives in a good way.

I did what you are doing a few years ago because of past health problems and the death of my best friend. I sometimes feel useless and a little guilty but it's worth it. I'm glad I did. Yesterday I found out I have heart failure. These years have been wonderful. It was a great decision!

Couldn't agree with you more! Thank you for posting this.

When someone is healing from depression or illness, art can be useful in speeding up the healing. :)

So good to hear from you again Derek!

I can relate to the music thing, i've been playing guitar for 15 years and haven't played for almost two.. it's time to pick the old axe up again. You've convinced me.

Hi--

I think that you probably can't make art if you are trying to be useful. You have to be just sort of ... there, not doing anything, but willing to receive an idea that might turn into art. Sometimes it will blossom, sometimes it will need to sit and wait for warmer weather and more sun. But if once you have a thing that might be art, you cannot ever tell whether it will be useful to someone else, because you cannot inhabit anyone else's brain. You can tell what your art does for you, but not what it may do for someone else.

So you're entirely right to stop with the usefulness intention, and look, I suppose, for accidental usefulness. I base these comments on an entirely accidental study of Paul McCartney's methods of composition. He cannot tell what might turn into a song. I think that once he asked his wife Linda what kind of camera she preferred, and she replied "Well, I like a Leica." I further think that eventually this turned into a song called "Biker like an Icon." With other sources, and his long practice at making songs, a chance assonance by Linda turned into a song about several things having nothing to do with cameras.

Derek - you have a big microphone. I get your drift here, and thank you for opposing impending cuts to Nat'l. Endowment, etc., but dial that mic up until you get some screeching feedback. Let everyone hear you, clearly.

Art is more than useful, it is vital. Don't make me haul out all the quotes about how art is the only thing that keeps so many people in dire straits going. Here, let Sydney and Irving say it: 'He (Ellington) saved my life many times.' 'Yeah, me too.' Jeep's Blues right at the 42 sec mark
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSRdnxTFIoU

Nice to see you getting more meaning from your selfish pursuits (which also can inspire others without taking up so much of your time.)

I identify with difficulty relaxing after serving others intensely for a long time. My me time will be going from huge corporate clients working on a startup with much more opportunity for creativity.

Hope you do sell your music as it is fun!

Great point.

Like everything in life, usefulness is not black and white, it's merely a shade somewhere in between.

Maybe it's a function, and maybe the optimal point is where the imaginary line intersects with selfishness? Too much of either won't make you happy - but I think being useful certainly adds some meaning/purpose/happiness/etc.

Good luck and thank you for everything Derek!

this makes me think you're awesome. useless, but awesome.

I love this idea! Not at first. But I am getting it. And using the uselessness! Thank you.

When I hear or play music, I feel that I am closer to understanding my own existence. Or at least I am distanced from not understanding it. I.e. Music provides meaning to life and therefore Is valuable and useful. Think of your favorite concert and how it changed your life :). I think the question here is how Is value measured? In the same sense how is "connectivity" measured? Keep strumming! Thanks.

It's a wonderful thing to be useful. But no one can or should be useful all the time. It sounds like you've got a lot of catching up to do on your worthy uselessness.

I stopped trying to make a living as a musician long ago...but I still make music...music for me and the few people that 'get it', some of whom I became friends with via one of your forums (about advice for wannabee musicians with a dream of making it 'big').

My new CD (The Family Album) should be in my hands this week or next. Can I send you a copy?

Learning a language could be very useful. For example, you could use it to teach people who don't speak your language. Language itself can be art and also an extremely useful tool.

workhorseplay

Interesting. I need to really think about this. Useful is different for the individual. I can imagine a scenerio where it could be useful to someone but nothing comes to me immediately. I'll come back and comment if I think of a possibility. On a side note I'm bringing the family to New Zealand November and December. Who knows maybe our paths will cross. Keep on creating! Later.

I don't agree that art is without use. The purpose of art is to evoke a response, and occasionally that can be profoundly useful (see: art therapy).

When I read your article, the immediate thing that comes to mind is the fact that seasons change and we all change. We all grow in different directions and it becomes time for all of us to experience something else in order to continue to grow.

Good for you man. Useful to self first.

I think it might have been James Altucher who recently suggested that 70,000 years ago, the average work week was probably about 12 hours - which was used to catch some food. The rest of the time would have been spent having fun. Much like monkeys and many other animals do today. In the future, robots will do all the work anyway. Here's to you time.

I had a similar realization but I used the term 'purposeless ' rather than useless. E.g. one doesn't dance to get to a certain spot on the floor - not a high agency way to do that. but there is great purpose in the dance

You've given us so much already :) enjoy the time for yourself

Not a rebuttal, just a comment:
I find useful 'art' in engineering and design. Sure, they're tools, but when designed with elegance and simplicity, one really has to admit that some products and/or components are serious works of art.

I'm an artist and a musician and an author and an Agent for writers. I have many companies and have many friends. It is the Zen of it all for me. Everything is temporal anyway. The ears and the eyes and the smell of all that
God made and gave to me to bless me and others....well

I love this.

Almost nothing really matters. As I have peeled away the layers of things I once thought were important, over time I've realized that thousands of things I once put energy into just no longer serve me. I think you're right about art. And maybe now whatever music comes through you will be simply something soulful that longs to exist.

Just saw part of a Rick Steves episode on visiting cities in what used to be East Germany. He toured a museum showing life in the East. Everyone had minimal housing so no homeless, everyone ate the same food so no starving poor. All children got the same toys and clothes so no envy of the kid next door. Everyone lived at that "useful" level with state provided activities. Of course the state provided activities required "the people" submit to the desires of the state...

But individuals were frustrated that they could no longer be themselves and be "useless" (to the state). Isn't that one of the aspects of freedom?

Art is probably the most useless thing imaginable, yet it brings great joy to creators, participants and onlookers. That's actually very useful in an abstract way - happy people are much healthier than depressed people.

Sorry, but I suspect your wife and child find you useful. You can't easily escape it!

On the other hand, maybe art is useful, even without being useful on purpose. Art is cathartic. When you write, your art is useful to those who find truth in your words. "Anything You Want" was the most useful book I read in 2016 because it contained the most truth I'd read in a long time -- only wish I'd discovered it sooner. You are only a tool if you allow yourself to be used to fulfill someone else's agenda. Establish your own agenda and take action to fulfill your own goals, and, even if through that action you create "art for art's sake," you may just find that you've created something very useful after all.

If you hadn't been where you went, you wouldn't be where you are.
If you hadn't done what you did, would you be doing what you're doing now?
Music is one of your oldest and best friends I think.
Home Sweet Home. Enjoy.

I'm sad to hear that. I was just about to ask you if you'd be interested in reading and maybe providing a blurb for my upcoming novel :) C'est la guerre!

Bravo! This sounds a bit radical, but actually is quite sane. Thanks for writing it.

We all go through life phases consisting of different width and length brush strokes as well as various materials, mediums and drying times.
All works out.

I agree wholeheartedly. I've never been able to put a finger on why I wanted to learn another language (Arabic) and I have a strong inner motivation to do it, despite slow progress. I often have to catch myself couching it in terms of useful outcomes when I'm asked why I'm doing it, when, deep down, I know I would do it even without any usefulness. I appreciate you sharing this perspective.

The first time I heard Kevin Kelly say that I was a little angry too. Then I forgot all about it. I should re-think it again.

Hi Mr Sivers.

I would challenge that. I think motivation is what brings meaning to something. If the motivation is for the glory of God I think everything is useful. Anything done to the glory of God is useful. When your focus is shifted to yourself, achieving something for yourself, it quickly looses its value and usefulness. When we create art for others to enjoy and for the glory of the one who gave us the abilities we have, this art my friend is not useless.

If you read this far into my message check out this song I wrote for the glory of God and for the people.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1Yj6bFArHc

Cool. What took so long? Music heals.

I always like getting your emails. This is a good reminder to focus on joy. I would like more Nursing's advice of course but these reminders are good too. Thanks

It makes complete sense. Doing what you truly love or like without expectations... just enjoyment. I am not by definition an artistic person but always attach a goal or end game to pursuits. This makes me take a step back.

That was actually really encouraging and I am so glad I wrote that and this was useful to me. Cheers

See? Even when you're not being useful ... you're being useful! Your wisdom will out, no matter what you do or say to try to stop it. It just kinda leaks out and affects us all. Thanks Derek x

"Art is useless" depends on how you define "art". By Seth Godin's definition, art is extremely useful. Your philosophies, ideas and advice (all art) are all recorded here and haven't gone out of date. Still extremely useful even when you aren't answering email. I wonder how many of your followers are now learning Esperanto or picking up their guitar after 19 years off? Forever a Tool! Haha!

I don't "take issue" with the title as a matter of defending art; but I do disagree with it on a pedantic level. Art therapy, for instance, is a tool; Yayoi Kusama gets a lot of utility out of her art. But of course that's not the point of the article: the point of the article is the worth of giving your happiness its due, which is something I wish more high-achievers in your scheme on would give a chance. Claps all around.

IN 1995 at a transition time in my life I was given a year off paid by a friend. 42 at the time. For the first 90-days had no idea who the hell I was. My value had always been in my work and without it I was nothing. Coming back from that was a bit scary, then creativity took over.

Good Luck on your Journey!

Derek!!! What language are you learning?
See /now — Derek

Somehow, your little article gave me an epiphany. It simplified an enormous complicated layer of life for me.Poof - It popped like an overblown bubble! Thanks!

Hi Derek,I've always respected you and have found your thoughts interesting...For me art is Not useless..I'm 64 these days...Believe it or not at 14 I started playin music and dreamed to be as big as The Beatles...By my Jr. Year of high school I played top 40 clubs 3 to 4 nights a week...My only de sire was to play music...Obsession unfortunately....In short I did go out to L.A. From Indiana to be a star....I did sign a record deal..with virgin records with the band asphalt ballet...mtv videos....I knew I was on my way....By now I was on my 3rd marriage....I traveled a lot, didn't see my kids grow like I wished....Of course very little money....I learned a lot from a record deal...I don't wanna be a rock star.....since that cd I've ended up recording 7 more CDs on my own..Doin them my way...I broke even which was good enough for me....Matter of fact I have a new cd called I ain't done yet comin out in May......I tagil play a lot and love it but I do it when I want ....I record the songs I like....I'm in control of my music....Recently I did a short show for my best friends funeral which so many appreciate...I have people write me saying how a certain song has changed their lives....I am still with the same wife now of 30 years and see my grandkids grow up....I still write and record a lot... It's a thing that makes me myself..I work a job too...Touring can seem like a job, now I play rock star when I want...Even get songs in movies....I don't have to please anyone but myself, I hope others like it but music is for me to keep my head clear....Music is a wonderful art when used to your advantage...Derek keep playing your music for you...you..you....enjoy life but as long as you love music and use it in the right way you are a winner.....Look up asphalt ballet on you tube...soul survive is a great video to watch..I'm that singer..of course gary Jeffries you tube videos of today are out there too....Take care my brother..Sincerely Gary Jeffries

Awesome. As always.

Derek, there are so many good (and free) conversational websites out there to exchange foreign language lessons with people all over the world!


My personal favorite is www.conversationexchange.com


Have fun and enjoy your useless self!


P.s. It's totally not true, though. Even this blog was useful to me and about a thousand others already! You just can't help it. Helping is in your blood!

Maybe I missed the gist but I think our realities are determined by narratives; those we persuade ourselves and others to adhere to. So art is both weapon and medicine and therefore the most useful thing I can think of.

Interesting, I just left an awards show, that I was hosting, where there was so much gratitude for all I do for the events industry. I should have been feeling amazing but instead all I could think about was that, I needed more ME time and to start finding something/anything fun again. Great timing, great post. Danke, Thank you, Gracuis, Danke Shoen, Kap Khun Krap...as you never did say what language it was

Not Fake News!!!!

I just started as a bike messenger in DC. I'm not making more than $50 per day and my bike brakes are failing -walking down steep hills so I don't crash -but I feel amazing if not performing lifestyle art. I can't help but be happy thinking that people see a guy with a clunky bike and basket swerving through traffic and they want to quit their careers and flee D.C.

Unlike orthodontics, or archery, art has no specific function or meaning. I heard recently that art is now more inclined to show reality (however one defines that) as compared to the cinematic stage of daily events that often seem more like fiction. Maybe there's a distinction too between art and being artful. I don't know. At 51, I started playing drums, just for myself. It's useless to anyone else but for me it has immense reward and suits my time-alone space. May the uselessness of your art enrich your life, Derek.

Hi Derek,

The pendulum swings. Useful, not useful. Useful, not useful. There is a polarity, a tension between the two poles and it sounds like you got pulled too far in one direction.

But maybe this isn't an either/or thing. There are many wonderful, positive qualities associated with being useful. In some ways it's our highest calling. But it also, as you discovered, has some powerful downsides. Same with being useless.

The trick, if there is one, is not to abandon the great qualities of one polarity after being singed by its negatives.

These are not original thoughts. They come from a management discipline called Polarity Thinking. I find it, sorry to use the word, useful, as a way of managing myself in certain situations.

But then, being a half-assed Buddhist I also look for the condition beyond polarities. I'm still looking...

Wishing you the best,

Michael

Art has inspired, chronicled, and driven positive social change. Victor Jara, Pete Seeger, etc., etc. Useless?

Do you think your usefulness has to run its course before you can embrace uselessness? Say you stumbled across this same article 10 years ago, when you were in the throes of feeling useful, would you have gotten the same value from committing to a life of uselessness?


Congrats for being a living embodiment of art. You inspire and teach a lot of people... just like art. ;)

I'm never more content nowadays than when I'm sitting on my own watching the sea. I dedicate as many hours a week I can to it. The problem is, when someone sees me watching waves, they get this urge to come and sit near me. It seems they want to share my enjoyment. So what do I do? I get up, and walk along the shore a bit further and resume my sea watching.

By the end of the day I look back and see 30 people staring at the sea. One day I'll ask them what they are doing there.

Gorgeous. Thank you.
Glad you are playing Derek.

With love, Caroline.

First, congratulations on being useless! As someone who does 24/7 time tracking and records the usefulness of each activity, I can appreciate the freedom you must feel (I have a category called Untracked when I need this freedom).

Having just started (again) learning a foreign language, can I recommend Forever Fluent ( fluent-forever.com/ )? It was created by an opera singer in his spare time, and now he helps people learn languages full-time. He teaches research-based techniques for learning languages.

I'm in the initial phase of re-learning German by spending a couple weeks learning pronunciation (along with the International Phonetic Alphabet) before learning any vocabulary.

Learning how our mouths work to produce sounds, and how to more accurately speak a foreign language has been fascinating. And I believe him when he says if you master the pronunciation first, learning the rest of the language will be a lot easier.
Yep! I'm a fan. ☺ — Derek

Good for you, Derek! And you still manage to be an inspiration (hmm...is that "useful")? It's useful in the way kindling is useful to start a fire. Thoughts?

Sounds like it's extremely useful for you Derek.

I have been a lifelong artist. I've bene through periods where I worried that what I was doing was "unless". But actually, art is one step up from "useful". It's the icing on the cake. Literally. The cake is useful... it's for eating. It takes good. The icing can be eaten as well. But it is really just for beauty and expression. It's for joy. Art is the physical expression of those things which are not a tool... mostly, emotions. It's the joy in the world! It's the design of your flatware, the pattern on your sofa pillows, the curve of your cars hood.

Many primates use tools... even if simple ones. But people... we get the unique gift of useless art... just for the joy of it!

nothing that makes you feel happy is useless

I like this quote:

"Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive."
- Howard Thurman

Nice article, thank you!

Useless beauty. You and Guy de Maupassant, well and Elvis Costello. . Freeing, though...good on you, Derek.

Kant made a linguistically metaphorical vision of a plausible theory of cognition by placing imagination as a schema between the subjective experience and its objective, general conditions as described in editions A and B, sided by side in the Kaufman translation (from German) of the "Critique of Pure Reason." Anyway, and this is along with his theory of morality according to the categorical imperative, act according to the principle that would make your particular response a General rule. As such, one "could not lie", lest lying could ever become a general rule or 'custom' of behavior. So the cognitive side (CPR), and Moral (Critique of proactical reason) are brought to a kind of Aesthetic Goal (?) * which became the Critique of Judgment which asks such questions as "What is Art?", and his definition:

Art is Purposeless Purpose.

I think part of this series of inquiries cooincided with that 1724 model as a kind of referent to me, at least insofar as certain things are always the same (but realize that the term 'human nature' is very prone to misunderstanding. But here is a question behind non-contigency - "purposeless Purpose"
I'm starting to begin to know something about what's it like to be getting along down that road to the point that makes a voice periodically tell me to play again. which is cool. the difficulty is that everything has become 'rationalized', but more than that, Commodified.

Question: So is the 'PurposeLess Purpose' what Kant & maybe 'We' try so hard to Comodify, because that's what nietzsche and jimi, & neil are and we're all up to anyway.
r

Very well said! You have found your peace, what a wonderful feeling.

Hey Derek..you did not create art or yourself..the purpose of all things is to set the stage for that which is to come..so you nor art can never be useless..

Glad to know you won't be answering my email. ;-)

I think this is awesome. My first reaction was "must be nice to have enough free time to think that way." Then I realized that I was making the error of traditional thinking and that it's more an issue of mindset than time. Sure, it's easier to allow yourself the grace to be "useless" if you don't have the worries of income or family care; but we all owe it to ourselves to carve out a part of our lives for art and "uselessness." Thanks for the inspiration!

I'm an Endodontist (root canal specialist). I love my job, love taking care of people and get them out of pain. It takes everything out of me at the end of the day. It's the "useless" things that recharge me- A walk in the park. Writing my journal. Staring at turtles in the pond... The useless things make life fun and meaningful and eventually make me a better person (which is useful) :). Thanks for the beautiful essay Derek!

You poor bastard! I had no idea you were obsessed with being useful. How liberating this must all be for you now. I have often tried to be useful. However, I have usually ended up pissing people off. Probably because I let slip that art is useless. I say it's worthless, too. If it weren't worthless, it's lack of worthlessness would be its use.

I almost gave up playing my wind instruments when I became a busy executive, but decided to practice for at least a few minutes each day and take the occasional gig. Later in life I discovered I was born without a diaphragm, one lung was shrinking and internal organs where all over the place.

The doctor gave me the option of using some breathing device or start playing regularly to expand my lungs and massage internal organs.

I now make practice a daily 1 hour routine, play as many gigs as I can get, jam with friends as a way of hanging out, play house parties and write myself into shows for fun, money and entirely new purpose for playing music.

Glad to see your back into your music, it seems that's where it all came from.

This article is useful. : ) Maybe not in an "industrial/business" sense, but it resonated with 100 people enough to comment. Anything thats true is useful, it makes life a bit better. Love drives truth.

I guess in ancient times, art was useful ... and certain art still is ... nothing wrong with having a beautiful hand thrown bowl for your soup or salad ... I am also asking myself similar questions, because it's come to my attention that I really, really need to "get back into my art ... I need to paint!" But why? I probably won't be famous; I'll be lucky to sell a print or a card ... many people in my neck of the woods cannot afford an original piece of art, but many certainly did love the recent art show I had with two friends ... and I enjoyed promoting our show ... I guess that's fine enough! Have fun, bring a little joy to oneself and the world around you ... that counts as "useful" in my book!

Thanks for the opportunity to explore this topic with you, Derek ... enjoy your music; I shall continue to enjoy my art as well. <3

☺!

I realize for many musicians (and people in the world in general), religion is considered as 2nd class, even something people want to get rid of. However, as the arts go, music in particular is a major part of two religions, two closely tied religions, Christianity and Judaism. Depending on how literally one wants to interpret passages from either the Jewish or Christian Bible, one could say that believers are expected to perform music for God's sake, not the sake of the music. (It's too bad, according to all the information I can find, that 60% or more of Muslims believe music in any form is evil or that, as best I can tell, other religions don't place as much usefulness on music as Christianity & Judaism do).

So, at least within the Jewish & Christian faiths, music plays a very useful, even required part. The music written for and performed is by its very existence, useful to those who believe. The musician doing the writing or performing of such music is a most useful individual.

I'm not qualified to speak to other parts of the arts, but I can't wonder if it was when music became primarily made for music's sake - "art for art's sake" - rather than, as it had once been, primarily for "God's sake" that, at least in the context you are talking about, it became "useless."

Within Christian & Jewish religion the musical arts are most useful and I'm sure there are plenty of secular situations where they also are. (A tip to musicians: Even if you don't believe anything a church teaches, they can be a great place to get a decent paying and very steady gig).

This idea is so attractive, but I have this thing where I feel like I need to do something big first. No matter what I tell myself, how much I tell myself to relax, I still try to be 'useful'. It's hard to give myself play time when I feel like I didn't earn it. I love playing the piano and it's been a low priority for me these last few years. I should start playing again, just for the love of it.

This year, I too began to study French, am learning to play the guitar and am taking singing lessons and could give two fucks about achievements and usefulness. I go home from work at 4:30 and do not have work email in my phone. I just have fun. I love it.

Life has meaning because it means something to us. Art is useful because it is useful to us.

You just put into words what I've been feeling and doing for the last two years but have never found a way to express. Thanks.

I love you Derek.
Enjoy your time and music!

Welcome home.

Richard Bach has a Post-It note on his Mac monitor:
Have Fun
Don't Think
Don't Care

The 'Law Of Time' people have a saying which is "Time is Art" http://www.lawoftime.org/lawoftime.html and they're making movies about that concept www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQavvYodWIY

And definitely money - basically - if there is anything you do for money - it's unhealthy... for yourself and people and the planet. I stopped all formal work a few years back and only have free/donation clients now and only do jobs (service) I resonate with and try to give away my music as much as possible.

My only rule for doing anything - creative or otherwise - is: is it fun and does it interest me. There are no other criteria really. In fact - true creativity should really be: I do nothing and just witness the creative form take shape through me.

That's the truly transcendent aspect of creativity - it is inspired - inspiritus - with spirit. Creativity is a meditation and an invocation and an artist is really just a monk expressing visions.

For not being a "tool," you sure have inspired a deluge of the most beautiful comments I've seen in years! Thank you Derek and thank you to my fellow commentators! ☺

Dear Derek,
Wonder man, I realise why you had to abandon CD Baby. (Beware of the Dutch).
I am 79 now Derek. Still playing my 15 bass pedasl piano I made.
A wonderful guy from Milan, Roberto Prosseda saw my invention, heard music I made on it Became a top friend.
He is a genius Derek.Plays 2 Yes! TWO Steinway grands! Both hands, both feet.
He came out here played at a few Italian embassies,Plus spent a whole sunday at my mate "Ralph Stuart's piano factory in Newcastle.
Ralph makes the best piano in the world mate! Pure Genius!
Good luck to you Derek.
Mark Whitty

Excellent progress, Derek.

Now give "helpless" a try.

I know a fellow near Seattle who voluntarily became "totally helpless" for about three years.

Fascinating learning experience!

A whole new cultural group enveloped him and completely cared for him until he ended his experiment. (No, they did not know what he was doing.)

Enjoy :)

Blessed to be living a very similar experience now... miss your Q&A, but it didn't define you for me... and being constantly in service of others can be exhausting & all consuming. I hope both our future paths are smooth enough to be easy and rough enough to be fun.

It is an interesting juxtaposition. Art and useful.
I don't see them as opposites rather as continuum where we are inspired
by other, learn what brings us joy, share because we love it,
the edge fades like spring, through summer, in autumn,
and finally when we have explored that love until we feel
like a tree in winter, leaves and colors gone, we go into
hibernation or a period of recovery and then return to spring again to
bloom again and share our joy once more having found an expanded
or different love to express. All this within
the bigger seasons of aging and life. Each season
right when we don't argue with what is but accept
it and live it. You do that well. Enjoy.

When word came that you'd sold CDBaby, I was surprised when I received an email from you, essentially offering your services to "help" me.
I really believed after cashing in on CDBaby that that would be the last we'd hear of you.
Well, its taken you several years to come to your senses.
Now is a good time to enjoy YOUR life and the things that you want to do.
Have fun.
☺ — Derek

Thank you Derek

You've taken the pressure off my day. I think also not trying to be useful leads me to greater originality, being useful pushes me to just what's already been done.

Heartfelt share, I am on a similarly track. It brought a smile and a resonance. Enjoy!

Ironically, I find this article very useful. Your articles always feel like they come at a good time for me, which means that we’re either in sync (unlikely) or that you’re very good at writing timeless material (more likely).

“All art is quite useless” is the last line of the preface of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, so you’re in good company with that assertion. The previous 2 lines:

“We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely.”
Ah! Really? Thanks for the source. I asked Kevin Kelly if he came up with it, and he said probably not, but didn't remember who did. That clever Oscar Wilde, the master of aphorisms, strikes again! — Derek

Great post. I hope you are enjoying your new time to yourself as much as I enjoy your content!

Hi Derek, this one's a bit conceptual for me. I believe what you're getting at is something Richard Rohr said in his 2005 book "From Wild Man To Wise Man":
"Success has very little to teach us [men] after age 30."
Once we consciously embrace that we have entered the "descent phase" of life, everything changes. This includes our perception of art, and life, and death.

Yours on the road not taken,

Joe Chaplain
redwoodprophets.com

Makes sense, enjoy the new phase in your life :)

This article smacks of maturity. It’s a wonderful feeling to realize you can do something for your very own enjoyment without worrying about what it will achieve materially for you.

Your experiences have proven to be useful for many of us out here who wait on you. Albeit unfortunately, it may have come at a cost to you in various shapes and forms I'm certain. It seems what you've come to realize is you don't have to fit a specific purpose I don't think. Doing what you do, whatever you do, and sharing the insight, feelings, thoughts that come with it - are of value to folks, (folks like us out here :) How often we all do exactly what you explain... and yet we can't see it, or appreciate it, or understand it, until we see or hear it from someone else. It's amazing how it works. Almost like a validation of what we "think" we might feel... comes to fruition when someone shares their thoughts and experiences. In sum, I guess it can be very easy to get caught up in the expectations that people have of us (much as those who await your next article, blog, audio clip etc)... I'm sure you / us can very quickly feel like a tool that is waiting to get used and get consumed in determining "what's next... What else can I do... how else can I help and be of value" but if we can remember to do what makes us happy, just to do it, and enthrall ourselves in it, it can pay dividends to those that observe it.
Thanks for sharing Derek. Always insightful....

Your first and last sentences remind me of Salvador Dali's quote - "I don't do drugs. I am drugs" - which I then transformed to make it my own - "I don't do art. I am art."
And you are right - I immediately rejected your claim, but now to let it sink in..

"Art is useless" is a sentiment I wrestle with on a daily basis. For a bit of context- I'm an artist myself. I quit my job 8 years ago and started creating a very specific style of art where I take meaningful quotes/sayings and warp/twist the letters into some visual design. I create designs that I *hope* are useful by visualizing quotes. I guess that is an argument for it being a "tool", but it sure feels like art.

I reject the notion that in order for something to be "art" it needs to be useless. Useless to who? Everyone? Ever? I'm reminded of a idea Ze Frank shared on an old episode of his show- "Let me remember that the unintended meaning that people project onto what I do is neither my fault nor something I can take credit for."

If an art piece shares perspective, captures an emotion, or makes them see the world differently... is it still art? Is it a tool at that point? Or can it be different things to different people at different times?

The best answer I've found (so far at least) surfaced recently. I have a friend who has lived a rather successful career as a singer/songwriter. Sitting around working on our respective crafts one day I stepped back from my work for a moment and I asked him "Doesn't this all feel useless?" I was referring to our respective crafts. I think the question was burning in my mind after a mutual friend (a pediatric surgeon) had recently performed an impressive lifesaving operation.

Without skipping a beat he said "Music is how I am of service to the community. It's my contribution." And I think that put my mind at ease a bit. Since then I've adopted the notion that creating art is how I am of service to the community.

If the rambling above is any indication... I'm still a little unsure about it all. I like to think art is, or at least can be, useful. I might be wrong. I might be missing the mark completely, or I might just be hung up on the semantics.

In any case- I appreciate the post.

If it helps- although you are not immediately "useful" in the way you have been in the past, it doesn't mean the things you have created are not incredibly useful to the new strangers stumbling across your site. You've created a legacy of useful articles, posts, books, videos, and audio recordings that are useful tools for anyone curious enough to seek them out. :)

Cheers!

Jason

Interesting... Before I say anything- I'm thinking and musing on it. Thanks for making me think!

I don't disagree with what you're saying, because there are different ways to look at it. But what if someone is going through an unpleasant time in their life and someone's song, movie, painting etc. is helping this person keep their head up during this difficult situation. Is it useless? I used Trent Reznor's art a lot during a tough growing period in my life.

Great article Derek, you always break my mind, in a good way.
Why do artists & musicians struggle so much with the feeling that they need to validate what they do or who they are? There is such value in who they are, and hence the war against the soul of man and his creativity. (The Monuments Men) Made in His image, we will always create. "Nothing of beauty lacks value." It may not be useful, but anything from the heart and mind of man has eternal worth.

I was in this mindset for two years, and it nearly drove me insane. Reading The Gene by Siddhartha Mukherjee and learning about how detrimental social isolation has proven to be through a myriad of studies turned it around for me. I wanted to be useful, but selfishly, only for myself. I was consumed by always learning something new, always improving, and always doing doing doing. I've learned to slow down, meditate, enjoy the company of others, and I started coloring. And I'm so much happier. I'm happy for you for rediscovering your music. I played the euphonium in high school, and once I have the disposable income to buy one, it'll be bringing me joy just like it used to. I can't wait.

Well done, you! I've just finished a 6-month sabbatical (well, I was downsized with a severance package) and have come out the other side realising that I don't have to prove anything to anyone. I feel as though I'm entering the most pure creative time that I've had since I was 17 and a senior in high school. That time has been my benchmark ever since for Creative Bliss... And I'm getting that feeling of freedom back in a very pleasant way.

I agree. Art is more of a "me-time". It's a pleasure time where you're not subjected to any pressure, deadline or measurable outcome. Great insight, Derek, as always ;) Thanks for sharing.

I have recently realized that, while we may want to help the planet and have many ideas that are viable, the mere visualization of these ideas coming to fruition does a lot to help. When we hold in our hearts and minds the vision of the solutions, we are truly helping. This gives a person a feeling of being useful and helpful, plus it frees up the mind and the time to concentrate on what is most important: evolving ☺

This strikes me as affected. It makes no sense whatsoever except in support of a false dichotomy between play and work.

I happy for you that you have escaped from the obsessive habit of announcing your usefulness on every page, you say. This was clearly neurotic behaviour of some kind, quite astonishing to hear about. On the other hand, the fact that you have cured yourself of this small bad habit is a weak foundation for any large conclusions about usefulness. You've just cured a silly habit. Good.

Great article Derek!

"Be useful" was something that stuck with me from your podcast with Tim.

The distinction I think is to "Be useful" some of the time, you still need you/me time to recharge.

It would appear that when you do something you fully engage and emerge yourself completely, so taking time out and not replying to e-mails (By the way no need to reply ;-) ) you have just written another very USEFUL ARTICLE, its caused me to pause, reflect and I will have a better day, week, because of it!

Thank you!

Derek, as we all know well, art has a strong social value! Artists are the one to change, create, shape public opinion. The role of the arts to provoke social change is known sinc ages. Art is a tool for change in the society. It might be an individual "activity", creation etc. but the social "usefulness" is immence! Great artists never work in isolation, but respond to societal changes, provoke and inspire, shake societie and lead the way ahead! What is more useful than that?!?

A measure of art's worth is whether it's useful. And a measure of whether it's useful is if evokes emotions. So, bad art is indeed useless. Good art, however, can be incredibly useful.

"It's only Rock and Roll but I like it" - Mick Jagger

He figured it out a long time ago. :)

‘Good on yer’, Derek ... when I wuz a child and absorbed in whatever it was that took my fancy, my dad would comment thus: ‘but is it constructive?’

As a child I had no ready answer to that and so the idea of being constructive or useful permeated my approach to life - not all the time I hasten to add. Who knows, at the time, whether or not what I’m doing is either constructive or useful. Often, it’s much later that the rueful aspect of ‘sod it - that didn’t work’ comes into play.

Art is useful - I can argue the case that art IS useful ... does it need to be cast as a tool to be useful? Even as a tool, playing music has been useful to me - helped to keep some semblance of sanity at the very least. Widened my horizons - that sort of thing.

Your articles have always been useful and they’re certainly born from creative effort and a desire to share. As I don’t get any sense that these impulses come from a distended ego then .... where’s the harm?

As a bloke in my mid sixties that aspect of having some ‘me time.’ matters. Still maintaining a principled approach to life but a bit more reserved about where and with whom I spend my energy. Learning how to say ‘no’ or ‘enough’ can take a lifetime - well - it does with me anyway.

Pleased to hear that you’ve been drawn back to playing music - yippee for all of us that creative expression, like humour, is so deeply imbedded in being human.

Useful and/or worthwhile .... they’re a bit entwined aren’t they?

Cheers and thanks

Dear Derek, Thanks for sharing your feelings about 'art is useless' of course this could be a disturbing statement for many.
I'm thinking in another register on King Salomon, a wise man who had it all in his life (money, glory, ladies ...) he told he turned toward all the works that his hands had done and accomplished and concluding that everything for him was vanity and striving after wind and that there was nothing of advantage under the sun...
His conclusion was ' fear the true God and keep his commandments...'

This sounds as extreme as ' art is useless' but here also worth for meditation in a world becoming very virtual losing the good feeling of a simple handshake ... ☺

Hi Derek,

Art is the most useful invention of all time.

In our culture where usefulness and productivity are our highest values, art is seen as 'icing on the cake'. I'd like to suggest that art IS THE CAKE. It is culture, understanding, perception, evolution of ideas.

Useful in activating all areas of the brain like nothing else.
Useful in rewiring the brain for speech.
Useful in helping dementia patience regain brain function.
Useful in emotional processing of stress, trauma, etc.
Useful in helping to have a really really really good time! :)
A million other ways.

As a song writer I have realised that the way for me to be MOST USEFUL is to stop trying to help everyone and focus on activating my natural gifts and express myself. Picasso, Leonard Cohen, David Bowie made their greatest contribution to humanity through their art.

I wrote a book called "why your art matters" to raise the value of art in our society. I'm so happy to hear that you are playing more.

End of rant! :)

From Mijo who spent a month in a cabin in Iceland doing nothing but making songs. Self actualisation is useful for the world. :)

I love this quote that Pam Stucky left here:
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” ~ Howard Thurman

Big love,
Mijo

This kind of reminds me of a point someone made in my hearing a long time ago, which I've never forgotten.
"We're called human beings, not human doings, for a reason." ☺

Thank you for this :)

Amen brother, I'm attempting to be only slightly more than completely useless but mostly just making songs now.

Cheers
Keith

Art is useful because it expresses emotions far more effectively than language, or any other means we have. Without art we are a society of emotionally illiterate peole, and you can read about the harm those kinds of people do in the papers everyday. Or, as somebody else said, "without art we are just monkeys with car keys." Check out Suzanne Langer, "Philosophy In A New Key", and Bennett Reimer, "A Philosophy of Music Education".

Thanks for a great post... In a similar way, I learned that I was too kind for my own good.... so learning to let go of being useful is a big step as well...

Regarding the idea of the usefulness of art.... some thoughts and a quotes... from my book Let Go, Heal, Be Happy...

"For many, the artistic world is what keeps people connected and sane. Musician Bill Henderson writes: 'When I was young I was very shy and had a rough time talking to people... there can be heavy duty pressure in school when you are growing up. Music was the only way that I could communicate with the world that actually worked. Music saved my life. When you create music, you are finding something that makes you feel better and when you give that to someone it's a wonderful thing. It helps our culture become saner. The artist’s view point is one our society needs more of.'

A comment added by Dave DeHaan to an article on Facebook describes the importance of expression through music. He wrote: 'I was around 3, my father had just died and one of the people who came over to pay their respects gave me a plastic trumpet. I made noise, I ‘expressed’ my feelings in that noise and I've been doing it ever since. Then and now, I have my own ‘language’ and connection to the world through my music and I feel more ‘real’ because of it.'

While not everyone feels a calling to become a singer or musician, it is important to discover your own medium for expressing your soul's nature. This can be done through your hobbies, through your career, or even through your family life. We long to enrich people's lives. In reading the next few pages, try to think of what you would like to do to express yourself. Try a few new things. Sing in your car! Buy a sketch pad and some crayons, or buy a children’s drawing app for your phone or tablet. Learn to play and express yourself again! Creative activity has been demonstrated to positively impact the experience of recovery, and has indirect and direct effects on performance-related outcomes. The more you engage in creative activities, the more likely you will be able to come up with creative solutions in other areas of your life, both at home and at work."

For me and others the act of creating releases tension from the soul..... I suspect you will discover that the usefulness of art is not the art itself, but comes from the process of creating and self-expression... and as I discuss in Let Go, Heal, Be Happy..... art or music is not the only form of expression.... some people like to organize, work with numbers, socialize, listen, or build or fix things...

Thanks again for a great post. It seems a new chapter is unfolding for you.

This is the second post I have ever sent to you. The first was the thank you for your book. This is to thank you for a course correction. I have spent many years trying to find a path of usefulness. It was a gut check to see your personal war of art. The law a gratitude demands that I admit that I use your posts to true my course. Thank you and I owe you one. (I hope the one I owe you is an Irish whiskey)

Rich

You still want my comments? After you're no longer useful to me? You have served your time, my friend! Everything you've done is still out there, so you continue to be "of use" even if you never write another thing on this blog. I look forward to interacting with you as a person, rather than a useful figure, should I get the chance.

Art is not useless. Reaping enjoyment for yourself, and bringing productivity and financial gain to people who construct, sale, and transport art products all over the world, keeping many art hobbyist happy. Your art is your passion enjoy it. This is useful. This is Renaissance.

There are two modes of thinking - the focused and the diffuse mind. Art comes from the diffuse mind where things connect from a relaxed, neural resting stage. Our society values the focused mind of action where pinpoint concentration brings forth useful results. Yet, creative ideas come from an unconscious area of the mind. ( these are notes from Barbara Oakley class Learning How To Learn, (UC San Diego) from her online class.) I interpreted this diffuse mode (which art falls into) as a very useful component to a healthy mind.

That what I started to do after years but you know what now I am more valuable as a humane being.
I think when you start realizing that being the best I can be for me will have am affect on the world, because when you happy it is catchy

I have a sudden urge to get back into my stained glass

Usefulness or uselessness are abstract terms...and fairly subjective ones to boot.

But since we're delving into this land, I prefer kindness to usefulness.

Keep on being kind to yourself. Because that's always useful to us.

Peace

I think this is a very profound and enlightening statement. I am at a similar place in this universe and want to make music just for the love of it. Not to be a star but just to create. It has value even if the scale is smaller now than it was 30 or 40 years ago.
The old adage of staying true to yourself is coming through.
Well said Derek.

Really interesting. Reminds me of Brian Eno's line "Art is everything you don't have to do"

Glad to hear that your bringing joy to your life.

But can you imagine a world without Music?

I love the distinction from "useless" and "worthless". Since art is not "worthless" does that make the opposite true? Is art "valuable"? I struggle with this since I'm a photographer and the art I make is perceived as a service and/or product. As technology advances and the production of commodities increase, does it make things like art, more "valuable"?

It is fantastic your realizations !!!

Sort of timely thoughts Derek. Laid off in 2002 and trying to be "useful" while my internal gears striped as I went from a virtual 24/7 travel, audits, reports, stress to 0 MPH sitting at home trying to find purpose. Thanks for your thoughts this evening ... you are correct ... we are no one's tool. Oh snap ... you were useful!

Art might not be useful, but it can be valuable. There are countless ways that art enriches lives, not by making them more productive or efficient the way something useful would, but enriches lives the way useful things rarely can.

I will have to think on the "useless" thing, but I am sure there is something to it if you and KK agreed. However, I am pleased to see you are taking the opportunity to play. It looks like you found your CEO and you are able to disconnect. Congratulations on your success, keep leading by example!

I think one of the better articles you have posted. I think life is all about balance. Yes it's great to be successful and industrious, but life should also be graceful and rounded. Don't get me wrong, I'm sometimes guilty myself of feeling the need to be constantly productive, and proven my worth. But in reflection I wonder if this is sometimes not an ego issue... look what I've done. I believe infatuation with over achieveing is no better than any other sickness. The need to constantly train for a sporting event to fill fullfiled, or be constantly consumed with making money is simply out of balance, and can take away the grace and joy of all that being human has to offer.

I left my useful engineering job 21 years ago because although I was being very useful, I was negatively impacting many lives. I have been uselessly pursuing music since. I understand your struggle, Derek, and I laud your resolve.

My dear Derek, I spent 30 years in the movie / TV industry - and now I hear you say I was useless ...

Ok, maybe I am presuming / assuming a lot by associating movies with art ...
but then again it is called the Seventh Art ...

And then again we have MASTERS - like Leonardo da Vinci - who blur the line - whose engineering and medical knowledge would be USELESS if he did not have the drawing skills to illustrate the human anatomy or the machinery that was created a few hundred years after he drew it ...

On an other note, all true art will provoke an emotional roller coaster akin to an olfactory orgasm in the perceiver...

and - most important - if your usefulness proved financially beneficial to even ONE musician you have earned my respect.

A long time ago I came up with a saying:
What's the difference between a professional and an amateur ?
ONE DOLLAR !

If one person pays one dollar to hear your song you're a pro.

I know you focused on CDs sales - and you did very well!

So my question to you:
How does it feel to have been useful selling useless stuff?

Good...
Balance in all things. Art and down time feed our soul. When our soul is fed we will know if we are moved to service in a way appropriate for us now !
Locking into the way we were back then is to try to freeze ourselves which leads to stagnation. Not the way to generate the enthusiasm which powers wonderful things...
Enjoy your Art ! For it's own sake..

Art is the outward manifestation of the condition of the soul. Whether it is useful to someone or not, depends on how much a person is needing to connect with their inner self. I find myself in constant need of that connection, and making music is often what I use. There, that was the word, use.

I think there are two separate things here.... Art can be useful in a way that does not have to take away from who you are. I think "Art" is a part of the great unknown beauty of creation, however you define that. If we choose to use Art or anything, anyone, for that matter, in a way that takes a way our own power and sense of self. We need to look at that and examine what is in US that needs to feel that way.
I have spent 12 years a 12 step program for Co dependency. I have so much identification with y ou, but we or our art are not good for anyone, if we can't take care of ourselves and ultimately love who we are.... TINA

So glad you're making music again man. Happy for you. 🎸

For the strong medicine of USELESSNESS see Chuang Tzu, last verse of Chapter 4:
"Mountain trees plunder themselves. Grease fires broil themselves. Cinnamon's tasty, so the trees are hacked down. Lacquer's useful, so the trees are cut open.
Everyone knows that to be useful is useful, but who knows how useful it is to be useless?"

Without a spiritual practice, or a depth of understanding of the "appearance appearing of itself"ness of all existence or the Creation, then it isn't so hot to label things quite in this way.

I like what Moji said above. I also like the redirection towards glory to God mentioned above: set your little self aside and be one with inescapable divinity. Sure, we all get in our own way much of the time. I have made that into an art form, unintentionally, also...

I defer here to the man (not Dylan for me) Ronnie James Dio:

"For every moment of truth, there's confusion in life.
Love can be seen as the answer: but nobody bleeds for the dancer." - RJD
Heaven and Hell, Black Sabbath with Dio 1980

Combine that with some Alan Watts:
youtu.be/ERbvKrH-GC4
"But we missed the point the whole way along: it was a musical thing and you were supposed to sing, or to dance, while the music was being played."

Oh yeah, and then there's brain science...but,
sure, deconstructing neurosis is very healthy, we all raise a glass to that.

I was just saying how I'm tired of being someone's "resource" so the "tool" definitely resonates. There's a freedom in being able to live instead of living through a perception of someone else's illusion. You can finally...be. Love this, and this just validated some things that I was wrestling with, wondering why I don't feel fulfilled or haven't done anything for me lately.

I am happy to be useless. ☺

The hammer photo is interesting to me. The striking end of the hammer almost depicts a boot in the mouth. Or maybe it's a heart? Work vs. Creativity.

Then the smiley on the bottom.

What do you guys think?

This is so apt! Your writing about "It kept me from playing, and doing things just for me" is how I feel right now. I think a lot of people who are still working for money also feel this drive to need to be useful, as that's the primary way people get paid.

Good for you, Derek!

I am working on stepping outside of the "useful" paradigm myself. It is only in those moments of "uselessness" that we find our creativity. Keep it up!

"Those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." -Dr. Suess

Derek,

You have been very useful to me in my life! All I want though is for you to be you, useful to me or not.

Please play. Please sing. Please learn. Please be.

Praise that this is enough.

Michèle

Damn. Maybe this is what I need...need to get down w/ the uselessness! And be OK w/ it!
Glad you're doing well D. Been wondering how you've been. :)

It sounds like a wonderful time. What is useful to what? As a professional musician I feel the word useful is as ambiguous and various in meaning as possible, so it all depends on context. There are times I am very invested in practice, and I feel intensely focused. And after playing I feel like an athlete cooling off. Something useful was going on for me, but I can't necessarily apply that to others. Policy wise I would rather live in a country with public spending on the arts, carefully and transparently managed, as a gesture of social generosity and enlightenment life support -- even if the "use" is argued over. Enjoy! -- Brien

Art is a manifestation of an idea. Idea's are personal to each person. And each persons expression is completely unique. We all need our own art for our own personal self expression and inventory :) Thanks for sharing Derek <3

Hi Derek, I have been under your spell of "knowledge" for many years and you have been my "go to" guy ever since. I understand your thoughts. Sounds like you have made steps towards your new passion. Good for you! So glad you shared. Art stirs the soul, no doubt. It only depends on who is listening. Art is what you make of it! Thank you for all of your hard work and support.
Best,
Kyra

ps. What language? :)

really no need to share my comment! For your eyes only. Thanks again!

>> Art can be valuable, and someone might find a concrete use for it, but usefulness was not its purpose.


I disagree. Some art is indeed created with a purpose; and that purpose can be usefulness.

Natural history drawings, for example:
http://alecto-historical-editions.co.uk/BANKS/cg010001.htm

Providing drawings of over 1,000 new species of plants and animals was both an artistic and scientific endeavour by Banks and Solander. Very useful and very purposeful.


I think one could even make the case that the purpose of art is to make us think, to make us react, to make us more than we were before we read/saw/heard the art. That is its purpose, and that is indeed useful.

Thanks for the new post. We missed you too Derek !

Thank you for this post, Derek.

Balances of a true life time artist, being true to his life.

Great read and good for you Derek. Thank you for sharing this!

I need to start reading more and catch up on my Rosetta Stone !

I think art means expression. In ancient Greece, an art was considered a thing that could do no wrong when practiced, like the art of medicine or physical training. Art as expression seems to match its usage these days.

Very useful advice! You're awesome Derek!! ...and so useful to this world as you are.

Refreshing perspective
I picked up on the idea of being useful from Adam Scott a few years ago. It appealed to me as I entered retirement . How to leverage a lifetime of consulting experience.
I always wanted to be on the verge of success. I found success led to routine and to struggle to feed the team. Structure and meetings .Prefer going it alone. Collaborating.
I do just enough coaching work to have fun and be useful without it being work.
I love learning to use new tools like the enneagram. It keeps me engaged and growing.
The intense conversations can be magical. Never know where it will go.
Rewarding to see people transform
Also write songs and do recording with friends
Pure fun. At 73, no ambition except to create something new that I like .

Along with definitions of useless, worthless and valuable, one needs a definition of art. Techies would say that the creative act of designing an integrated circuit is art. These circuits are beautiful to look at are are useful. Michelangelo would say art is useful. Most of his work was political commentary, dissing some elite and elevating others. Artists today do the same thing...New Yorker and graffiti artists consider their work useful. In my view, art is useful on so many levels.

The definition that Art is useless is true, only because it's hard to define art. It's like philosophy in that regard. Any portions of it that are useful and clearly definable got rebranded with their own labels. That which remains is undefinable, and some of it might be useful, and some useless.

I think the pressure you were feeling came from worrying how other people might evaluate you. It's one of the first things that Enchiridion warns against. It's a pretty raw deal. One can try to be useful, but one cannot, and perhaps should not, expect to be known as being useful.

Loved your post Derek, I have done some kind of art all my life, but rarely just for me - it always was for a someone else or for money. I have alway had to use my talents for making money and almost never just for fun. "One day I will make art just for myself" I have always thought it, but when you have bills to pay, what do you do? I'm 60 years old now and my Social Security will not pay my nut (when I take it at 66.5 years old) - I have no savings - I will have to work as long as I can. And of course the more money you make after you take your SS the less SS you get. I don't mind working at all - most of the time I enjoy it - but art for arts sake is not so easy for a working artist!

Derek,

Thank you for sharing, I can totally relate, as someone who is very selfless, we get distracted from doing the work on us by other people. Again, a short beautiful message. I appreciate you brother. And can relate to your stories. Where can I listen to some of your music?

MA

It's good to hear from you again!

art is a spice, not the main component of the dish!

Art is not useless. In the Summer I had a social worker bring in some clients and they sat at my front table.. I took out my guitar and played some soft finger picking music I had written. The social worker after ten or fifteen minutes of me playing said. "WOW I have never been so relaxed in my life" They all enjoyed it.
The brain is two parts. And one of them likes Music. Hence Not useless. My late mother used to say when I played guitar she would just melt and relax from the sound. The best way to live is to Create something every day.

Derek,

your post hits me just perfect.

Have you ever read the novel from Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray?

Oscar has some statements about the uselessness of art that you might appreciate.

I try to put it in effect over my life decisions.

It's nice to be hearing from you again.

Have a good weekend coming by.

Michel J.

Your emails through the years have been much appreciated. As a contemporary classical composer the useful/meaningful issue has long been on my mind. Thank you for sharing the personal meaningfulness that learning (language and music) are bringing to you at this time in your life.

As I see it, the most useful thing you can possibly do is to make people happy. Then beyond that to help them experience all the richness of life as filtered through the eyes of someone that sees it. Connect with them. Inspire them... And I would hazard a guess that The Beatles and Walt Disney and Mozart, etc. etc. have managed to do that for more people than most.

I might even go further, and argue that when it comes down to it, 'Art' - the process of making aesthetic choices, is really the only thing that matters. If you don't believe in God or some other higher power, then ethics is reducible to aesthetics. Every possibility is available as a choice, and you can shape your world the way you want it. Your life is Art... Maybe...

Great to hear that. I am happy to know you are doing things you love. You ve helped many people already.
Tottaly agree
Regards from chile

Art matters. Thirty years since U2's Joshua Tree was released. m.youtube.com/watch?v=TxGckWETzdE&feature=youtu.be

Oh, Derek, this is so on target. I moved to Seattle in '99 after playing in coffeehouses and open mics in Boston for years, and didn't get on stage again until 2015. All for the same reason - if the music didn't serve a purpose it had no worth. I didn't know I thought that, but you have nailed it. Won;t make that mistake again. Thanks for writing this.

I love this article. When you do something for yourself, just for yourself, and you love the things you do,in our country, we call it "从心所欲". It is a very good life status .but for most people who struggle to make a living , it is not easy to live this way.

Oh sweet relief...... the value of "useless"....

I have suffered from the same compulsion to be useful. My mother reminded me that I was a very avid trainee for toilet training. Somehow before the age of two, I got the idea that toilet training was useful, and that I'd better do it very very well. I'm glad I didn't just smear feces over my family's house but I think that some of the playfulness of very young children might be stifled by rigid toilet training. Ironically, this skill which is clearly for the greater good, is also an individual enterprise, and not a communal one. Maybe learning to cook is a more communal activity, and blends usefulness with community. Maybe cooking is more like a jazz, and toilet training is more like practicing. Just some things to think about!

The 'art is useless' conversation originated in Oscar Wilde's introduction to THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY;

“We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely.

All art is quite useless.”

A reader named Bernulf CLegg wrote to Wilde asking him to explain and Wilde replied with a handwritten letter seen here http://www.lettersofnote.com/2010/01/art-is-useless-because.html

Transcript:

16, TITE STREET,
CHELSEA. S.W.

My dear Sir

Art is useless because its aim is simply to create a mood. It is not meant to instruct, or to influence action in any way. It is superbly sterile, and the note of its pleasure is sterility. If the contemplation of a work of art is followed by activity of any kind, the work is either of a very second-rate order, or the spectator has failed to realise the complete artistic impression.

A work of art is useless as a flower is useless. A flower blossoms for its own joy. We gain a moment of joy by looking at it. That is all that is to be said about our relations to flowers. Of course man may sell the flower, and so make it useful to him, but this has nothing to do with the flower. It is not part of its essence. It is accidental. It is a misuse. All this is I fear very obscure. But the subject is a long one.

Truly yours,

Oscar Wilde
Awesome! Thank you so much for finding and posting this! — Derek

Words..... can inspire like art.

Was wondering how you were doing in your new life just a couple days ago.

Anyway, a list of "useless" stuff could get very long.

Hi Derek, I think you're spot on. Nothing wrong with cultivating yourself from time to time....or for the rest of your life if you so chose! Good on you. I'm really into the message and general 'credo' behind The Idler (www.idler.co.uk) and the writings of its creator, Tom Hodgkinson. I'll forward his latest e-mail to you for reference.

All the best,

Antony

Would the person who uses art to overcome psychological abuse or PTSD consider art as useless?
Would the person that uses music to overcome a stammer consider art as useless?

hey D.

i like this.

i think of things as those that have a point, and those that don't.

good to hear you're embracing the pointlessness.

pointless is seen as a derogatory thing - but it is made up of infinite points - so no amount of tools (or pointedness) can reach it - sounds like art to me - sounds like that's perhaps where you're going with this......

keep being pointless you might even find a point

excited

hehe

charlie

Derek, You sound like a lost soul searching for rhythm and reason. The famous proverb says there's "a time for every season". In your own time, I hope you find that safe harbor and soft landing that leads to purpose and well being. Thanks for sharing your life through the years.

Thank you for this article - your insistence on usefulness was the one thing that rubbed me wrong - everything else you said hit home. But usefulness was my big downfall too. I used to ask myself what my highest and best use was and the answer did not ever suggest go make music. In 2009, however, I walked away from my successful 25 years of law practice to go to music school and never looked back. I do worry sometimes about whether I can make some money with music, but every time I let go of it and just play, life smiles on me and I smile back. By the way, art and music speak and vibrate on much higher levels than utility. Good luck being useless,Jess

Still not certain I agree. However, thank you. Cheers, Derek.

Artists are society's immune system.

"Art is useless by definition..." Yes, I agree with you, Derek. But as man has evolved, it evolved too, like many others human things. Art can be useful if it's related to culture. In fact, I consider art as the main tool to carve culture that is the background of human ideas and actions. Well, that's an opinion.

Anyway, think about music as a tool for being "you" in your "you-time." And later, in your writing (art in fact) as a tool to change minds, even if your main purpose was that or not... "I'm nobody's tool," that sounds wrong to me: In the moment you write something, you are leaving a piece (maybe a tiny screw) of a hypothetical tool that a stranger will find and use in some manner. You don't know how can be used, but there it is and will have a purpose once enters the stranger's mind.

So, be you in the way you want it. The rest come for the act of living a life full of contentment that will permeate the world around you. Hope this World continue receiving the unique pieces of art your vision produces.

Greetings! :)

A tool exits to do a particular job. Finite. "Art" takes us into the abstract and into the infinite.

Bro you definitely need some ME time. It is worth every microsecond.....I am looking forward to hearing some more of your awesome music. Take care of yourself there is only one of you.

I stopped too. Nothing to prove. Performed for years and didn't feel like it so I stopped.
Still record and write. Stopped all things that I didn't like i.e. Giving parties and hosting
People looking for a vacation at our house!😂
If people want to see us, we suggest a restaurant or cafe to meet at and recommend
A local motel for their lodging. Living in an area that tourists like to come to
Makes us an easy 🎯 target. No more. Too distracting.
The only art I allow on our walls are my husband's paintings, a few friends art and
Special moment photos. I believe the best way to serve is by being a good example of living the life I choose and being happy with our choices or changing them. Every morning
I am outside looking at the sun and being grateful. That is art, the view of the sun and mountains.
If what I create makes me laugh then I am happy. If someone else
Also enjoys it, even better 😂

Wow very interesting idea!

Couldn't agree more- art IS useless so is enjoying free time, a walk in the woods, taking in a sunset and so many other things that are oh so valuable in life but alas useless.

My drive and previous motivation, in line with yours it seems, has always been to make good use of my time to benefit others- for the greater good. At other times focused on good cost-effective "use" of my time to make money.

But after years of this feel burnt out & realizing I'm not enjoying my life & family & realized the kids growing up way too fast & I don't want to miss out on the useless moments.

:)

I admire what you did, but respectfully disagree that art is useless and that it is not a tool. Art is a medium of expression, therefore, it is a tool in my opinion. As a music teacher, I was able to share my art with others and be rewarded every day by my students who leaned music from me. I met a former student in the grocery store one day. He was then grown up. He said, "Didn't you use to teach music?" I said that I did, and I remembered this student. He nearly always came to the music room with "storm clouds brewing" and left happy. He said that I had made his life at school bearable. This is an extreme example of what music means to students. Others found it valuable to a lesser degree than this troubled child.

I used to say a prayer before I began the teaching day: "Please let my work today be acceptable as a service to others. Please help me to do my work well."If everyone accepted this as part of their work ethic, we would have a happier, more productive society.

You deserve to have time to develop your art. It does take dedication and time and effort. I hope you are successful pleasing yourself and then find that when you please yourself, you also pleases others. Others appreciate it when you find a way to express well the feelings we all have. Then your art becomes a service.

So I'm at a symposium this last Tuesday...there are 400+ non-profit art orgs in San Diego County (out of around 11,000 non-profits, so it's not a big percentage), all of them trying to be useful. About 65 of us met to discuss how we could serve Veterans by working together (not as artists but as businesses). That's the ultimate experiment in cat herding, IMHO. I'd rather my art was useless, but, well, it's also my passion. How do I become a useful artist without selling out to commercialism and commoditization? I don't think that's possible. Derek, you're an inspiration: whatever your useless art is, keep doing it, OK? If for no other reason, knowing that you are making useless art anyway inspires me to keep on keeping on, CTA at the top of every website page etc.

Intention is not the same as outcome. What if you write a great song... a great song that raises political awareness! This Land is Your Land - Masters of War

I think art can be very useful, but it doesn't have to be. Music especially is useful - and valuable - if it brings people joy and inspiration and fun and stress relief.

I definitely use music, art, movies, and good stories as tools to change my mood or inspire me - either making or consuming.

Hi, Derek! :D

There is no point to Art. That's the point of Art (-Robert Bruce)

Good for you!! If you're having a hard time settling in, you might try starting a meditation practice.

I'm sure it's hard to let go of being useful because feeling like you're helping people is the best feeling in the world.

I'm getting better at tucking Art into the nooks and crannies of my time. I'm not famous or one bit wealthy so stuff still has to get done here. However, I can be having a really stressful-bad day thinking I'm so behind on my list and blah blah blah when, if I say fuck it and let it all go, and I do a totally useless bit of art, I suddenly feel thrilled to be alive again!!

Cheers to your next chapter!

I want to do this!

Such things are always issues of semantics and details. The people who have been most useful to me have been composers. Its not food and shelter but its a driving force of the universe. So usefulness is an open debate. You can define it to make art useful or not.

1.Art gets you high. Tell me something more useful outside of the basics than that?

2.Art motivates people and gives meaning to their lives, not just their art, but the shared art of others.

3. Art entertains.

4. Art bridges cultures and generations.

5. Art brings people together and promotes stronger bonds.

6. Art battles tyranny.

Wait, before I go on, tell me a useful thing which couldn't be achieved by art?

Yes, this, as they say. Very well stated as always, and this time with a particular personal resonance, as I'm trying to make music again myself under similar auspices. Please keep writing these perfect capsules.

Neat. Like the direction things have been going for the last six months.

Hello Derek,

I'm very happy to hear that you have come to this realization, even if it took so long, it's a great place to be. I have finally come to a somewhat similar conclusion, having spent most of my life concerned with results and not the process. Nice.

Few points:
* Valuable things are never useless. There may not be a use for them for a while, but they have some use (or had). Otherwise they won't be valuable.

* You can't just be useless all the time! There always are periods in your life when you oscillate between useful and potentially useful (not useless).

* It's your choice, but please do not delete any of your content just thinking it is useless! There are some examples in community (_why, mark pilgrim), who did just that. Please don't go that route.

* Lastly, is everything alright? Seek help if you are struggling with something! Meditation helps (whether you are alright or not) (saying this tongue in cheek, sort of).

Few points:
* Valuable things are never useless. There may not be a use for them for a while, but they have some use (or had). Otherwise they won't be valuable.

* You can't just be useless all the time! There always are periods in your life when you oscillate between useful and potentially useful (not useless).

* It's your choice, but please do not delete any of your content just thinking it is useless! There are some examples in community (_why, mark pilgrim), who did just that. Please don't go that route.

* Lastly, is everything alright? Seek help if you are struggling with something! Meditation helps (whether you are alright or not) (saying this tongue in cheek, sort of).

I'm with you. I went back to music too after a lifetime of "being a writer". It feels totally self-indulgent, but I haven't been as content in a long while. A nice discovery too that music appeared to not only await my return, but also seemed to have improved some aspects of my approach in the interim, once I'd worked off the rust a bit. I think the idea that we must always be useful is a symptom of the idea that we must always be thinking of making a buck. Or worse, an old Christian idea that life must always be a grinding hardship. That if it isn't, it is somehow not "worthy". My rebellion against religion and economics now consists of losing myself in harmony.

Hey Derek, thanks again for sharing your nuggets of transparency with us.

Art truly is truly in the eye of the beholder.

My hope is that each person shares there art because it makes the world a more interesting and beautiful adventure.

Developing with art,
Ryan

Check out "The Body Keeps The Score", a book by Doctor Bessel Van Der Kolk. He would argue it's neither worthless or useless in treating his PTSD patients.

Check out "The Body Keeps The Score", a book by Doctor Bessel Van Der Kolk. He would argue it's neither worthless or useless in treating his PTSD patients.

I am never certain about things. It can be a beautiful phase you are in. Or it can be a busy phase you were in. That passed. This too shall pass.
Enjoy till it lasts.

Nothing is totally useless. Even shit can be valuable compost. Enjoy what you do.

I'm a totally committed musician. To me it is useful in films as it helps enhance the mood of the moment

Thank you, Derek. I've never commented before. But your entry resonated. There is a sign on the I-40 freeway (the ' Route 66) just east of Albuquerque where I live,that reads, "High Winds May Exist". How useful is that sign? Like, yeah,duh?Lately I've felt that about my music. What is the point of it , or me as musician, existing? But during those moments when I'm really in the music, not performing or using it as a "tool", there is a "wind that may exist", a feeling, vibration in the room, a message on the breeze. And then the air is still. And that is the soul of it. The sign post is useless, but it is a powerful statement of truth when the wind is blowing. I'm so happy for you to have rediscovered music, so vicariously happy for you to be blown away by the wind of being present for whatever may exist. The vessel is an empty clay formation, useless, until it holds the water that quenches your thirst, and in that moment it hardly feels like a tool, rather, like salvation. Thank you.

Right on. Life isn't about being useful. It's about living. Hard to remember that when we have been raised in modern Western society. :)

Surprising. Your work is very useful, not doing more of the same work does not discount the "usefulness" of what you have shared with the world. I heard you say once (on a podcast) something along the lines of... one can do it all, just not all at once. I think this an AND, not and OR. Being useful and just being are both important. 19 years is a long time, sounds like the time has come to rebalance. We all change all the time. You deserve whatever your heart tells you is right for you.

Totally Wrong. Usefulness means many things.
It makes you work hard. It makes you emotional and then you work even harder. It makes others happy, sad, thoughtful and thankful.It spurs people onward and fills them with motivation for life instead of committing suicide because they see no purpose in living. The average age of death was going up until the last few years. Now it's going down because of cancer in young people and suicide in teens and twenties because they see little purpose in life. All the usefulness in Art can counter that and I really believe it does but it has to be presented properly. The pressure of beating Russia to the moon caused me so much agony when I was trying to help train astronauts to use the space ships and related equipment back in those days made me pass out in meetings. The crews said they had the same problems training for jets etc.They told me that taking private Martial Arts and music lessons kept them going. I tried that and it cost me about $1000 a month back then, but in a few months the problem of passing out went away. That's just one big example and I'm sure there are many more.

I was just talking to someone an hour ago about how I stopped playing music and have thought about picking it up again. On my own time. For no reason at all. Not to do it as a career to get famous (as it once was a tool for that). Something that you said about the different mindset you have now - that feels very freeing. Maybe there is something really in that, that we can all use more of. And who knows, by doing it for YOU, maybe it'll circle back around and something beautiful will get shared with the world.

Derek Sivers, even when you decide not to be useful you write a delightfully useful blog post. Which gives me cause to pause: could I endeavor to be as useless? Perhaps so!

When we were growing up, my brothers and me, there was a message repeated often by our hard-working mom: "Do something constructive."

Making art, making music - that was not constructive. So I made art on the sly, the way I chain-smoked cigarettes, had sex and drank cheap wine. My guidance counselor approached me at the end of junior year, suggesting I apply to art school. She had a few recommendations, thought I could get a scholarship.

"We don't go to college in my family," I said, "we go to work."
Shut her down. End of discussion.

When I went to college, and also tried to study music and make art, there was always this feeling that I was wasting time. Start, stop, start, stop. Stop.

It just took a few decades to get over that.

Now I'm 60. Sixty. I make art. I'm almost militant about it. I'm committing to sing every day. My voice coach says that if I quit this time he will hunt me down.

Look what you stirred up, with just a few words on the page...

Thank you.

About 10 years ago my life changed forever. I wont go into details, but suffice to say I became someone who had to think of others rather then myself. I went thru what you talking about very quickly but in reverse order. I spent most of my life thinking only about myself. Didn't want to help anyone but myself. If you didn't like the music my band played you were a talent less hack. I was the best drummer in the world, guitar player, lyric writer, etc. Then the life changer happened and I realized I'm just a little speck of sand, nothing special,no better then anyone else. Having to do things for others that could not do it for themselves put me and my attitude in check and made me a better person. As always, thanks Derek for your wisdom.

Love it! :)

...stopping to smell the roses. Priceless!

Derek:
Good for you, Mister! I'm glad you are keeping us all updated, because I think everyone on your list really does care about how and what you are doing. Thank you for all you have done for us over the years. I for one, will never forget you. Derek Time! Yes.

Yep if you keep doing too much for others you will get burnt out and out of balance. Nothing wrong with being ( Some Me First Time ) Its good to give but unbalanced to never take is very one sided even take time out is balancing. Yea been through that ride myself ... Happy to share around give and take, taking is a learned skill I think. Its strange the heavens seem to want us to help others if we get in a position to do that. I would say Derek is far from useless. A great asset to the world. Sitting back to take some time out does not make one usless. Putting good thought into the world creating mind happy space and creating good mind thoughs is not being usless. None of us are everyone's cup of tea. You've done a lot given a lot. I am sure your no fool and you would use a hammer to hit a right nail on the head (: .... Art pretty useless but l like all things has a great purpose.Even if it just whiles away time. However art does much more than that. Enjoy what the world has to offer Derek .....

Profound as usual Derek but it is often very difficult for one to grapple with the idea of being useless and still trying to earn an income.
Would it be safe to assume that one has to be useful in order to earn a living?
Interested to hear your thoughts...

I stated my comment before I read any others so I didn't get my own mind set changed. Some great comments from others. See a useless mention sure caused some mind creativity. Can words be art if so art is not useless just a thought. (:

I gave up roller skating almost 5 years ago because it wasn't useful to anyone else. And yet I loved just skating. This is my reminder lace up my skates again. Just for me.

Thanks Derek!

Dear Derek,
So good to hear back from you. I still get inspired by your conversations with Tim Ferriss. I must confess I have heard them many times and I find stuff that helps me re-focus on each of my new projects and improve my attitude towards my new job at Penn.

I could not agree more with your statement above. I am not an artist, I grew up as an engineer, I never read fiction, I have no time to de-construct it. I love biographies and practical stuff like what I hear in the podcasts. There was one time I tried to learn piano, I attended 2 lessons and stopped since I had so many other occupations at home that I feel were far more important than practicing piano. I wish I would have stayed in the piano class.

I feel it will be a real struggle for me to go back to my music lessons. I really admired that you are now able to and that you are embracing it, it is a good thing and it may inspire us to see this art thing with some other lenses. I may consider to go back to my piano lessons again.

Anyways, thanks for dropping a line.

Cheers,
Miguel

wtho"g

i am sorry,
i have to disagree with you !
if you are making people to feel&learn
about them selves or even if you just
making people stop&think !
you're far away from that !
apparition&respect,
doronchaim holcberg (Israel).

Self love above all love !

Great to hear Derek that you're spending time on YOURSELF and what you want to do. That's really what life is all about. Enjoy the present moment. Big hugs from Hong Kong.

What a wonderfully funny first line. And article. Funny and poignant. Thank you. (I love art. You were right.)

It's a balance. I make my money being useful but I only do enough of that to pay the bills. Then it's ME time, being useless to everyone, me included.

Love this. Thanks for sharing your personal evolutions.

Art is about the journey and the process and about discovering your self- it is self awareness through self expression...I believe that may be our true purpose and the meaning of life.
I am glad you are playing music again - I left it at one point because I think I thought it was selfish, when I went back to it I was even called selfish but feeding your soul is not selfish, it is survival
Thank you for your article- as always a great conversation.

Oh and this year I decided to start learning Portuguese:)!

This hit me in the best way, thanks

Derick,
This made me think of the artist in Perryville MO that just got hit by a tornado and their house and all their art blew away. They found a couple paintings in a feild in Illinois.
Anyway
I have a use for some art but not for others. It's really whatever is in your heart and soul.

Derek,

I think art is most useful, when it is not driven by commercial pursuits, to the person who creates it. Art can be a means of finding a path to expressing oneself, to reveal and discover truth concealed within and perhaps not consciously known.

I'm happy for you that you have time and space to find your art again.

Derek

BRAVO!!!!!!

Art is useful to the creator of the art, and may or may not be to the viewer. I think art like The 3rd of May and Judith & Holofernes is Useful. Nothing says how a woman feels about being raped like that painting. I could look at Monet and Van Gogh for hours, and feel things that I have never felt before on any other occasion or with any other person,

Susan in Volcano, HI

Derek thank you, I read all your personal emails that I receive from you. I love to to play and I love to create. I believe when I do, that somehow, it will be be communicated to those who need to receive that message. That's what you do so well. Thankyou as we say in Canada.

Tooooo weird... Derek, your email blinked my phone as I'm sorting my art and music, which I recently picked back up. Also currently immersed in Mandarin learning...making move to Beijing. Any insights on your learning process?

I immediately opened the email because of the title.
Here is my thought... Art and commerce must coexist... In time they sustain mutual growth.... Time...will determine if any art is useless.

Thoughts?

Glad you are playing music for music and not for business... it is truly the only thing that keeps me young and positive... !!!!

Isn't art useful for the person creating it. And again I don't think it's selfish.

You might feel intimately, purely, fully happy when creating art; I guess that's the most useful thing you can do for the world.

Delighted to read your point of view. What a coincidence, just yesterday while painting and Live streaming I talked about this and it reminded me of an actual conversation I had with people who thought art is something that we shouldn't bother making as a civilization. Later I thought why evolve beyond the usefulness of a tree? Certainly vegetation of this planet is more useful as a collective organism than people as a collective destroying and polluting, but the complexity that differentiates between these two is what makes further creation and opening towards other realities possible only in one. After all, Sapiens evolved by developing cerebral functions, losing muscle power and ended up having to nurture huge brain. All of these seemed like disadvantages at the time but they happened for a reason which goes beyond nurturing each other's immediate needs. Today and tomorrow the more "useless" transformation happens the greater chance we have in utilizing AI, so is it possible that things will turn around and art will be the only useful? Besides when we go to the museums, at least for me, the greatest fascination are the pieces of art and drawings that happened and their futuristic design. I think artists are inherently living in the future because they tap into the pulse of now and collective consciousness and build upon it.

A thing which is called useless may just be a thing whose use is not obvious at the time.

I have followed your journey with fascination and I will continue to do so. Your business advice is actually the guiding principle behind my business. Thank you for being useful to me, although I completely understand why you have change direction and I support you in that fully

Thanks for sharing a practical insight on impractical pursuits. I have always had genuine promise as a writer, but never let myself pursue it because it wasn't "useful."

I think that people should allow themselves to not be useful for a while. You cannot undo the effects you already had on people, though. There are periods in our lifes in which we create useful things of value, and then there are times we should just use to enjoy being.

Nice to hear from you again Mister Sivers. I'll have to disagree with you on this. Art is the message that something may be created. I doesn't matter; the result, the medium or the artifact. This is of the highest utility. Hardly useless. I be bold and succinct, without art; no tools.

good. for you.

Be.

sounding good, btw.

To me art is essential. It is only useless to you now, because you are doing it for the sheer love of it and not to make money. That might make it useless to others, but it still remains essential for you.

There is truth and then there is facts. The truth is that art is not useless. It is infinitely useful, even if its only usefulness is to the person creating the art. Just the process of creating the art is useful. But then there is facts. The fact is art is usually not useful in a society that is more concerned with money and keeping up with the Joneses. The fact is that in my country Kenya, art it considered relatively useless, in comparison to, say, medicine or law or all the other more "useful" sciences.

It's such eloquent timing - it makes me smile. I too have been putting my own art to one side, not recording, not singing, not really immersing myself in ways that make me smile. And I've been thinking about that. I've been becoming aware that I miss me, I miss the joy of connection that feels so special and brings me to a sweet place of love inside. Thanks for the affirmation of what matters. Me... and my joy. :)

Art is useless in the huge machine that we live in for sure.

It is totally selfish and whenever you do it you're always doing it for yourself.
Everybody can be an artist in that sense , everybody has the capacity to really get still and immerse themselves into something to get still and then to see something unique in an object , person,...

Everything that is useful is useful for whom ? Ourselves ? Society? To do what to contribute to work,.. to put out ... BUT it's very easy to just be a machine then isn't it you work work work work all day but you can't dance you can't sing you can't really express anything that isn't meant for survival , get harmonious to feel that deep sense of aliveness and joy and pleasure while being with other people. To touch others and be touched

I think art is mainly for fun to live , to enjoy life.
I remember realising this a couple months ago,
There was an event in a church where architecture students had set up a maze that one one way out but was separated by a later , meaning 2 persons would be going through it but never spoke with each other , you would be able to see , to touch each other but never fully really see , you was encouraged to seek contact with people.
I stayed there for a whIle people when they came out we're so ecstatic you could see it on their face

Afterwards I talked with the students and I asked so why are you doing this why do you want to be an artist ?
And two girls said: I want to make theatre pieces that can touch people, that can leave an impression on them and make them doubt their opinions and judgments ..
I asked why? Because the world is in a bad place and I think little by little we can help it recover..
now they started to light up, you know when young people get all excited they eyes sprinkle and they feel inspired and I thought wow how ignorant she really believes that, I felt abit sad cause I appreciated her earnestness.
I said what makes you really angry? They looked at each other the oppression of women , how women are treated ,...

It's like with artist you have these highly emotional people who have a sense of purpose a sense of improving the world by putting out my art and then you have the layman who just have a sense of I wanna get by, I want to have more, I want I want I want
But it's always shallow isn't it
Always leaves them empty always coming back for another dose or another kick
Push start mechanism instead of a self start mechanism

Have not been too responsive before but I kind of like the idea of your giving yourself more time. I've never got a ton of work playing the guitar. I've worked since the early 60's but barely made a living...so I've kind of accepted that but...here's my big BUT....I'm still playing the instrument, still learning it and still gigging. The playing is the thing. The medium is the message, even if it's only messaging me. Kudos. Derek. RW

Hey Derek - maybe it's just the age thing as we move on in life but your words certainly resonate with me. Now in my mid sixties, I've done my first album that is entirely for me. It's a 'World Music' genre and I love it. Having completed 22 albums catering for the masses, this new album has been a completely stress free and fun thing to do...you are right on the button...

Derek. I was in one of your workshops in
Vancouver many years ago. Still remember some of the advice.
I took notes! "Don't pay anyone to listen to your music".
Good advice.
Art is useless. Hmmmm. I'd say the usefulness is deeply personal.
I've undertaken to finally learn a difficult instrumental technique this
year. It's just for me. Without making music my life would be so much less
meaningful, and therein lies it's usefulness.

Love reading your blog posts Derek. Being "useful" (making others' lives better in some way) has been a cornerstone of my life. To the point where things like socializing or dancing don't hit the radar unless I feel it will help someone. It has been meaningful but not much fun. So I'm exploring new ways of being. A few weeks ago my heart whispered the idea of living in a small city in Mexico for a month studying spanish (I live in Toronto). At first I struggled to understand how this would be "useful". Then like you I realized that I just wanted to do it, and that was reason enough. So I put all my things in storage and now I'm in Merida for a month studying spanish and trying each day to do what my heart wants. So far it still feels alien but the people here have mastered it so I'm learning from them.

Useful article Derek thank you! ;)

Hi Derek,
Excellent article. Art is the path to the kingdom of heaven within.
Love is accepting and trusting the One consciousness, the Universe, is perfect.
"There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
~ W. Shakespeare
Soon very soon we will be gone.
Live! Breathe! Love!

i am working as a interior designer in retail field. Its really hard to come up with good designs. Customers have high expectetions. I observed that there is a lot of designers very good at CAD (Computer Aided Design) softwares but they are working as a instructor or working in the company for just modeller and renderer (But they are getting higher pays from other desingers because old designers, architects loves them).Eventually they can't create value. From my perspective thats what art do. When art meet functionality thats value.

Sounds like you got religion, Derek, the good kind!

From the cold, left brained, robotic, reptile point of view, yes, art is useless, and people who can only think that way, like most of the suits, do, indeed find it useless, unless they can make money from it. If you go deeper than that, to the heart, the soul, the whatever that is, that we can't even name or describe, but we live it, we are it, art is not just useful, it's what gives this world a purpose. We don't ever want the world to look like it does when that guy in the movie "They Live" puts on the glasses. Better that it look more like Burning Man. Is art useful? It all depends on your state of mind at the moment. Usually, I think it is.

Well Derek you've got us going again😃 Insomuch as I consider a thing as being useful based upon its capacity to supply a common need or serve a particular purpose, art is most useful in that context. Not only is it not worthless ,as you point out,but the creation of art for the aforementioned purpose and it's consumption are characteristics that separates a knowing species (humankind) from other forms of life for its survival. There is a creative aspect or component in almost everything we do. Within the committed act of creating art for its own sake lies the pearl of usefulness upon which our species depends for its survival. Reasoning is an art. It is the art of organizing thought in a way that it is rendered as 'useful' .

Without the art of music I personally would be of less quality a human being if indeed I would be sane at all. Thanks Derek for insightful heart

Aloha, Derek!
Information overload is a mother, isn't it?
I hear & applaud you... Just back from 7 weeks in Hawaii, 6 of which were spent trying to relax. Finally, I understood better what balance can look like and it involves less phone and email and more community and education.
Kudos!!
Christy

Some art is useless, other is tool for changing people's perspectives.

Kevin Kelly also helped me with this:)

"In short, productivity is for robots. Humans excel at wasting time, experimenting, playing, creating, and exploring." - Kevin Kelly
Good one! — Derek

i think when someone is living to maximize their own potential and be their best, it will naturally flow in some way or another to giving over to others. Your ups and downs have always benefited us by sharing your thoughts. Keep up exploring yourself!

Yet, there is something in you that feels the need to share, maybe because someone might think it useful.

Thank you. I share your videos and ideas in my classes. I have been for the lastcouple years.
You replied to an email of mine a few years ago. I was feeling low. I felt stuck and less than. I ask you a question for some inspiration. You replied. I sent you a song I wrote and you listened and replied. Thank you.

Your one of the greats. I get it. Im glad you're stepping away now. I understand.

I truly believe that we are valuable just because we are.

So yes Art may not provide utility
But utility is not the same as being useful

Art may not be a tool - but it is useful in that it helps to communicate, to express, to engage, to encourage communication, to create feelings.

So we all can be useful and valuable just because we have chosen to be.
And in our freedom to be ourselves and to express ourselves we are useful...just because we are.

and not necessarily because we are doing things exactly how people expect us to.

Hi Derek

Thanks for showing this article to me. It resonates a lot.

I feel that we are educated in a way that we always put everybody else's needs before our own (or at least I was), which is why learning to be "useless", as you put it, is like unlearning everything we've learned, and so "counterintuitive"
- Not to mention that those of us who actually have to work for money can only afford to be "useless" some of the time. If you're an entrepreneur, the amount of time that you have for that is left to your evaluation, but you'd better not get it wrong, if you want your business to survive.
So I get why we keep trying to be useful, at the expense of ourselves.

Now another way of looking at it is "what if everybody would do the same thing as I do?" If everybody would learn a second language, like you do, there would certainly be a huge impact, not only on those people, but on the world as a whole (see numerous studies on how learning a second language changes your brain, your thinking and your behaviour), similarly, music and music education has a profound impact on the people it affects, and, if they are numerous enough, on societies and ultimately the world.

Not to mention that taking time for yourself makes you a more relaxed human being, and that in itself, helps others.

One last thought: what is seen as useful or useless is inherently subjective and even cultural. In Europe, nobody would say that learning a second language is useless, to you or to the people around you (your boss, clients, whoever) - after all, the fact that *I* learned Esperanto certainly is useful to you, right? Maybe it's just a matter of short term/long term perspective or a matter of who sees it.

So are you really useless?

PS: this is in complete breach of the "slow thinker" mindset, as I just read the article and just wrote my thoughts as they came. I guess we should expect some more slow thinker style of thoughts to come tomorrow or so.

Dito rin ako. Salamat po kayo si Derek. One's art = another's tool - and much like me you're everybody's yet nobody's fool. Glad to hear you are playing again - especially since it's just for the love - that kind of music is good for the soul.

Reading this was extremely useful to me. Muchas gracias Derek

Exactly what I needed to hear today. Thanks. We only look ourselves in the eyes before we close them forever, we might as well have a life we want to see then.

Derek, I don't know you personally, but you've given me so much inspiration through your posts and your book and initially through your CD-Baby-Member-Welcome-Message over the past ten years that I must say I feel really happy for you taking the time for yourself and doing something good for you after giving SO MUCH to all of us!

And I totally agree and might add that I truly believe that art becomes the more valuable to others (or even the whole universe) the more it's useless to the artist him or herself.

I fully understand what you mean, Derek! As a music artist myself, I often feel unsucessful (and get tempted to stop making music) when I have worked so long and hard creating a new album and then experience that the response is so low. I did think that the music was the best I could create, and I enjoyed making it! When only a couple of my newsletter readers care to vlick on the link and check out the music, I start to feel that I am a failure. Why do I make music, when I don't have any success with it? - I think you have answered my question, Derek! I make music because I enjoy making it. It comes from my heart. Whether the music is discovered or even appreciated by other people or not, should not destroy my joy. The world (and web) is full of music, and most of it has better quality or is more commercial than mine. But that should not destroy the joy I feel when creating my music, either. - In a way, this conclusion could be used on my life and existence, too. I live in order to enjoy life, to enjoy every moment, and that is the only "success" I need to be happy. The external world is unreliable and impossible to control, so allowing my happiness to become dependent on it, is foolish.

Music is an extremely useful tool! It's therapeutic, and helps us reach into the depts of our emotions. Both mentally and spiritually since the beginning of all civilation it's been used for very high levels of communication and expression of love! This world would be really boring without it! It' has phonomonal healing power! ( look up wholetones)! I do appreciate all your work and comments as many others you reached out to, but please remember your music as I do as well because it gives even more power to them. I've heard your music! It's good for you and others and you should continue for yourself and others. DON'T let anyone tell you different God made this the universal language!!! Useless, abdoulutely NOT! It's a priority. This world would be hell without music. a bottle of this and a bottle of that blath! We need expression to be human. Music is incredible, and very necessary for us all! It's like trying to survive without love! It's tangible!from within us all. Never give up, never give up never, never never! We're given music to give to each other in any way and every way. Spread some joy for love or money. The joy to others is also lmportant! Art is extremely important!!! A necessity.

"Art's a jealous mistress"

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

I hope you don't mind if I find your post useful. :) Interesting how just doing something for yourself can still provide value to others, even if that's not the goal.

Enjoy being useless! You deserve it! :)

Re language: is it DUTCH????

I must add that I've considered your work 19yrs very valuable, and helpful for others, and of course you are as well. Thank you Derek!

Congrats for being free from the endless Tyranny of efficiency and best of luck for your future ventures

Art is useless.
Rightly said. Better reframed.
Art is inspiring. For others.

Art may be useless by some definition of "uselessness", but it's definitely essential. Imagine a world without it...

hey Derek always love reading your stuff...And that's Art weather you like it or not.life is like that.. ups and downs ... public private expressing hiding famous unfamous who cares anyway..sometimes these things mean so much more than they do now...And it's good to want to help people, means we want to make a better world.
But sometimes we need a rest, time for yourself..recharge the batteries...
Chilling out....You are friends to many and that's enough....

You are your own tool to achieving happiness.

There's a really nice bit a little like this in the introduction to They Became What They Beheld by Edmund Snow Carpenter (who was a student of Marshall McLuhan, of "the medium is the message" fame).

> If you address yourself to an audience, you accept at the outset the basic premises that unite the audience. You put on the audience, repeating cliches familiar to it.
> But artists don't address themselves to audiences; they create audiences. The artist talks to himself out loud. If what he has to say is significant, others hear and are affected.

Talk Talk producer Tim Friese Green said this on his blog recently, which I found interesting:

"I have decided that I am only making utility music after [his most recent release]. Which is to say, music that has a use, other than just being listened to. This is because I think the world has enough ‘listening’ music now, whereas I believe there is still a point to making music if you can think of a use for it that no-one else has."
Interesting! Andy Warhol said that's why he loved making “business art” - because it supports itself. — Derek

Useless is a disturbing word, possibly because it's employed by bad dads everywhere, when they observe the offspring fitting out with finger picks for the first time....

Art is useless.
Rightly said. Better reframed.
Art is inspiring. For others.

Hi Derek!

Reminds me of a book I recently read called Happiness by Design by Paul Dolan.

He mentions that happiness comes from balancing two things - pleasure ("useless" things, in your post's terminology) and purpose (giving value to others, goal-oriented things). Great to see you're finding your own balance here.

-Keith

I love your candor.

Hi Derek

Art can be whatever you like - just don't disappear on us! We love you.

Best wishes

Avrilxx

Hi Derek, thanks so much for this post. I don't see you as a tool Derek but as an inspiration. When I first found out about you and read your book it was like a breath of fresh air and you still are of course. I need to think on the Art is Useless theme a while. All I know is it can bring joy, debate controversy and raise awareness is that useless?

I know what you mean about actually using your time on me time when your so used to giving or being useful to others. I struggle with it too but I think doing what you love and making time for it because you are worth the time too is the lesson. Then I think you are really living. So Me time is the goal. After all, we only have one precious chance at life. This is just my way of looking at it, thanks again, Rain

A breathtaking concept, requiring much thought and re-tooling of my brain. I may finally understand my preacher father when he warned that one should never be so heavenly minded that he is no earthly good.

I like the idea. It makes me think about a concept I call social selfishness. If you want to give to others (time, affection, ideas, love...), you have to be full of them. So taking time to fueled ourselves with useless/non-productive activities could be a way to do it. ;)

Here's a link to a wonderful piece of writing by David Foster Wallace on why to write (or how to keep writing when it becomes difficult). www.penusa.org/blogs/mark-program/bookmark-david-foster-wallaces-nature-fun

The answer - for fun. I found it incredibly useful when I was getting too serious about my work, and it forced me to remember when I used to do it because I enjoyed it (and luckily was also getting paid for it). Wallace is obviously a brilliant writer and dissects the problem brilliantly.

Is great to be able to do useless things. And a luxury. We are all dying under the burden of useful things, they never seem to end. But we enjoy it also, to be honest. There is never one single useful thing that would be so useful as to make it all stop, to solve it all.

I can totally identify with this Derek;

I'm a musician going through a career change because similar to Ward P. said in the 2nd comment, it's starting to feel more like work, less like art, and it's not that useful to anyone.

I'm exploring different options as to career, but once I'm settled I'm looking forward to playing music again just for the sake of it, and I think I will enjoy it so much more as a result.

You might find this article interesting "Don't Follow Your Passion." - http://99u.com/articles/51623/the-many-many-problems-with-follow-your-passion

Nice that you're making music again!

Thank you for posting, Derek. It's an interesting concept. You're right. On one hand, art is not a tool. It's a process that turns into a final product.
That's why we call it a "production". However, it is useful on the other hand, It triggers feelings and emotions, brings up a specific mood. Art, like everything else, is an energy. Every kind of art vibrates energetically at different levels. We feel these vibrations and react accordingly. In general, it cannot be used in practical (physical) ways, but it's very powerful emotional tool. For example, music is often used to create a specific atmosphere in order to get people in a certain mood. Beauty salons use zen music during facials or a massage, military uses music that radiates the energy of determination, religions and some other organizations use certain vibrations in music in order to inslave people (oppologies to religious people). By "inslave" I mean suppressing will power by creating a fear through certain musical vibrations and words, which also vibrate on different levels as well as thoughts and emotions. We are also art created by nature, and it continues to create through us. Art is useful, but on a different, - invisible level while we are tools of the Creator, and we vibrate on different levels as well. That's why, there's no one truth. Just an experience ☺

Great to hear Derek - so often I hear people talk about the 'trivial' pursuits they would like to pursue for want of time or other priorities but in the end it only happens when you make the choice. My dad is struggling with being able to 'let go' as well but happy to hear you've taken the plunge and that you're enjoying it. Look forward to hearing you foreign language music soon :)

Derek,

You ever cease to amazing me and enlighten me :)

This is so great!

And I don't think I have ever commented on how awesome this "Everything on my site is free to copy, share, re-post, or anything else" is. You are the man! I can't wait to continue to learn from you and grow with you.

The more I delved into business, the less I picked up my art brush.

I wrote similar thoughts last year when DeepMind achieved speech recognition breakthrough:

"One step closer to making polyglot skills as wonderful (and useless) as speaking latin. I can't imagine growing old and technology not having come full circle on this hard problem (SpeechRecognition+TextTranslation+SpeechGeneration).

Speaking languages has cultural value and it is the only way of understanding deeply another culture (eg. you have to learn French and live in France to understand nuances of its culture). However, cultural value is not quantifiable and therefore subject to limitless valuation.

As an artist, I consider beauty useless - and yet priceless. Speaking the language of JRR Tolkien's elves (which some small communities do) has a cultural value that no one can deny - because no one can measure it.

The functional value of speaking Chinese today can be measured in al sorts of economic direct/indirect ways, and that value will trend towards zero as technology solves real time translation.

So I think polyglot skills will become useless (in the pragmatic sense of the word) as a mainstream skill, specially given their high time opportunity cost, but will continue being a wonderful cultural asset."

The leap you propose, doing knowing it is useless - and being ok with that, is where my inner work lies today. Thanks Derek.

I'm working with art in hospital environments and art can definitely be a tool in the process of healing, here it's the opposite of useless.

It's that definition, pesky words. Art I think can be a tool, both passive, to see a painting that directly triggers a thought or a change of heart in a subconscious way or active, to create something from your own self, if you are honest you can say to yourself I am no better or no worse than any other living person and that what I create is no more or less valid to myself. I always liked the Buddhist view of creativity (not being a religious person) in that the art and creativity is an act of love, and act of instead of worrying about how others will view my skills or lack of them, all that energy is transferred to the act of trying to further the action of what I am doing which could in fact be any action, to get closer in my mind of that which wants to come out. In that way art and creativity are a tool to connect those intangible, often odd subconscious thoughts to the outside world, not necessarily for my sake (though it helps me to feel positive) but for the sake of taking that action somewhere, making it better if I can. A little bit like Plato's idea that there is an underlying world of perfection which people can reveal by action and creativity.

Great that you decided to do this!Enjoy your new life!

Of course you have made people think but art is not useless, its important inspiring and that can not be useless, its purpose has so many reasons, it is essential.
Re you DS being Useless, say that to all the people with little hope for getting their music 'out there' and the impact CD baby had, useless....again Inspiring, Maybe you should do a piece on inspiration

Always a good read, continued good luck

Derek, nothing is more liberating than uselessness in a world that "instrumentalizes"(no pun intended but welcomed!) everything and everyone. However, as an M.I.T. trained engineer turned professional musician who innovates his own trumpets and composes by visualizing music into art, I represent the heart of your problem, do I not? Furthermore, my discovery of something I call " the energy of musicality" from years of work with south Indian temple music yielded therapeutic properties which allowed me to self-heal from Diabetes type 2 (I have been free from any medications for the past 4 and half years!). So I guess I can both celebrate the uselessness and usefulness of art at the same time. Check out this link for some more info about my music, art, and me.
theartling.com/artists/rajesh-k-mehta/ Greetings from Munich! Rajesh

What is art? The product of the creativity of the human mind.
Artists are creators. They make something from nothing.
As mankind evolves we have more time to create and appreciate art.
Art is the product of evolved mankind.
Art is music, comedy, graphics, written and spoken word, sculpture.
Good art warms the soul.
Art is very useful to people who have the time to appreciate it.
I admire artists and strive to be one.

Hello Derek

What I take from this is that we need to look at our lives and realise that we need to be selfish now and again. This should not be viewed in a negative way if done in the right way. It's all down to context. So if you drink beer all day that's selfish and bad. But if you're crazy about running and it makes you feel good that's positive.


For example my girlfriend loves running and doesn't feel right without it. She's happy and treats me well. By being selfish/useless we are more likely to be useful to the people that matter around you.

You've got to care for yourself as there's only a few people who genuinely care for you in life. People will always take advantage of kind people.

Be selfish to help others.

A bit deep but correct in my view.

(Can I put a link to my blog on this?)

Art is useful to me. I use it when I want to achieve other state of mind or change my mood. I seek for it to feel better.

To say that art is useless implies it has no connection with logic or practicality. If so, the statement is true. Creativity of any kind is not about being useful. It is about feelings and imagination and "becoming" what we have hidden away from ourselves for far too long - (for most, since childhood). "Letting go" is simply a recognition of who we are - like looking deeply into a mirror and appreciating the "new" person we are meeting for (possibly) the first time.

Although I wanted to help people with my books and touch people with my music, I also found that the artistic side of my life was also very theraputic for my soul. That in and of itself is useful. We teach what we most often want to learn so they say. My art has also been a learning and growing tool for my better angel. The ability to create something out of nothing in any form of artistic expression is magic. If not for delving in the music world, I would have never have heard of a man named Derek Sivers. Someone who inspires me and who touches the world with his words. That is art in its purest form and a gift to us all. Thank you Derek for always being honest, educational and inspirational. What could be more useful?

I disagree with Wilde's assertion in his letter. He says flowers are useless. They are not. They are attractive to animals which facilitate pollination. Without flowers, some plants would not be able to reproduce. Their flowers are core to their very existence.

Funny... I guess it's like that amazing sunrise I saw yesterday. Maybe even more useless than art, because it was fleeting. But it was beautiful, I'm happy I got to experience it, and it sure did a lot for me.

Hi Derek,
Thanks for all the advice and open doors you provided for so many people in the past including myself. I'm happy that you've decided to take some time for yourself and do some things you wanted to do in life. I think it makes a good balance when you find time for yourself. However, from all your latest posts' it seems like you are tipping the balance in the total direction you begin with and that brought you so much success over the years. It almost sounds to me like you regret how much you have educated and helped people on your journey. I believe God blesses people with gifts to share it with everybody, not to shelter it or hide the light in the darkness. It's people like you who help the world go round! Why would you stop now? Just pace yourself and find the true balance and not ware yourself out trying to save the world because nobody has that power. Just keeping it real from my point of view! I think you're an amazing and very gifted brother!

Ty

I think art is the number one tool for cultivating creativity and modern entrepreneurial mindset. Also a good tool for self-expression. So art is useful and it can be a tool

Check out the book Yes I Am by Norman Grubb
Living from the inside out makes all the difference. Nice to hear from you
again.

I kicked back at this idea to begin with, too - then I realised that "useless" doesn't mean "purpose-less", either.

Art created with the intent of provoking a reaction has a purpose, and could be considered useful if it succeeds in that purpose - but in that case it's being used AS a tool, rather than being useful in itself.

Great post ☺

Enjoy it Derek :)

and so you have found the very impotant use of art...

Art is very useful for a being's mental health. Mental health is highly undervalued in our society. Value and usefulness are intertwined. Sometimes just living the moment is so important. I have earned my living for 40 years as a musician. I had stop always thinking how will a concert get me ahead in the biz to I am going to dig this show.

Funny, I made a similar realization a month ago. Doing music felt like Rolling in the eternal depths of my own emotions and My own head. I wasnt helping anyone or providing any real value. It made Me kinda sad.

I love music but I want to do other things also.

Usefulness should be measured over the course of your entire lifetime. If you strive you to be useful every second of your life, you are probably doing more harm than good to your overall "usefulness output".

Learning a new language or a new instrument creates new connections in our brain. It helps us to see the world in new ways. It helps us to become more useful.

While you may think what you are doing is useless, it is very useful. For one, this blog post is a direct result of it. I am sure some of your future projects and creative outputs will also be affected by it!

Good discussion Derek. I agree on many thoughts here, but disagree on the idea of art being useless. Art serves a purpose for those who create it, somewhat similar to sleep and possibly dreaming. Art can often be an expression of one's thoughts, ideas, and emotions on or with various materials. So what is the purpose of art then? Is it an aberration in evolution? Some animals in studies have shown interest in art as play. So is it play for those who do it? Why don't all people have the interest or desire to create art? I would compare art to a form of a larger discussion of one's thoughts and or ideas.

Yes, just like in school. The kids always seem to retain more and actually learn more from "merely" playing games or creating without a goal known as "unstructured" free time. Those were the best times at school come to think of it. Can you remember times in school that were just so fun but were not about the end result? I loved playing games, nothing makes you remember stuff more than being able to beat classmates.

"It’s hard to relax into this mindset, after 19 years of the opposite". Funny..I have been in the 'business of music' for almost 19 years. I crave the day when I can go back to being 'a hobbyist' and learning/writing songs just for me. I don't know if I'll ever get back there, as I have been "programmed" to write for radio, TV(mass appeal).

To express my originality outside of music, I started stand up comedy a couple years ago. It gave me a blank canvas of creativity, and opportunity to be "the new guy" again. Very refreshing. No expectations, just a platform to write/speak about my unique perspective. Very nerve racking, but therapeutic. Your short post resonated deep. I appreciate your honesty. Keep it up.

I've been reluctant to transition out of being the useful tool I have been for the last few decades into living my life for me. I want to play again, write again, make art again, like I used to, but have been afraid of being considered "useless ", as you say; being this useful tool has dominated my identity for so long. After reading this, I'm inspired to take the leap and embrace my uselessness. Thanks.

Art serves a tool or gateway for learning a new aptitude. So art is useful because you become more skillful/adept/able/talented the more you do it. If you want to juggle, you have to practice. If you want to play Mozart, you have to get the hours in on the piano. The end result is that you are able to do it. Before you were not able to do it so that art is pretty darn useful when you want to relax. I can entertain myself or others or even do it to pass the time. And maybe I might gain insight or a new perspective while doing so.

Whats up brotha! Thank you for writing that post. I'm a huge fan!

My few cents..

I think 'art is useless' is kind of too big a statement to be true. I don't claim to know anything about art in terms of paintings. But art in terms of music inspires me at times. Listening to good music and working out, or going for a run, or watching a show with great music inspires people and hence can be very useful.

But the bigger point I'd like make is the 19 years you dedicated to others has elevated you to the status of where you are today. It has provided you this audience that will listen to and respond to your questions and concerns. It has given you the luxury to no longer provide value and still be of value :)... When people like you or Kevin Kelly say 'art is useless' it becomes a potentially profound statement, because you have already dedicated the years and 'achieved' so much. If guys like me or Joe Shmoe say it, we look like idiots, or worst no one is listening.

I also believe what others (Tony Robbins and many) say about achieving fulfillment/happiness is about progressing in whatever you are doing. Learning a language is fun when you are making progress. Meaning, you probably don't particularly enjoy knowing English, since you've known it for so long??? Is it possible that you have stopped adding value to others because you feel you are no longer adding as much value to them as you use to? So you need to find a different arena where you are progressing? Is it possible you gave up music 19 years ago because you were not progressing in it anymore? If so, it was probably the best thing you did, since you achieved so much progress/fulfillment in your other goals.

Lastly if you didn't dedicate your last 19 years to being an expert and giving it all you had, this new found love in going back to creating and doing things for yourself may not have been realized???

I appreciate you writing this piece, because I am struggling a little with what to do with my life at this time. I am only 41, and have enough financially to satisfy the 'me and my (amazing) family' wants. So does that mean I should 'quit' my work, just chill and be with my family and friends 24/7 doing only things which are 'fun', or is it my obligation/duty to try to serve others near, and maybe some day serve as many people and do as much good as possible?

T

Again a leader of the pack Derek yet you are doing this so you can feel good and enjoy your life. This one was so powerful It’s such a luxury to not think about you, out there, and how you might value me. love this and so freeing. Thank you for your honesty and experience sharing. Blessings , Maria

I've been trying to "let the idea sink in" just as you suggested in the post, but no, I couldn't but disagree. For now, it sounds like to agree with you, I would have to convince myself to do so since this is a source I trust.

But then, I don't have to agree with you.

Maybe sometime in the near future, I will then come back to this, for now, I don't. I'm also stupid enough to know that people are capable of making up their own meaning of everything: including events, incident, accident, action, inaction, etc.

I'm afraid that's what's going to happen.

Hi Derek! What are the chances that Esperanto will ever become useful or widespread in any way like the use of Mandarin Chinese or English that is spoken by such huge numbers of people? I'll be happy if I live long enough to master Spanish. I sometimes think that much art is useless, but not All of it. In my case art/music has truly become a tool that has rehabilitated me, saved me and brought me back to life. (after a life threatening operation). I tend to agree with the people who think that the value of music or any art, or the "purpose" of it is to cause people to come alive or even return to life in a good way. It sounds like you're doing wonderfully, Derek.

Awesome brother! I started my podcast for me and have been kind of struggling with how much it takes me away from "saving the world"...but it's worth it...I've been writing again too...so healthy for my soul! Thanks for helping me make some sense of it!

Being a tool for many years is why you are now able to say "art is useless". You could have said it earlier but it probably would not have had as much substance to you as it has now.

My problem with it is that I have probably embraced it too soon, so I think that you have got it right. There is a time for everything.

Thanks again Derek for your knowledge

Awesome! I started doing art again after 8 years, just for the sake of doing it, creating again for no purpose. It was healing for my soul and led to me creating some beautiful, useless art. The value of it is the time we devote to ourselves, being in the moment of creating, with no purpose other than feeding our soul. And that is worth everything :)
-Dena

"I'm not in this world to live up to your expectations and you're not in this world to live up to mine" -Bruce Lee

Time to rediscover yourself, Derek.

Hi Derek,
I am a big fan of your short, sweet and meaningful writing. This is no exception. I am also discovering the power of doing things just for the pleasure of it. Nothing beyond. Started learning the ukulele simply to immerse myself into that music medition, master a new skill with no goals to play, compose or reach any degree of skill. I may, I may not - whatever. It is so uplifting, motivating and empowering.

I am become also more aligned with the idea of not setting goals. A vision, a direction, a desired state of heart and mind - yes, but no specifics. Goal setting can be so limiting when there is SO MUCH that we don't know we don't know! I suspect you may agree. I know I won't get a reply and that's great. Self-care, 'me-time' is critical. We can all improve in this direction. Best wishes and blessings - to you and all readers here!

Beauty is indeed very useful, Derek,
It delights and uplifts the soul. usefulness doesn't necessarily have to be in the material realm only, you know.

hi Derek,

That's a thought provoking post.. my most prominent thought being: Creation, the act of creating, music, whatever.. simply playing itself.. painting.. Art is, (to me anyway!) - in it's essence.. for it's own sake.. a fundamental act.. a fundamental state if you like.. just.. being!

Enjoy!

Barrie

Derek, I love your useless originality. I do not find your intensity too intense. I love the whole idea of what you said. For us musicians, mood is crucial and never stops getting us in trouble, so often clashing with the utilitarian nature of getting through the days and living with others. You're great. I supported your disappearance but missed you. So great you are making music. There is really nothing better for us. Fame tends to ruin people. I chased it too and managed to do pretty well, considering how unwelcome women are in the music business. But I never lost my personal private life with creating music. PS, I fell in love with the ari herstead book and have been recommending it to everyone. I just found out he and I have the same lawyer, the great Chuck Hurewitz. I hope to meet him one of these days. He's done a great service. The best to you, morgan

Art is never useless just as color is never useless. A rose is still a rose whether it is red, white, black, or just a drawing in a coloring book that hasn't been colored yet. Life would continue moving along with or without us. A world without music would be a world as seen on a black and white screen. Music enriches all our lives. The sounds we hear we equate to music; the song of a bird, the singing of the wind caressing the trees. Stand next to anyone and hum a tune and usually that person will look over and give you a smile. Some of us are born with the passion for music. We hear music everywhere. Making music is as natural as sleeping and eating, it is something we cannot just turn off and make it stop. I am 62 years old. I began making music with my first band at the age of twelve. I cannot imagine any person or any reason to stop, to live in a black and white life when all the colors are flowing from my soul.

Hi Derek,

Good luck to you!

I will schedule "useless" days until I can be useless full time.

I disagree. Art can be an emotional tool to anyone that receives pleasure or emotional stress relief from having seen or produced it.

Art has function. It is in the world somehow, and it acts on us.
In fact if we decide that "feeling better" is a value, then art has utility.
But this is an enrichment that is not universal and not easily quantified by dollars.
So in response to your statement: maybe, but define your terms.
Your purpose has shifted from adding value to others' lives, and now it's about your pleasure.
That doesn't make it useless. It just means you're pursuing different goals. It doesn't negate the possibility of enriching others.
I want to keep musing but my train ride is ending. The philosopher-artist must put on the architect hat. The boss doesnt know, existentially, how to be anything but an architect. It's sad.

Pienso que el arte es le expresion de nuestros sentimientos.
No todos lo van a entender, pero hay gente que si,se van a identificar conmigo y entenderan mi mensaje.
Habra comunicacion y eso ya no es useless art.
Pero entiendo que puedo hacer que mi arte sea mas constructivo,
Que enseñe, que anime, que apoye causas justas.

So much said in such few words.

Thanks Derek

Right on! I've been playing music full time for 16 years, serving people in the nursing/retirement homes. I will never be famous, I'm too old & ugly to be a star & I am the happiest man on the planet! I appreciate your article & I joyously get to hug my peeps 485 times this year, already 4 gigs for New Year's Eve, I'll never be rich, but my blessings abound!
Buenas suerte con su idioma!!

you are still useful. a lot!!! even if you try not to be.
Love your blog! even without your elvator pitch!!!
:)

I am nobody's tool today.

I broke into tears.

Being of use means being used... that can only work so long and that's exactly what I realized with that line... I am a tool to others mostly ... no seeing the difference between being used rather than deeply appreciated.

Love the perspective in this article. I wish you the happiest retirement from usefulness and hope the rest of your days are filled with 'artfulness.' I think we often spend so much time trying to be useful and effective we struggle to just enjoy what we have, especially ambitious type A personalities.

I'm just glad you started playing music again. For you.

What you might come to find, Derek, is that by living in your own manner, you will provide more inspiration and use to people than you ever could with an explicitly philanthropic life. Perhaps it sounds like a paradox, but consider how people constantly seek advice from you. Is it not better to live after your own vision and allow people to learn from your actions? I think so. Why else do we study the greats of history? To learn from their actions. Despite thousands of pages of treatises on "how to live well" we still prefer to study the actions of a great man and draw our own conclusions.

Maaaaaaaaaan, this is EXACTLY where I've been. How can I make room for this in my life is the question now.

This is an important insight, especially for those of us who are co-dependent personality types. It sounds so easy to say, "I am going to make ME the priority now." It is much more difficult to implement. The upside is that when you take care of yourself, you have even more to offer others when you play, rest, refresh, and repeat as necessary.

Thank You Derek. Great to read you again. I hope you are well always.
For me Art is indispensable, it is a way of savouring being alive but it cannot and even should not to a certain extent be measured by its potential use or even monetary value...There is Art and there is the Art market, sometimes the two overlap, but this is a different conversation. :)
Is Art "useless"? I think this is only a question of semantics, even though I understand fully the sense of your article...
I often speak more about Creativity than Art, I am more interested in the process than the result...And the goal of Creativity is in my opinion very important, especially when applied to the flow of communication between teacher and learner in the education system... (But that is another topic all together and one of my essential concerns in the work I do)
Annemarie

I think you need to play, play, play; join an improv group, throw paint on paper , pick up a new instrument and celebrate uselessness.

Thank you Derek. This is a good change for you and i think for more people to follow. You trying to be 'useless' is helping me to think differently about me .

Art being useless gives it its freedom to be beautiful. I hope you have a good time playing and writing. I predict you are going to write your best music yet!

Derek, very well deserved brake. You've already been so much help for so mane, selflessly for so long now. Enjoy the break.

I realize now later in life how my music elevates others
And elevates my joy. The cake is made of useful tools but the icing is the art, the writings, the music. Creativity beautifies our lives and elevates the soul!

Thanks Derek. Very sound advice. Even in trying to not do anything for anyone else, you still find a way to make in impact, and it sounds like it works for you which is the most important thing. Amazing! =o)

Heartening piece! I'm still a recovering "useful person" after 40 years of trying to be useful and 8 months of stepping away from it. For some of us, it's not that easy to not feel the need to be useful.

This is about the amazing value of learning to say no when appropriate, maybe it's all the time, maybe it's some of the time, maybe it's never. Zeroing my inbox taught me about "no". A question that's too long to read? No response. A question that should be answered on the phone or in a forum for others to benefit from? Sorry, nope. A request that's actually a series of forwarded emails because you're feeling to stressed to make a coherent request? Nope. But on the flip side as I'm developing a school for music education, I get a ton of requests about my workflow with music, and now I have a "me" reason to help, I'm moving towards being an educator, so the no's are turning into yeses. Or maybe I'm just feeling lonely, I work at home, so perhaps "yes" is just because I crave some discourse. I'm guilty of the very thing that causes me to "no". I'm realizing as I get older I'm such a pitiful hipocrit, the very things that bother me are also the things I'm guilty of. So now I'm trying to think "Don't judge, you might not see this clearly", and so I'm trying to have a "how can I help attitude" but also curating the people I help. Does this person seem gifted? Are the passionate? Are the committed?

Thanks for sharing. As an immigration attorney in a practice that I share with my husband, three kids ages, 13, 11, and 5, I have in the past 6 months been craving more and more me-time. I at first thought it was burnout, maybe it was a little bit of that too, but I realize it's me at age 45, trying to discover who I am, not for anyone else, but for me. I just started writing in the Morning Pages , and my brain rebelled against taking those 30 minutes for the first three weeks and still the seemingly frivolous nature of writing makes my brain go crazy once in awhile. I'll write stuff like, "you really should be doing x, y, and z instead of writing. The Morning Pages are for me, to put thoughts on paper, never to be read or reviewed by anyone (not even by me, usually).

When parents of talented students ask me for advice on whether their child should pursue music as a "career," I tell them you should think of music as more akin to a religion rather than a profession. If you are really into scriptures and want to become a minister or rabbi, you obigations go way beyond delivering sermons. You must cousel families, raise funds for your parish, visit people in the hospital, and so forth. If you become a musician, you must travel, handle your business, teach, and do many other things outside of playing music. In the church you could become a lay reader or Sunday school teacher while holding down a job that pays well. As a musician, you can become a weekend warrior in a band with a "day job" that supports your family. Bottom line: art (and religion) may be a challenge to monetize, but to many, it is just as essential as food on the table or a roof over your head.

Hi Derek,

Art isn't useless, Art is a state of mind. When I see Rodin it gives me hope, when I see Basquiat it awakens me. And I need Gould, Bach, Stravinsky and Miles Davis to complete questions inside me. In my day job, (Sustainable energy technology) There is also an art to designing and building products that haven't been available before. I suppose this is my definition of art. Truth for the individual creating it.

Nice to hear from you !!
Peace my friend,

Eric

My Father always said... If you want to make a living off art, it has to be so awesome that someone would buy it. He was right.

I'm a big believer in the principles of learning to love ourselves first...learning to lead ourselves first...and the inside out circle where we take care of ourselves and our health first. And then we can provide and help and give back to family, to our significant other, to friends, to our careers. That circle starts with our health first, and that includes of mind and spirit. So to that end, Derek, your message in this piece resonates. Good for you.

This is very relieving, but at the same time for people who are starting a new business or doesn't have a regular income. How can we equilibrate not being a tool for anyone and creating something to pay at least basic stuff?

Great post. I started making music for me from the beginning. Many of my friends and family criticized me for my choice but I am not doing music to be some kid of star or famous person. I do this for therapy, to get things off my chest. As for being useful, I learn things that I think can be used to advance my ideas. I am about to graduate from college this may with a BS in Cyber Security. I took this path because I want to create something, not to just get a job or serve another persons agenda/purpose.

Hold art to a higher standard.

Here is Alain de Botton (present-day philosopher) explaining the purpose of art:

"What is Art for?"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sn0bDD4gXrE&t

You have been kind and helpful to many people over the years and deserve to have time for yourself.We all thank you for that. Creative people create something they see as artful from which they get pleasure and is a point of view, but, if no one perceives it to be then, what is it? it's useless and has no purpose. Does he see himself as useless NO! i think "ART" is in the eye of the beholder.

This article is one of the multitude of reasons I love you and your articles. They resonate with the truth of my being. I appreciate you and fully understand your words. The timing was perfect as usual on reading this today in the moment I did. I just quit a full time personal assistant job to pursue what I love...which is music...performing, and teaching with art and color therapy. My Gram who is 84 was recently diagnosed with dementia and She wanted a piano lesson. Low and behold, it was magical and emotional and surprising to say the least. Super healing as she was able to express and let out what she had been holding in. My gratitude is overflowing and life is awesome. Love that you are playing music again. Soo important for the soul. May you be blessed in all your endeavors. You are inspiring and Admirable. Thank you.

Derek, thanks for this reminder. The most important blessing your can give to other people is your own happiness and joy. That can only be nurtured by methodical self-care.

Hi Derek,
First of all, I'm glad you're spending time refilling your well...I think doing that is important, and helps us also have something inside to give to others. In terms of art being 'useful', Trump seems to agree with that, and so is cutting funding to the Arts...or maybe it's so useful, he's threatened by it (which is what I think is his problem with ART).
If you're songwriting, I've been hosting Songwriting Retreats in Stanley, Idaho for the past 3 years...4 week long retreats for 8 artists...they are pretty full for this year already, but I'm sending you an invitation and maybe it will jumpstart your writing...this is a thank you for all you have done for us artists!!!
You're welcome to come and paint! I'm not doing any artist weeks this year, but would love it if you just painted, if you want!


Hi Songwriting Friends...
This is the fourth year of our week long songwriting retreats in Stanley, Idaho, and I hope you will be able to join us!
I think each of you would be a joy to have in our little community of 8...new songs, conversation, laughs and dinners and song circles, and Stanley gives us a beautiful place to work in solitude, time of your own to walk, ponder, play, sing and write, and all in a supportive community of songwriters...Retreats are meant to give you the GIFT OF TIME...and we all look forward to hearing your new creations at our evening song circle.
There is lots of information about the week on my website: (password is: stanley)

http://nancycassidymusic.com/index.php/stanleytwo

And more general information for those not so familiar with Idaho:

— http://matadornetwork.com/notebook/20-things-didnt-know-idaho/



I hope you can join us! It's first come, first served, and so the earlier you request a date and send in your $100, the more likely we will have space for you...I'm sending this out to more people than I have space for, so I hope you sign up early!!!

IT'S BCC BECAUSE I WANT YOU TO MEET NEW PEOPLE and MAKE NEW FRIENDS! YOU'RE ALL WONDERFUL AND DON'T NEED TO KNOW A SOUL THAT'S COMING BEFORE HAND! I'LL SHARE WHO'S IN YOUR GROUP WHEN IT'S FULL...

Please read all the information before you decide, and check out the information on my website also,


Lots of love,

Nancy


MORE INFORMATION ABOUT WHERE, WHEN AND HOW:


Stanley Artist Retreats, 2017

Nestled at the foot of the grand Sawtooth Mountains at an elevation of 6,200’, the Cassidy Family invites you to spend a week working on your creative projects in our lodge along the Salmon River, just outside the little town of Stanley, Idaho.

We are sharing this amazingly pristine natural environment with seven fellow artists for four retreats each year…usually the week will be with songwriters, but sometimes a week will be set aside for musicians, writers, or visual artists. You’ll have space for reflection and unfettered time to express yourself through your art medium in this nurturing, inspirational landscape. This is both a gift to you and to the land -- the area is so beautiful, we would like artists to capture and preserve its spirit in their work.

You will have the time and personal space to work on you craft during the day, generally taking time to be alone and pursue art in the privacy of your own room or out in nature--whichever is most comfortable and conducive to your creative style (you are also welcome to co-write, but it's not organized time, and each songwriter decides if they want to spend their time that way). Each bedroom has views of the Salmon River, the Sawtooth Mountains, or the calming hills and pastures downstream.

During breaks, the area offers many outdoor activities…hikes, bike rides, hot spring excursions, swimming, walks, and town trips can be among the activities you might choose for relaxation or creative fodder. For those interested, we offer morning mediation. The retreats are from Sunday to Saturday, with a house concert (that’s a fundraiser for the local school) on Thursday evening.

You’ll wake up and go to sleep to your own rhythm and make your own breakfast/lunch/snacks with food from our well-stocked fridge. The week is yours to work on your art. At the end of the day we’ll gather to cook and eat dinner in the time-honored family tradition, then share our work in the living room or around a campfire.



The application breakdown and some details to help you decide if this retreat works for you:



I hope you’re interested and able to join us for a Songwriting Retreat this year! If you would like to join us, email me at: NancyCassidyMusic@gmail.com. If you have questions, you can also call me at 650-888-8270.



The 2017 retreat dates are: (arrive Sunday by 6 and leave Saturday by noon)

Week 1: May 21 - May 27

Week 2: May 28 – June 3

Week 3: June 4 - June 10

Week 4: June 25 - July 1



HOW TO SIGN UP:


a) If you are able to attend one of these weeks, let me know which session (s) work for you.

b) I will fill the spots on a first come, first served basis, and will email you back when a session you want has an opening.

c) After hearing back from me that I have put you in a session, send me a non-refundable $100 to reserve your spot. I won’t assume you can come until I receive the $100 (PayPal works great, checks to: Nancy Cassidy, 2390 Amherst Street, Palo Alto, CA 94306). Make sure you also email me that you can come that week.

d) I will fill the spot you requested and I reserved for you if I don’t hear back from you in a week. The total fee for the week-long retreat is that $100, and reserves your spot... but it’s non-refundable...so be sure the week works for you before you sign up.



OTHER TIDBITS TO CONSIDER BEFORE SIGNING UP:

*** You provide your transportation to Stanley. We are a 3 - hour drive from Boise, and a 12-14 hour drive from SF or LA. You will know who the others are in your group and will hopefully ride-share to Stanley, either Boise or driving from your home.

*** There is no cost for the room; you’ll be a guest of ours. We provide a stocked pantry with a variety of healthy foods (and your $100 helps pay for it!).

*** Special foods and drinks you like/need are on you.

*** No dogs, pets or guests allowed.

*** It is SO FUN to have artists back year after year (this will be our 4th year)…but we also want to share Stanley with new people…so priority is going to first and second year folks.

*** Will you like it? The artists who tend to be happiest here have a personality that likes group living but also longs for quiet solo time to work on their projects…so if you like to work solo AND enjoy the company of others AND like to cook, clean and eat dinner together then this week will probably be a great fit!

*** You will each have your own bedroom, which will be your primary place to work. Some rooms have a private bathroom, and some bathrooms are shared. You will draw your room selection out of a hat...random assignments of rooms...if you have been here before, don't count on getting the same room again!
*** We host a house concert (that’s a fundraiser for the local school) on Thursday evening at 7:30 (you can bring CDs to sell).

Dear Derek, I just want to say Thank You for Being There for me. Getting a personal reply from you a couple years ago was a thrill, and I've often thought about how a highly influential guy like you would take the time to thoughtfully do that. And thank you for CD Baby which a colleague recommended to me and which has served me well. You are much appreciated, admired and loved Derek Sivers, and you always will be.

I'll be thinking about your "useless" idea for quite awhile. Sincerely, Lisa

Great post. Interestingly I find music—despite being also a form of art—to be a very useful and powerful tool to turn my mindset toward whatever task I need to do. It's very good to switch to energetic sport mood, for example, or calm me down—almost like meditation. Some long ethnic tracks are pretty good for reading or creating.

I guess sound in general is very powerful tool—not studied enough—that influence human brain, mentality, and mood. It can switch a person toward opposite decisions and behaviours depending on particular waveform combinations.

In some respect art is a tool to influence people's inner universe and emotions. It's a tool for things we don't study enough, don't understand, and can't use properly yet.

At is communication to oneself. Design is communication to others.

This is a perfect example of, "It's not what but how" we are doing things, that we can look to to clarity our experience. If we are clear on HOW we are doing anything, i.e. driven by the voices of old commitments to get somewhere, being useful, sustain some status, etc., and instead move into what is happening right here and now (the how). Life just drops in ideas and inspirations from the moment that have no attached goal of "being a someone who...". Derek beautifully expresses this experience of clearing the decks, and behind the fabric of all that "useful" storyline we weave ourselves into, were jewels to dive into, without any agenda. Deep Thanks for your process Derek, it's helped me have some clarity on this teaching of Not What but How.

I don't agree that art is useless. If someone has a gift from God to paint, write books or songs, etc. I think they have an obligation to use that gift and give it to the world. Many people have feelings, emotions, etc. that they can not put into words or pictures, but others do and should do what ever they can to "speak" for those people. Those people will love the songs or books that expresses what they feel, the painting that they can relate to. God gave us gifts to use for betterment of mankind, use them to the best of your ability. He speaks to others through your gifts and talents, be it in the arts or practical talents that you can use to make a living. Don't hide your talents under a bush where they are of no use to anyone.

hi Derek, welcome back to your own space and inner world and it's great to hear you're playing music again and learning another language..I'm guessing it's an asian language? so have tons of fun and enjoy every moment of your free time..time to give to you, back to being you in a different way..brings you more happiness..so welcome back to Derek's world...big hug, peace, Mark

I am glad you are able to do this. My perspective is, it's good for me to help others, and i should do it, but it shouldn't be an obligation. Not very profound, just my point of view..

We all need to remember how to play. I hope to get there myself.

If you go to any fine Art museum, you will find that art is NOT useless. People like to view art and it gives something to the person viewing it. It please the eye and among other things. Music is the same way. My mom just spent some time in a nursing home again, where the staff heard I played guitar, so they had me play a few years back. As I visited my mom during her recent stay, the staff and other residents at the nursing home, practically begged me to play again. I said I would again in May, despite I hate hauling equipment etc. and practicing the tunes two weeks before. It is time consuming. BUT, Music gives. Art gives. So you are wrong in a way that it is useless. You need to re-think it.
I get your point and agree to some aspects. I recently was also asked to join another rock band. I am 53. I don't want to. It's useless to me, to learn 40 songs to play for a bunch of drunks at bars. I do draw the line. I know when I am being a tool for others. Yeah, maybe the folks at the nursing home are using me as a tool to make their Mother's Day more pleasant, but I think it is more about giving and pleasing others ears especially at a time in life when they are in their Autumn year. Just my thoughts.

Diamonds have no intrinsic value; yet they have great extrinsic value.

Thought provoking as always. Thank you ( even though you weren't trying to help)

First of all, I'm glad you are back to making music for your own enjoyment. I'm doing pretty much the same thing (starting to play music again after a 10 year hiatus).

BUT, the difference is that I would really like for a wider audience to hear my music. Not that I need to be famous, I'm happy if someone else would record and sing my songs.

It's the fact that deep down I know that I have a couple of potential hit songs. Not every song that I've written is a potential hit song, but 2 or 3 are for sure.

Here's why I think so...

One of my songs, a love song, called "You and I" was a song I played in college for my friends. I proposed to my fiancee with that song and then sang it to her at our wedding. She cried both times.

Over 20 years later, a fraternity brother of mine who hadn't heard that song in 20 years asked me "Did you ever do anything with that song, "You and I?" Then he sings a bit of the chorus to me with the correct melody.

What?! Someone remembered a melody and lyrics that I wrote 20 years later? THAT is why I believe that I have a hit song or 2 that I have written. I even moved to Los Angeles to see if I could make something happen but really never gave it a shot.

Here's the thing...in life, you don't get any extra time. Life is an hourglass and once the last grain of sand drops from the top half to the bottom half, your time's up.

I'm over 50 now so at least 1/2 of my sand has dropped to the bottom of my hourglass.

If anyone reading this is an amazing singer with a decent following online and/or offline, please reach out to me. Also, if you have a recording studio or know someone with a recording studio who would be willing to record a few of my songs in exchange for help with marketing (that's what I do for a living), I would gladly barter.

Finally, if anyone is reading this and identifies with what I've written, I invite you to consider that it's never too late to pursue your creative, artistic dreams. You're still alive, you can still create, write, draw, paint, sing, play an instrument, whatever. Even if you're super busy with working 60 hours every week, set aside 1 hour per week for YOU! First thing Saturday morning or Sunday morning. If you have kids, great! Get them involved in your art and teach them what you know and to NEVER GIVE UP!

Thank you Derek and thank you for anyone who has read this far - over 400 comments!!

XOX

Michael Howard (on Twitter I'm Loraxpro, on YouTube there is a video of me singing with Stevie Wonder playing, actually happened 10 years ago - www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBeyHFEUXLM)

BTW - Did you ever find an artist to do those illustrations you needed?

This is an interesting concept Derek. It reminds me of the saying nobody does anything solely for another. We inherently serve ourselves first even in the act of serving another. I struggled with that possibility also. However I think you are right in your mindset of enjoying things for yourself first. That is how we discover and relate to others and through that process we can only truly effect some one else life. We have to be our own cornerstone sometimes to build a lasting and prolific impact on the world we live in. So that being said to say any act is useless is an impossibility because you are just as important as others. And serving yourself has just as much impact in your life as serving the people you want to help.

I agree with others here that employing the word "useless" strips much of the romance out of the experience of any art. I'd argue that its usefulness lies in what you do with your experience of said art: how you put the inspiration you get from it to use, how it may have changed your life or at least changed the direction you were looking in, however slight. Your experience of art may not directly put paint on canvas, but it might be the reason you picked up a brush in the first place, thus *using* that inspiration to direct your actions.

We talked via email in 2016 and I couldn't understand why you stopped playing even if the goals for it became different = Happiest that absence has made your heart grow fonder. Think for a moment about how actually useful music has been
in your own life = Focus, Goals, Purpose, Prosperity, Lives affected and here you are inspiring so many with a conversation whose subject matter is way over 100 years old...Seems pretty useful and relevant to me
For me, the usefulness is solely for the artist, the value that becomes associated from the listeners, viewers, critics, connoisseurs, 'industry', labels, Distributors, and on and on. People can say that art is not really a need, but a human history without creating some form of expression would be sad, probably very much more perfunctory - It is a physical manifestation of all our emotions and I recently came to realize that every single piece of art that has ever been created is about relationships (in one way or another)...I really believe that Wilde was self-deprecating, minimizing himself and all artists, for the sake of kind of letting himself 'off the hook'. I have come to learn that you can still love and respect people (their art or views or work or life) without having to subscribe to every single aspect or quote....True for Mr. Wilde as much as Mr. Sivers and even myself - Totally useful ; - ]

Hope when I start Songaholics (very soon) you will come share some NEW music and thoughts there as well.

Respectfully,
Phil

Ponder this: "In the end, Art will be the only thing that matters."

Hi Derek, I really do get where you're coming from and why you need to pull back from the self imposed "how can I be of use" Good on you for making that change.

However as a statement I do disagree with the concept of uselessness of art (and disagree with Mr Oscar Wilde on this also) the idea that "Art is useless because its aim is simply to create a mood." seems a very narrow and confining definition of both aim intent and impact.

I think a lot of it is semantics here...
Uselessness is not implied in the full sense of its definition.

I can see that one definition of art would be to take a perceived useless object/ activity and attribute beauty or value to it therefore redefining it as "art"

however I feel that the perimeter of uselessness limits the definition of art and furthermore distorts many facets that form beneficial practical outworking and consequences of art.

I personally think "value and use" are intrinsically inherent within all manifestations of art.

I would argue that the usefulness of art first manifests itself in the making of it.

The usefulness of a created finished artwork is variable. It may have served a useful purpose for its maker or it may extend to unquantifiable uses, that inspire, connect and transform (for better or worse) those who encounter / experience it.

All art is an extension of imagination.

Imagination is a foundational tool that is part of our genetic make up and is vital to the toolbox of human survival.

Art makes "use" of imagination.

The initial "use" of Art is to serve the creative process and manifest a result that didn't previously exist. The processes of making art engage brain activity and skill in a way that impacts the development of the maker. The way in which created artworks may be used are as limitless as our imagination can conceive. The beneficial use of art can be found when both creative processes and completed artworks are utilised as a tool to reach an end goal (i.e. all community arts charities that have ever existed)

Art doesn't exit in a vacuum. It needs to be either perceived by someone or made by someone. Art invokes response. The process of creation is when Art first manifests its "use" as a journey wherein one state of being is transformed into something other, be that physical, mental or emotional.

If it only exists for the instigator /creator, they had a need / desire to make the art in the first place therefore usefulness is inherent within it to fulfil that basic need/ desire to make, or express/ communicate, even if that use is only self serving.

As far multiple other concrete uses that can be applied, Art is one of the most powerful tools I know.

Tool for self expression.

Tool to understand more deeply and engage and reflect

Tool to mirror / distort/ reinterpret reality

Tool to communicate perspective and ideas.

Tool to spark imagination.

Tool used in therapy.

Tool for relaxation.

Tool to regenerate communities and socially re-engage them.

Tool for health and well being ( sited in this study fascinating use of art within cancer care, cardiovascular health, medical procedures, intensive care, surgery etc see this for further info... www.nbt.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/filedepot/incoming/Fresh%20Arts%20-%20Making%20the%20case%20for%20the%20Arts%20in%20healthcare%20settings.pdf

I think art is very useful...for expression, sharing, and branding as a marketing tool. However, You take this idea to a new level. I find his article useful and interesting.

I think useless also means dependent on nothing. And if it's true I'd love to be useless ☺

My old art teacher would very much disagree with Oscar Wilde.

What makes art is intent. This is what separates a craft from art. While both may be useful, art is designed to change something in the audience. Sometimes that change is mood as Wilde says, maybe it entertains, but sometimes art changes who we are. We think differently. We behave differently. It influences us in some way. This is how art becomes useful.

If we were to judge art, a difficult task, one of the ways we would do this is to ask what impact that art has on its audience. Our greatest works may not be the most perfectly executed, nor the most asthetically pleasing, but rather the art that has the greatest impact, particularly when it's impact is on other artists, who will go on to do the same.

With this idea in mind, your music may be quite useful, if you make it so. No different than your writing or building a company.

Again, you'll enjoy "The Importance of Living" by Lin Yu-Tang. Cheers, Douglas

Art : Flower : Derek : All of us

glad to hear your playing music again bro

Ironically, some art could be considered MOST useful. The deep nugget: it seems to take the "Art is useless" mindset to push deeper into "Hell Yeah, or F#ck No!" decision making.

The latter being a life-changing paradigm I gladly integrated into my life just last year; and the former being the way of life I had in my early 20s when I was invincible and was fully dedicated to art as a way of making a difference... art being the idealistic means to convey ideas, challenge people to new levels of consciousness, and going deep under and beyond people's skins.

Maybe people are calling the current "generation" the "Useless Generation" because everyone's so busy being the "tools" we've all been trained to be... especially, as tools tied and shaped by technology. Technology can be a short-sighted master.

Thank you, Derek, for re-sparking this "Useless" paradigm back to mind, for I had shed it as impractical. The "Useless" and the "Hell Yeah, or F#ck No!" compliment each other very well.

Baby steps experiments... Will be fun to play with setting some time aside daily to put the tool me down... and be more useless... but always with great joy.

Perhaps, if many of us simply stepped back from our tech and became more useless, we would prove to become the most "Useful" generation?

I don't know you tolerate it Derek. No matter what you say to these people they still agree and believe you are The Second Coming. They must be Addicted to Powerlessness. The Truth is that everything is inherently useless other than the
usefulness you believe it has. Which means that only WE create our own world and then promptly forget that we can and did. If you really wanted to be useful you'd shut this and all other Derek Sivers websites down for awhile and disappear long enough to figure out who you really are without this unconscious need to let everybody else know about your personal irrelevant soap opera. It's not good for anyone. Your readers are hemorrhaging their own Power and you're hemorrhaging yours. Now on some level that must be useful or it couldn't have gone on for so long. In the final analysis it's your own personal happiness that matters and you will never find it outside yourself. It can only come from within. You've been defining yourself by reading all of this "Derek Is God" nonsense. Do them and yourself a big favor and stop playing God. The job is taken and you're no good at it. None of us are. If, of course, there even is a God. People will believe anything that gives their Power to another. So... sorry for the smack upside the head but I've been doing it for way too long to stop now. And I would never do it to you if I didn't consider you a friend. So, you're welcome, in advance.

In The Beginning God Created Man.
Then Man Returned The Favor.

Your friend always,
T

"Useful? We don't need no stinking useful!!!" 19 years my friend, what's the rush?

It awesome you take the time for yourself! It's such struggle at times where we judge ourself or doing things according to society rules. The buzz is to do good, be useful, help others, get rich, get famous, have a purpose. On the other hand, life is short. In the grand scheme of things, nothing mattes, the universe will keep going as it is. Dare to be be authentic. I believe we are souls coming to earth to experience whatever this life has to offer. So pick and choose, time is running out, be happy, no judgement, it's blink of eye, it will all vanish. Hope we can say to ourself that I had fun this life time on our we out.

I love it. I think it's important to note that you're not making art for the sake of it being useful to others. However, In many ways it will be useful (and one could argue, MORE useful) regardless of whether you're creating it with that intent.

Good to hear from you!

yes man unplug. I'll tell you the label eat up of the early 2000's was enough for me to know not to take music seriously.

Now don't get me wrong my music is the shit to me. How do I say it the music industry is one of the most fake industry types in America.

While out there touring with ****** and ***** I got to meet a lot of ppl in music. If they are not trust fund kids then they are ppl willing to couch surf for their dream. I'm just glad I didn't kill myself over this. I toured and met Cobain, Weiland, Brad Nowell, MCA, these are the ppl I've met who are not here anymore.

I need money I have had a good time with music as my last record comes out this year

but yeah man I would disappear and so with that unsubscribe me. Good Luck with all you do.


Keith

EQUILIBRIUM, is now my primary focus & goal in Life. We are born with certain intrinsic interests & passions... which are pieces of the Master Puzzle of the Universe, that ultimately COMPLETES, not only ourselves... but in ways fulfills the needs of ALL EXISTENCE! Simultaneously LOVING God & our Neighbors... as we live OURSELVES... can be a delicate DANCE! BALANCE is ESSENTIAL in all things!

I get what you are saying about it being "useless" but not "worthless." But still a part of me chafes at "useless."

In terms of art, specifically music, there have been times in my life when music was my safe place, my sane place. I used to have an ipod that allowed me to create a bubble of sanity in my otherwise very chaotic life. It truly saved my emotional and mental wellbeing. It also provided a line of communication in my life of faith. So it was not "useless" in my life. It was almost as essential as breathing.

On a personal level, if you can find the time and opportunity to top up your own tank, that's not useless either. Or rather it is very valuable. Like the first responder who must care for themselves first if they are to be any use to those around them. If this is your season to do that, then I am glad you are diving in whole heartedly.

See the comments, as I write there about 500. What does that say? That stone that you threw in the quiet pond, the ripples are still moving on. You are my friend, and so many others feel this way. Now you are one of the ones who will always make a difference to others. This, I believe, is something that was a gift to you. You can not be selfish! I think none of us can really know how, or when we effect the big picture. That is because each thing we do affects another thing, and on and on in this expanding space, which is beyond our comprehension. To put is simply my friend, "You done good!" Just believe that the "Fat Lady" is not even warming up in the wings. There is much to be done. As my Dad said to me several times. "just go to work, and everything will work out."

NO way Man!! Super cool!! Super cool! Oscar Wilde! ART! Like a breif moment of whimsey and fairy dust fills the senses and one then feels Alive!! Useful..for sure man...!! Love you Derek!! Have a beautious day in the music! I am creating so many new tunes..meself..!! Rachel ☺ ...(did I spell whimsey right..??)

Congrats, Derek! You've earned it. If you haven't read it, you might enjoy Mastery by George Leonard. He describes loving goalless practice, and loving the plateau more that the thrill of achievement or recognition.

Derek,

Thanks for sharing, I enjoyed your article. It reminds me of a movie called Razors edge. There is a point in the film where Bill Murray is at the top of a mountain to meditate. It is extremely cold and when he runs out of fire wood, he burns his books to stay warm.

"And art, like love, is what makes the world forever fresh and new. However, this revitalization cannot be said to be art's purpose. Art revitalizes precisely because it has no purpose. Except to engage our senses. The emancipating jounce of inspired uselessness."

- Tom Robbins

Well, now that the comments are up to 471, I won't be able to read all of them and will probably duplicate some thoughts, but here ya go:

"I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony. . ."

"Like a Rock..."

"This is My Town, na na nana na..."

"And like a good neighbor ..."

"The best part of waking up is. . ."

When art is used to sell billions of dollars worth of product, it is as useful as the product itself.

So, yeah, I'd have to say that defining or referring to "art as useless" flies in the face of the billions of dollars the world spends every year (dating back to the first since the advent of pigment on a rock) using art to sell a product, or tell a story to compel an action to be taken.

We all STAND for the National Anthem, we FEEL patriotic when we hear a John Philips Souza piece played at a parade, we all tear up at TAPS. Those are quite useful functions of "art" and the American race says so, because we do it daily and it brings people together as a nation, even if only for a few minutes.

The American Flag is a useful piece of art, it signifies many things: government buildings, borders, it identifies our soldiers, sailors and Marines on the battlefield.

The religious Icons are all useful as they call to order the spiritual moorings of the faithful. Every corporate logo ever designed is art. The very font this message uses is art.

Museum art is useful because it teaches us history, it calls us to action, it inspires us, it helps us understand what we like and what we don't like, what we know and what we don't know, or don't want to know.

So, I applaud your evolution into the second half of your life, leaving most of the ego behind and getting into what Richard Rohr would define as your second half. Giving yourself permission to focus on something besides yourself in the sense of what people think of you or will do for you (send you money for services rendered) is the best part of growing older. I pity those who are stuck in the pursuit of self for self's sake. They will reap what the sew. Focus on joy, love and people for their sake and you will have found the path to your destiny. Enjoy the journey.

USE vs INTENT
[The Difference is Important]

This is not a new idea, and it comes with a lot of baggage that you likely have not considered.

It's not insignificant that the statement "Art is Useless" comes from Oscar Wilde. He had plenty of critiques about high society, but he could never divorce himself from it.

The concept may seem benign or even helpful, but it stems from a long, patronizing, and genuinely harmful Western Tradition of separating "useless" art from "useful" crafts.

According to this tradition, Paintings and Sculptures are Fine Art, made simply to be contemplated at a high level (primarily by the wealthy), not for any mundane "use." Finely-made crafts may be enjoyed, but on a much lower level.

Gifted Artists make art, lowly artisans make crafts. It's a sign of sophistication to know the difference, and it's a marker of class to have access to both.

In this view, even a beautifully-designed cabriolet armchair--with fanciful, delicate upholstery, and intricately carved, gilded walnut--is not art. It's craft--it has a use.

A 19th-Century European slave trader in Nigeria might have witnessed a Yoruba woman working traditional Adire patterns, rich with meaning and Indigo ink, into hand-spun cotton fabric. He would've considered it a primitive, decorative craft. "True art," the slave trader might've thought, "is for the civilized to contemplate. Craft is merely pragmatic."

Only in the past few decades, after many intellectual battles, have the artificial boundaries between "useful" crafts and "useless" art begun to break down. Only in very recent times have we begun to see African textiles displayed in galleries and museums.

However!

I don't think your personal revelation requires perpetuating this painful tradition at all.

In my view,
the more important element that you've touched upon is the role of Intent.

If you approach music (or any other medium) with no intentions, it allows you to exist in the moment as it's happening. There is profound freedom in that.

Non-intention is certainly not the only approach to creativity, but it can be a very rewarding one, especially if it becomes part of a daily practice. It opens you up to your subconscious, it allows you to access the creative impulse more freely, and you may be surprised at the results.

John Cage once referred to music as "purposeless play." He was referring to a lack of intention.

If you haven't already, I'd strongly encourage you to spend some time reading Cage's "Silence: Lectures and Writings." It's very powerful, and it may help you further explore this.

Great blog Derek!!! I'm happy to hear that you're playing again. I would love to hear your work one day. Not as a critic but as a music lover and professional musician that sincerely appreciates what you have done for the music industry.

Great insight into your own psyche Derek. I shall take a lesson from that.

Way to go! Sharing your thoughts is inspirational and serves a purpose. Enjoy.

'Art is the lie that enables us to tell the truth.' Picasso

Pretty useful dude.

I think a lot depends on the context for your definition of useless and tool, but I think I see your point. Nonetheless, chewing this over inspired this poem:

The Colorful Umbrella

Said old man with raindropped chin,
"Useless thing", and cast in bin
An umbrella that was not worn
Colorful, yes, but slightly torn

Useless thing on any rainy day
To keep the drips and drops at bay
And so it seemed to be no abuse
To dispose of that which held no use

Tossed in a bin and left to wait
T'was colorful umbrella's fate
But only fate knows what fate's about
And soon an old lady fished it out

Brilliant colors caught her eye
Red like rubies, blue like sky
Yellow, purple, orange too
Slightly torn, but mostly new

Months had passed, the sun was hot
And sought old man a shady spot
And as he strode to shady tree
What do you think old man did see?

Brilliant colors, so bold and loud
Held high 'neath not a single cloud
Old lady with no care at all
Holding high her parasol

"Excuse me Ma'am, don't think me cute,"
"Where did you get that bumbershoot?"
She laughed and said, "in the trash"
"Tossed out because it has this gash"

"That is just what I suspected!"
The old man he interjected
"Pretty thing, it caught my eye"
"But it didn't keep me dry"

Then old man said, "I'm confused"
"Why keep a broken thing so used?"
Old lady laughed again and spoke,
"Why indeed keep this 'brella broke?"

"But as you see it gives me ease"
"When sun is hot and there's no breeze"
"And on days with no sun or rain"
"I lean upon it like a cane"

"Yes this 'brella has a leak"
"but it helps me when I'm weak"
"Stiff and old, I am hard to bend"
"But this handle, a hand can lend"

"It helps me reach beyond my grasp"
"Like when my keys fell from their clasp"
"Yet in truth these useless uses"
"Are really just my excuses"

"For just to simply catch a sight"
"Of these colors, fair and bright"
"Brings me such a pure delight"
"I'll keep this with me day and night"

Then she giggled like a young girl
And umbrella she gave a twirl
She left old man in thoughtful shade
Until these sunny thoughts he made:

Brilliant colors to her eye
Red like rubies, blue like sky
Yellow, purple, orange too
Slightly torn, but ever new.

==

By Doodleslice
2017-03-10

Sivers you enjoy the hell out of being useless & a tool no more! Even in your uselessness you are a spark for great insights and thinkinh. Ah damn you had some use even in your uselessness. Cheers to you!

Wait a sec . . .

A tool gets something done. A nail is hammered, a screw driven.

Art gets something done too - perspective broadened, sense of connection renewed, ego leavened.

What art doesn't do for many of us reading this is Make Money. My acting doesn't provide as much food and shelter as my other work. But neither does the hammer in my garage. If I was left to fend for myself with the tools I own . . . I would not be long for this world.

So is Art useful? Yes.
But like many tools - it's usefulness varies on who's wielding it for whom.

Derek Sivers writing = Useful to many because it engages the heart.

Take art from the world and most of us would wilt.

I attend a local theater, Ruskin by name, that has what they call Café plays every third Sunday. Writers meet Sunday morning and are given the theme of the day and pictures of two actors. They turn their 10to 12 minute script in at one and the actors set out with a director to memorize and block the play. By the way, the plays are all set in a Café. The object, as stated on the program is the process, not the product. They are often very humorous and rewarding, but they sometimes are flat, The point is everybody had fun and the scripts are often thrown away, but the laughter and applause lives on. I've written probably a thousand songs, Oh yeah, I wanted to become famous but it was the fire in my gut and the satisfaction of finishing that drove me on. Still nothing is more satisfying to me than playing one of my songs just for me, especially after a period of time. I have songs I wrote back in the 60s and 70s that still turn me on. I'm 78 now and still writing. I've even done a couple of those Café plays...Jack Walker, Santa Monica Ca.

When you do things that you truly love just for the sake of this love, you are making things better for the others

Derek, get a hold of yourself. Of course art is useful, it can inspire... can you?

“Frame your thoughts like this—you are an old person, you won’t let yourself be enslaved by this any longer, no longer pulled like a puppet by every impulse, and you’ll stop complaining about your present fortune or dreading the future.”—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 2.2

Hi I just found you. No you were not lost. I haven't read all of your thoughts. Still I love it so far. On art being useless it's to me like flowers. They die yet while alive they are candy to the eyes and food for the heart. The picture on not being lost reminds me that no matter where I go or where I live I will always be alright because I will be there. Thanks for reading this.

Well said. The need of feeling useful is another trap of the ego. Nobody is irreplaceable (but it feels good to the ego to imagine we are so). Anyway, I think your essays are important for so many (just look at here, how many comments it got so far) so it would be nice to all of them (including myself) if you carry them on, unless of course this is halting you deepen in the knowing of yourself.

Balance is hard to do, especially if you are a hard worker, creative and motivated. I am juggling several things also, and some things do not get priority, but I would not quite say to become useless to anyone. I also disagree that art is useless because it is not a tool. Photographs have inspired me to write a song or do something useful, music as art has also helped so many people in their lives and that is useful. But it sounds like you just need a well-deserved break from some things and then focus on others that might make you more happy. You are still being useful, even to yourself!

Love this notion, the Oscar Wilde letter is a great bonus!

I so thoroughly relate to loosing touch with playing music, because for the past 3 years I've been so focused on learning new things and producing useful things.

I couldn't quite understand why playing had suddendly become another chore, so I decided to not force it anymore. I still miss it though, and now I understand the reason :)

Thank you, Derek

I love the sound of your comment about not being anyone's tool. I don't want to be anyone's tool either. I look at life with a slight twist that works for me. I am the hub of a network of resources. My money, time, intellect, talent, relationships etc, are my resources. My resources have a purpose and that is to be a conduit of love. For example the purpose of having money is to express love and I use my money to do so. This keeps me from thinking that the purpose of life is my comfort and pleasure. The opposite of love is selfishness and thinking that my resources are best used for my benefit will cause who I am to be less. The problem with the concept is that when you love you are very useful. I think that art should also be done with the purpose of expressing love. That makes art useful.

Derek thank You very much for this post. It pointed exactly the same situation in my life. Your post I treat like a sign and a message. Thank You

Some me time is really fruitful.Better to serve if you desire but also in a much better way. If you don't take care of yourself you are no good to others. Enjoy this new found wisdom. God bless.

Personal artistic expression is the pinnacle of self indulgence but often inspires other people to seek growth, self expression and balance in their own lives and disciplines. There are those who work in the arts as a means of external validation. That is a trap because if one is that desperate for validation, there will never be enough of it in the world to satisfy that need. Any path one is devoted to with the goal of exploring personal truth through an abstract means could be considered art. Science often intersects in this way (Tao of Physics). Peolple who have this personal drive are often artists and scientists. Art is an abstract and often desperate way of communicating things that may fall outside of basic verbal communication. This can be true of science also, which attempts to measure and quantify qualities that are outside conventional understanding. People involved in those pursuits often have to invent their own language and terms to define their discoveries. It is a desperate means to understand and to be understood. That may be useless to the audience or public but it is not useless to the artist because it is fundamental to the way they communicate personal truth. "Art is the language of a life in crisis", as I once heard it described in a Van Gough documentary. So, art is as useful or useless as any communication that reveals personal truth. The value one puts on that truth defines the value of art in their lives and that will vary by individual.

Art is really not useless. It has a purpose, albeit maybe a different purpose for different people. Art is therapeutic for me. I become fully immersed in my music. I think that is what you really mean.

Congratulations on this new turn in the road, Derek! You deserve to be useless! : )
Art is useful and useless, a stealth weapon whereby tryants are downed and childre survive troubled childhoods. It is the trickster’s answer,a zen koan to questions posed by authority. And an authority in and of itself—an authority of the soul and spirit. It's purpose is beyond useful. It just is.

Paradoxally, that is the usefulness of art.
:)

In my opinion, no art is useless!

Revelations keep coming as we age, it is interesting that each of us will reach the revelations we seek out based on our individual factors. The desire to create can be very strong in some of us, what we create matters mainly to the person doing it because it is the state of mind that is important to me when creating anything. Also to brings good into the world in some way would be a bonus.

I find this sentiment very similar to the theme of an essay I wrote a few years ago - about the difference between science and art. Science, to me at least, helps us solve problems. It quenches our thirst for knowledge. Art, on the other hand, doesn't solve problems, but creates them; it doesn't satisfy our thirst, but intensifies it. We need science, but we don't need art.

And yet, it's this intensification from art that makes life so pleasurable, so colorful, so worthwhile.

The second part of your title ("and so am I") also reminds me of a quote by the French philosopher Michel Foucault:

"What strikes me is the fact that in our society, art has become something which is related only to objects and not to individuals, or to life. That art is something which is specialized or which is done by experts who are artists. But couldn't everyone's life become a work of art? Why should the lamp or the house be an art object, but not our life?"

Thanks for the article.

Wow! I love this Derek. Thank you!

I have arrived at a similar place, but I wasn't sure what to call it. I have begun calling my painting a "soul activity", as in something I must do to fully live my life, but I have not been able to sink into yet. This need to be useful and practical is definitely one of the culprits. I also struggle with this concept in my marketing since I make my living as an artist in various areas. ( I must be useful, responsible and pay my bills!) I must prove to my clients that their purchase will be worthy of their money spent. And how the hell do I charge anyways?!?

Relaxing into fully being Me is proving to be more powerful in all areas of my life. Your illustration of this concept helps me pinpoint the resistance.

Thank you again so much!! Perfect timing. I am laughing heartily as I write.

Happy you're taking it back to you, you've done a lot for the community :)

I think we are here not just for ourselves. While our happiness (useless) may be our personal goal, what we can be and do for the others (useful) helps defining the meaning of our lives.

Example: I'm a smiley person because I like being positive (useless), but I also believe that when someone smiles back at me I improved her/his day by an inch (useful).

What about Music Therapy? Is that still art? Isn't that a useful tool?

We value you regardless of what you bring us. :)

Art reminds us that we live in a world of perceptions. Tools exist to move in the physical, art exists to move in the soul.

Yeah, I've made the same approach to my stand up and film-making and it's made it so much better. So few years on this planet, why not have fun with it and do it the way you want. Get rid of all the ridiculous pressure that sports and movies like Whiplash make us think we have to go through to be the BEST. Take your time and do it your way.
"Success can never come too late."-Gary Shandling
“The flame that burns Twice as bright burns half as long.”― Lao Tzu

Derek, I think that you have made your mark by just being you. I think you are merely reaching a higher level of consciousness. We are but channels, conduits for art, music, and higher disciplines. Everything that we do has purpose that may or may not be apparent to us at the time, but will later reveal its relevance to us. We go with it the flow of creativity and knowledge, like moving water. As the old saying goes, "still waters can run deep." Fame is fleeting. I see this as a re-evaluation of Spirit for you. I think you are simply going deeper. As always wishing the best for you, my amazing friend! xxx

Useful/usefulness versus non useful or non usefulness...when I think of such things, like art and music, I have to disagree with your thinking. All creation is reflective of the greatest creator of all things.

To me, when we experience our connection with God, be it through the "blues" or the joys, is a much more precious thing than any "tool."

So, maybe we ARE saying the same thing...to experience the humanity of having no " useful" purpose is a very od thing. Enjoy.

Your Right Derek!

Fuck That Elevator Pitch

This is the first time I comment one of your always interessting message, because on this one, I cannot disagree more ☺

Art gives artists and.. artisans ! Same root, different flavors…
Can we say artisans are useless ? So why would the artists, then Art ?
Thinking art is useless leads to sell all these bad,cheap, expandable, crappy products and services all year long…
Art / Design : this is the dilemma. We can indeed produce art without any goal, as we could not any other, but if we understand art has to be a component of everything we deliver, then the art is more than useful.
Raymond Loewy gave Coke a bottle.. wasn’t it art ? Since when do we see the very same bottle ?
Like it or not, but can we say art is not a part of some nice electrotech products (won't spell the brands...) ?
Can’t we say the difference between a fiero and a vette ? isn’t art a part of the explanation ? ;-)
Definitely, art needs to be part of every design process, or be condemned to live in a boring world…

At the risk of being ridiculed, I must respectfully disagree on several points. Learning a new language is not useless to you or someone else. It would depend on the situation, but I can think of several where it would be highly useful. Likewise playing music can be extremely helpful to you and others depending on the situation (ie music therapy). My apologies to Mr. Oscar Wilde but flowers are most definitely not useless. Many flowers are edible and do I need to mention the medicinal uses of flowers.

Happy to hear you are back in making music, because of a serious illness i had to stop playing the double bass 2yrs ago, and i picked my guitar after a 25 years break, it sounds great and i love playing it now lap-style.
I wish you all the very best being you, sound is our essence, rhythm, movement, intention
Love, peace from Jerusalem
JC

Art is useful; it can make people happy. A gun is a tool and it's only function is to destroy life.

These big sweeping statements are unhelpful, and totally useless, if not damaging.

If you ever wanna come play on a mountain bike (or a fat bike on a stunning beach), you know where to get me ;-) I'm happy to be useless for a while!

Hey Derek! You are an unusual person! Love the way you think. Very cool. would love to meet you someday. I still play music for a living. probably die singing somewhere!! Ha... love what i do. want to start a music co. I'm a great producer! keep those thoughts going my friend!!

Go Derek, and thank you, as always, for sharing your experience, perspective, and process!

Where does this endless, nagging question about what we "should" be doing come from anyway?

Hi Derek
This is as beautifully thought provoking as ever.... I think you have put yourself in the position to have these choices. People choose trivial things everyday but have little choice over controlling forces. I think a lot of people are just trying to get to a point where they too can choose.
Thanks
Ian

Well if you are doing it for yourself and you get some satisfaction then that's fulfillment of self worth. But don't forget you did help thousands of musicians when you started CD baby. That wasn't useless. Was it worth it? Hell yeah!

Hi Derek,
you state, but usefulness was not its purpose.
How do you know that art, it's true purpose is to be useless. Everything is useful even on a scale the we as humans may find incomprehensible.

Why are some many people engaging in such a subjective artform as a form of expression, because it is useful for its creator. We create to express ourselves, to share ourselves with the world, our friends, family to evole....  to know ourselves.

You can sell your expression to someone who may enjoy it or you could simply give it away, is it a tool, if it's useful by definition it is a tool. Art can inspire, heal us, call us to action,
give us a new prospective. Art it can be evocative, emotive all artforms can do this music, has many facets, as does dance and a  painting with its colours and shades.

Oscar Wilde is a writer, can writting be a art, yes it can and should be, juxtaposed words and tempo are all creative processes of writing. One could argue his works a useless so why did he continue writing, for the reasons I've already mentioned.

Worth along with art is subjective,  worth/vaule can be dictated by how useful is to the person experiencing your creation.
Derek Sivers you are useful. Most artist at some point stop writing for many reason, this dry spell is sometimes what you need to refresh, create anew and evole some more.

"Who am I" is the question !! Your expression of you yourself defines you, we are all connected some will find you/music/art useful. 😊

Try the Phish bakers dozen at MSG this year. Their shows are the most wonderful uselessness I've ever experienced.

Derek, when you think about it words are useless too, just lines on paper like art really. However when they form something that reaches out to you and captures your imagination and your spirit that's when it becomes real and not something useless at all. Music notes the same, it is what we create and share that matters, useless things perhaps hold the beauty and the magic. Useless Derek, more useful than ever, your lines on paper, your words have given yourself freedom and us also. You have space to breath to create to be you and by doing so perhaps allow those who understand to have the courage to do the same.

Art is far from useless as it allows us to see things in ways we wouldn't ordinarily do. In that way, it helps us to understand ourselves and those around us. You could say that, in this manner, art is a tool for self examination and improvement.

Wow. So goes my life. I am very useful as a facilitator in helping the homeless, poor and uninsured but I too gave up my music and art to do it. I am being heavily nudged to do it to care for me.

Hi Derek,
I think I have been following you at various times almost all of these years. I think it is great that you have come around half circle and I say that because you might decide to leave music again and become the person you have just left. Does that make sense? I don't know, but it seems that you have become a person free to make different choices. And that is great. I love that you are so insightful about who you are and then express it so well. Good luck in whatever you do from here on out.
Jacqui

Brilliant post Derek, thanks for sharing.
It seems with growing social media mobile phone addiction that more and more people are forgetting to do things just for the sheer personal enjoyment they get out of it.
Will Smith had an interesting quote stating: "If you're not helping somebody else then you are wasting your time." That's a nice quote breaking down the fact that we all die real soon and so the only worthwhile persiit is to help others. I think you've raised a nice caveat to that quote that for those of us who are always giving and serving others not to forget to take some me fun time, it will only make you happier and more effective for the phases of your life where you switch back on the giving/serving mode of living.

Respect.

I enjoyed your article. I am an Artist and Musician myself. I am currently enjoying Art being only for therapy purposes these days. I have been able to enjoy more of what I am doing. I don't have to have validation to do the things I love. It is liberating. Glad you have taken up a foreign language. I enjoy reading your articles. The best to you.

I agree that at first I was intrigued by the title and wanted to see how you were going to explain why art is "useless". Once again, this hits home for me--and it's great to know that what I always "feared" (ie: not being "useful" to anyone) is not an uncommon thought. You have yet to write anything that isn't full of incite! This one is one of your best. Thanks for the advice!

Great article. Good place to be. "Me time". I am just about where you are. Good luck to you and thanks for all of your hard work serving many all these years.

I've been a visual artist, writer, composer, musician, vocalist, stand-up comic, film maker (producer, director...) character actor, VO actor and teacher most of my life. Doing it for myself is where it all starts (Boredom is boring!). Getting pumped-up on a new idea is why I live full time in verisimilitude. Of course my lifestyle has it's financial stresses (like now) but growth of the mind, spirit and body is why I'm here. I constantly write down everything creative, unique or funny so I always have references of projects to go to visually, musically, comedically...

Derek,

Thank you for sharing this. I would add that Art may pose the question "useful to what end?" Given the current state of the world, this is an important question. Furthermore, without reflection and leisure, we close ourselves off to the space needed to reach a previously unexplored plane of awareness.

Michael

Hey Derek,

I totally get what you are feeling about art... Although, it's like anything else that we do.. If enough is enough, well then we do something else that satisfies or fulfills us at the time...Seemingly,life is a continuum and that can be a problem sometimes; We should concentrate on knowing there's an end and we would use our time more wisely!

I would say keep studying your language course, until your interest runs dry. Then do something else. Don't spend your time, thinking about what to do for others.. If you are respectful of yourself,then you will naturally do good things for others.. (Which you are).

I think we analyze things a bit too much, and then discover that we are not happy..I assure you Derek, it's just a phase of your thinking now.. The important thing is just being happy and everything will fall into place..
I am going through a similar feeling, but concentrating on me; while just respecting others...Huh!!!!! It's working, it's working!

Keep the emails coming, it's REFRESHING that you think about this stuff.. I want to hear it..

Take care my friend!

George Iglesias

I am glad you are getting into the place where you can have more "me time" and stop worrying about being "useful," though I have a different idea about the definitions of art, useful and useless. Take your time getting used to self-time. It is something many of us need to find more of. I am convinced that creativity requires unbridled time to unleash itself into something good for us, just for the sake of bringing us pleasure, whether or not it could be tagged as useful. I came across this slide show and thought perhaps you or others might find this another point to consider following your essay. Because for me, nature and science and art are not mutually exclusive. http://www.dw.com/en/art-or-science-the-eyes-have-it/g-37889393

You should have more "me time" ... i highly recommend it. I just retired after working as a secretary for 48 years. I loved working, but had so little me time. I am happier than I've ever been now and enjoying things I never had time for before including spending time with my 8 grandchildren and playing Pickle ball!!

Beautiful thoughts expressed eloquently. I love your emails and posts and look forward to reading them. I admire and respect all that you have worked so hard for and accomplished. I am a musician, artist and web designer, as well, but I was never smart enough or in the right time and place enough to build and sell a company for $22 million dollars.

And for those of us working hard and following our passion who are just getting by, these concepts sound very elitist. I don't have the option of immersing myself in a foreign language for several hours a day or not answering emails or refusing to work because I don't want to be someone else's "tool". My family depends on me to provide a home and food - "no goals and no results" is not an option.

I know you have the best of intentions and if I had achieved your level of success and earned your kind of money. I'd be as "useless" as possible and only pursue my own dreams and play my own music.

But in the end, I have to be as useful as possible for others so that my family can survive. If that makes me a "tool" in service to others, so be it. And what begins as an optimistic and self-affirming message, eventually leaves me feeling annoyed and a bit offended.

My art is fairly worthless, But for a dental technician still creating some of the most beautiful and useful crowns on the central coast, for the most friggin cheapest dentists in the world, who tabulate to be about 98% of them.

Over the years I've encountered tools which I couldn't recognize at the time. "Oh, that's what carpet layers use to stretch carpet perfectly into the all the nooks and crannies of a kitchen floor." And, "So that's what mechanics use to tune an engine in order for it to run smoothly." The tools have mostly remained the same, but my revelation of what was its purpose or how it can be used is what has changed. Realizing the usefulness of an unknown apparatus is wonderfully enlightening. Human beings anxiously search for their purpose without realizing they can be useful in anything they do when their intention is to be useful. I can be useful in art, because that expression called art opens many doors for art lovers and for those who want to get to know the artist better. After learning more about the artist, I may want to know how he got started, and in turn, learn why he gave up really useless pursuits to pursue a way in which he could really express himself.
I know what you meant by saying art is useless. You could say that about your dog, but is the dog loving you unconditionally useless? All the dog has to do for you to love it is be a dog.
From what I understand, the Creator is happy with you being Derek, Derek the entrepreneur, Derek the artist Derek the family man. Just not the Derek who doesn't know Him. Get to know Him, (not religion) and then express yourself with full confidence that you are loved for being you. You know, like you love your kids.

Good for you man. Live it up!

I have such admiration for your words. Thanks for sharing and allowing me to see that my constant
desire to learn is worthy to someone, somehow, somewhere, sometime in the future... with no care of the impact or acceptance. I know deep down I will be able help sooner or later with this vast array of useless knowledge. In the past my education had to be of value so I could earn a living. Ironically, my salary with no benefits, has not made me secure or happy. have recently realized that my education did not add up to make me an expert at anything but I was able to solve the issue, forward a movement or enlighten a life with my un-useful knowledge. Furthermore, my resume does not reveal my depth or passion; however, the people I have interacted with friend or stranger never cared about my resume. Your article has opened my eyes to see I need to do what I enjoy and get out of this pidgeon hole I have been in for 10 years. The opportunity for me to make a difference with sincere, accepting and authentic people is a requirement from this day forward. Practicing my coding skills, created a minimal vialable product, navigating my way around creating the business aspect for my SaaS, learning immersion Portuguese and pushing 54 with only my passion and heart to guide me. Wish you stepped into the mentor arena so I could have your advise for my next 54 years.

Derek you are a good man.
You see the value in everything especially us your fans, students, peers.
Must be tough at times, this new undertaking of yours.
I hope you enjoy and fully embrace your new freedom.

Always grateful,

Matt in Massachusetts

<3

I understand, and it's a good way to look at it. I like your opinions that we should do art for ourselves. I have tons of opinions of my own, but freeing myself from any urgency to be important in music and art helped me, I would say.

This is so interesting to me. A while ago when you said you were spending all your time answering e-mails, I thought, hmm, I should e-mail Derek. What should I ask him? And all I could think to ask you was, Don't you miss playing music?

As a professional musician (and former software engineer) I have been trying to rediscover the fun of making art for the hell of it. I've been enjoying making drawings. This article helps me feel like I'm on the right track.

I SWEAR ON OUR DEAR MOTHER EARTH'S SOUL > each, and every time my body stated to slide down, your spirit was always present too guide me back on the correct path.

My X hubby {Phil Bowie} just finished writing his fourth successful novel. I LOVE friendly challenges! THANK YOU!

I can just hear Cinderella singing "I'm not your tool, nobody's tool, nobody's tool..." 😉

Nice work. 😊

The nice part is going from useful to useless, because being useful gives us more resources to be useless with.

Thank you, Derek, for your 19 years of service.

Hello Derek,

I think what you are doing is

Aleluya :)

I am so happy for you, Derek! You have given so much, to so many, and now it is time to enjoy your life. I have recently stepped down as an Artist Manager, as I discovered that it was time to take care of me, after my Cancer diagnosis. I am doing very well, and I now help out a few artists, but only when I want to! It is amazing the cement block it removed from my head! I hope you enjoy health, happiness and a long and fulfilling life. I will never forget all you did to help me, when I was starting out, twenty years ago!

Love you my Brother,
Carole

"Cast away lines, cast away doubt, castaway life for me.."
(a line from the Captain's Collection by Billy Bones)

Smooth sailin' Derek and many thanks.

Just saying hello! And good for you.

Way cool...I love your blogs :)

Good for you! I'm a firm believer it all starts within. Glad to hear you are making some positive changes for the next chapter in your life :)

Hey Derek! Always good to hear from you. You always have an interesting perspective on things. I am grateful to hear that you are returning to the muse of music. That gives me great joy to hear that. I also am glad to hear you give yourself some freedom to break free of the mindset of being a tool. However in saying that I believe that art and music can be very powerful tools. I have seen personally the power of music be a powerful first line defense in calming a racing mind and there are people who literally have full time jobs using art and music as therapy. So in that way I would disagree that art and music can be tools of great comfort. That's my 2 cents worth. Keep making music brother! God bless Jim Vilandre www.jimvilandre.com

@hilary very good point! Roger Daltrey (lead singer of The Who) lamented on Dan Rather's The Big Interview ( available on most Netflix territories ) that everyone around him is so busy on their smart phones all the time that they do not allow themselves a moment of complete silence, of reflection ... How can you find your inner voice if you don't allow it a chance to SHINE through ?

I am so Glad that you found happiness and fulfillment in your me time. Sometimes I find myself doing my music now a days for the same reason you do. Me time.

Everything in life is quite useful if you find the use of it. Value everything and be grateful for useful and unuseful things in life ;)

One of my favorite quotations on the purpose of art comes from Twyla Tharp, choreographer of amazing broadway smashes such as Cats and Joseph... I will paraphrase, not being near to her books:

It is not your job to judge or critique your own work. If you are lucky enough, someone else will do that for you. Your job is, simply, to create.

Enjoy your discoveries, friend! Thanks for making the time for yourself in your life.

Art is useful to me on my CD covers. It provides a "hint" of what music
might be inside. This is why i pay as much attention to it as some of my tracks.
The "harmony" in most of my covers also might be a clue to what cannot be discovered until the later time when one buys the CD and gives it a test drive.
It's a breadcrumb but i get your idea and stance as well. My new thumbdrives also have the pix of each CD on and will come up on many car players and computers.

Dear Derek,
I found your article “Art Is Useless” very thought provoking and more importantly the “explosion” of discussion and contribution that follows more cathartic.
After reading, and checking on the internet all the sources of the more than 500 contributions, here’s my little summary.
Very grateful for your thoughts.
Happy reading.

"Art is useless, is like cathartically saying
Life is Empty and Meaningless.
Art is not the object; it is about the life, so they say.
The seed of the life is the few words on “Art is Useless”,
followed by the waves of contributions that debates its pros and cons, truth or falsehood;
In the end, the seed of thoughts continues to grow even more tenderly.
“We can forgive a man for making a useless thing as long as he does not admire it.”
Not all those who wander are lost
Not all those who wonder are wrong,
Not all art are useless
For there is no point in Art.

Suzzane Langer, Bennett Reimer, Rick Steves, Oscar Wilde, Barbara Oakley, Black Sabbath, , Rovbert Bruce, Kevin Kelly, Skaspeare, Emerson , paul Dolan, Picasso, , Doodleslice, Marcus Aureulis, Gary shandling, Lao Tzu, van gough
all seems to have something to do with “Art Is useless”.
Putting them altogether seems to be not a useless process.
Matter and mind, mind and matter, by Dr seuss…..
Art is the matter, Useless ness or usefulness is the mind
A canvas with lots of colors is practically useless
A piece of rock with some carvings is still a piece of rock
A string of sounds put together is still annoying,
A product on the shelf is nothing but a product on a shelf.

The mind creates the meaning, the emotion, the value , the purpose, the symbolism and much more.
The canvas becomes a masterpiece of joyful delight,
the rock the symbol of intellect, that makes grown men cry
the string of sounds a symphony, brings back memories of long lost lands
Alas, alas,
the product on the shelf remains a product on the shelf.
You see, in short,
what the world needs is people who have come alive, not more products on the shelf.
Productivity is for robots, human excels at wasting time, experimenting, playing, creating and exploring.
Art is the lie that enables us to tell the truth.
And the truth is Art is useless, really.
Before you run away screaming Blasphemy, Betrayal and all that,
If it makes you feel so strongly,
isn’t art really not useless after all.…….

March 2017

I'm on the opposite side of the same thing as you. I've spent my entire career in the arts (30 years) saying "music is useless" which is something that I liked and it was true to who I am and what I needed. I didn't want to be doing anything that made a difference, there are other people who can do the important things like save lives and end wars. And I felt the way for me to thrive on the planet was to do the unimportant, non-essential things like writing songs.
But this year a switch flipped for me and now I feel that people can't actually understand themselves and the world without experiencing music or other art. Today I think hearing music can provide a sort of "hill in the distance" from which we observe our own house.
I think I understand where you are today and I have no reason to argue with you. But for your other readers I'm jumping into the conversation with my perspective. I love you man keep doing what makes you happy.

As always, your ideas speak volumes. It's like a piece of my mind brought to the page. Thank you for your valued contribution to the pursuit of balance.

Rock it Sivmeister

Congratulations on your decision. I totally support it. I believe there's gotta be a balance between things you do for others and the things you do purely for yourself. But in my opinion, make sure you don't go too far!!
Cause based on Tony Robbins, two things will determine your long term happiness: the ability to grow and give.
Thanks for reading this.

Derek, I actually had to read this multiple times while stressing to myself to stay present. This resonated with me because I have been wrestling with this theme for about a year now. I am realizing that I often believe that worth is tied to usefullness. I am sure that I am not alone in this. I am constantly looking for ways to be useful by bringing value to my clients. (This for sure is important) My challenge is not stretching that mentality to every part of my life. Thank you for your always stretching insights.

As a surreal artist, I get to create my reality. I draw and paint only what I enjoy and feels good. At times, I create according to a title or premise... Sometimes I enjoy sharing a message. / As a writer, I try to create a situation that carries human emotion through relationships and survival. / If it's comedy, I'm searching for other lanes of defining unexplored factors paid through unique insights (usually a process). / When I write music, I take collected idea's and fuse them together with melody, beat, rhythm and lyrics. It's a creative orgasm! / I can't help it! This is what I have taught myself for decades... I fight for this time to create!

Was thinking of playing music again. But since I sold everything in 2013 (literally gave up), I will need to buy again. So the idea died. Art seems to be in the graves, for now.

Congrats. As Don Baaska says, it may not be useful, but it is fun. Does this reflect an overall change in how you are making decisions? Now optimizing for happiness?

I believe I entertained a lot of people during my career which I believe was very useful to the hard working people who want to escape by enjoying a movie. Since I'm now retired, I'm no longer useful to anyone in that realm except when they go back to a movie I worked on through DVDs, etc.....So.....perhaps I'm STILL useful in my art in that line of thinking. Who knows? All I know for sure is I've done my bit for king and country. It's time to relax and reflect.

What an insightful post ( but what else is new).

I personally am really working hard to reshift my daily life energies, so this post was particularly encouraging.

You've been such a giver and I worried you would burn out. I'm glad to see you taking more 'you' time. Good for you! Kit

Nice piece Derek,


Greeting from Silicon Valley,
everything is moving so fast these days, time to market now.
FOMO seems to take over, if you don't watch yourself being consumed.

We have so many options, choices, flavors, etc etc.

Pause and take notice.

If you don't design your own life plan, chances are you'll fall into someone else's plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much. Jim Rohn
Read more at: www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/jimrohn165075.html

I will let that sink, but a priori I'd say that something with the ability to make you feel good, is useful.

All the best!

A lot to think about here.
I've always valued your "pensees". (Did you study French, perhaps?)

I have to say this has really hit the nail on the head for me. Recently I've been taking a break from my doing my art of being a comedy performer, specifically stand up and acting in comedic projects. I've been a performer since I was 10yrs old and I'm 33 now and I felt like it hasn't helped me but instead held me back. However, I have a great secondary career in t chnilovy sales and marketing which ironically I got into by chance because of a college alum connection. I've been able to "apply" my skills in every way possible in this role for the past 5yrs and I'm proud to say that.
However, I haven't been doing much performing since I got into this field and the pace at which I used to create and play has definitely finished over the years not just due to the job but also events in my life. Recently I reconnected with an old colleague from my previous IT job, when she asked me if I still perform stand up, I responded (via LinkedIn message) that I was taking a break this year from comedy to focus on my actual life instead of just making fun of it, for a change. This response surprised even me. I've never articlulated that to anyone( or to myself for that matter) before. Not sure how I feel about it still...whether I'm a quitter or just figuring out the balancing act.
One thing that I'm certainly happy about is that I now wake up every morning happy. Not because I have a sense of renewed purpose but because I'm just happy at the place I've directed my life to at this point. So useless art maybe, but definitely NOT worthless. Thank you for writing this article for yourself and (unknowingly for me)

Hi Derek,
I believe art can be so useful to bring us into a new perspective,
to see in a new way, or for the first time, but we only see when
we are ready to (or so it seems). No shame in growing, whether
through art or introspection or a new language... each is
causing you to see in a new way. God bless your eyes!
Your brother in Christ,
John Paul

It's been so long since i've had a chance to read a blog post like this... I've been rushing and spinning and feeling frustrated. And I am turning a corner to to re-balance...and this post just hits a home run for me on many levels, not just because I was receptive to it today, but because it's a great post for anyone to read... these were useful thoughts that you scribbled down today--to me.... isn't that the strangest thing? But it didn't need to be. It didn't need to be,

Thanks, John V.

I don't know Derek, I'd have to respectfully disagree with you on this one. Useless would imply to me that something has no use. I would also say that it can be used as a tool. Art could be useful as a tool and many who make tools are artists in and of themselves. First artists that come to mind would people like surfboard shapers, custom bow makers, custom gunmakers and all kinds of "custom" (insert tool here) makers. I am not any of those but I wouldn't be surprised if those who fancy themselves artist tool makers might feel a little bit of the same way. Maybe I'm just not receiving the message on the level you are delivering it but I thought I'd share my thoughts anyways. Cheers brother.

CJ

It started as a tool. Booth in etchings or drawings, and drumming as a vocabulary to reach others. Through the slaves here getting info out to safe passage ways. It's still a tool of communication, comfort, sanity, insanity, political movement, selling cars, for the artist, and the recipients.
When devastation of any sort hits, it certainty isn't vital, but seems to emerge from it as a healing and communication tool.
It's more of a bi-product apposed a trade for most artist and recipients today. But for all that use their soul to create are working with the most pure and primitively sophisticated tools to date.
Much love-
DC

Congrats! You have reached 'self-actualization', or something similar.

This very much reminds me of the book "The Icarus Deception", by Seth Godin. After reading that book, like you, I decided, that I will pursue projects that solely make me happy and I don't really care what others think. However, I think in the long term, people will be more successful with this approach.

I read a post on your site some time ago, and it suggested, to paraphrase, that to be successful, or happy, one should, a) Be Useful and b) Be Rich.
There was a third which escapes me at the moment.
Hmmm, I thought, that's quite useful as a purpose. And I adopted it as a creed.
Because I am not rich and not useful enough.

I'm an artist. Formerly a fine artist, now a commercial artist - a designer.
Art can do wonderful things for the spirit, it can gladden the heart.
But to pay the rent one must be of use, and sometimes design can get very close to art, so there's plenty of headroom.

I do things just for me too easily. Go wandering NYC with my camera, love it, of absolutely no use, even to me.

But we should not shy away from complex lives. This isn't A/B testing.
I think we can live on many levels, it's the arrangement of them that hoodwinks us.
Live on in your journey, Derek, and thanks for sharing it.

This is why poverty is such an evil. When it takes all of your best energy, your best effort and your best self to just get (or not get) by, there's nothing left to do things that are useless.

(It's like breathing. You have to do it to stay alive. But the only reason you're alive is to get more oxygen, that's not much of a life.)

And this is why the command to practice Sabbath in the ancient Hebrew scriptures would have been so revolutionary. Some people talk about Sabbath as the beginning of art. It's a command that says, "You are more than your utility. Your life is about more than survival. Now believe that so deeply that you actually risk your survival to live into it."

It takes a certain amount of wealth to invest yourself into the useless things that actually make life worth living. Or, it takes a certain amount of faith, a certain revolutionary spirit, to count the material cost and do it anyway.

Oscar Wilde is wrong on this one. Flowers are not useless. Flowers do not blossom for their own joy. They blossom to attract insects who can cross pollinate the organism. Flowers are the result of biological evolution by natural selection.

Art useless? According to Oscar Wilde "Art is useless because its aim is simply to create a mood. It is not meant to instruct, or to influence action in any way. It is superbly sterile, and the note of its pleasure is sterility. If the contemplation of a work of art is followed by activity of any kind, the work is either of a very second-rate order, or the spectator has failed to realise the complete artistic impression."

He is assuming that the aim of all art is simply to create a mood. Not true. A mood could be generated by the creative spark. Hence, that is why there are so many genres. Especially with regard to music. Especially if one has an overview, an historical sense of the development of music over the ages. Art is the mirror of the soul of a time. At my website I have a timeline of composers. I suppose if something can evolve over time that suggests something too that one can be instructed by.

There is much contemplation about works of art and is followed by activity and it does not mean it is second-rate. Go to a concert rehearsal of one of Beethoven's Symphonies, or Mozart, or whoever. The conductor definitely contemplates and gives his own interpretation of the piece via contemplation and insight into the artist.

Moods are generated by the time we are living in, the energy that is all around the artist. There is a mystique about creating music. If there is a particular mood that is prevalent that says something about the culture, imho. An extreme example would be the composer, Mitja Nikisch. His last piece of music. Google his name. German, WWII. His father was a great conductor. Mitja Nikisch had to leave Germany when the Nazis got into power. He composed classical and was also a very popular band leader in Berlin. His last piece of music is in youtube before he took his own life as a refugee in another country. Music, to me, is about life and death. If a culture is dying, so do the arts. That is why I believe art is not useless. It conveys life and brings life and energy into an otherwise very boring and mundane world of no possibilities of improving itself.

Just a few thoughts there on that. I am glad to hear you are creating music again.

From a posting around 2012

http://www.offmyeasel.com/attending-to-what-is.html


"For me art isn't useless, but crucial for civilization to stay on track. Yet, Arts appearance of inutility is necessary for it to become useful.

That reason I think is pointed to in Iain McGilChrist's book The Master and his Emissary. Among the thesis put forward there (and elucidated much clearer there than here) is that there is an essential reason why we have two hemispheres for a brain. That being in part to be able to hold two differing ways of knowing the world always at our beck and call. The right hemisphere being attuned to that which approaches us, discerning the other as other and seeking the possible relationships we may have with this variable environment and our place in it. It is attentive and responsive to what is, seeking an integrated understanding of the world which includes oneself. The left hemisphere is geared to applying an existing rational self view of consequences, structured to do things within its understood and pre-existing worldview, it is manipulative in all senses of the word. It attempts to bring the world to fit its view point, it achieves things. Put vulgarly, two world views, one for the prey and the predator.

But significantly, it is the attentive to the other, the realm of the moral and morales, that permits us to become one with an other, that allows us to see the greater significance of things, of metaphor and meaning and graces us with love. Art, by appearing to be inutile, has no apparent function for the left hemisphere to apply its reasoning to. So the right hemisphere is allowed to attend to what is there. To discover the depth and significance of this other than what is known by the left hemisphere. So like a friend that has utterly no utility for us, but is cherished for their complexity and depth, in fact can hence be loved for themselves, so art too is given the space and time to reveal itself. It isn't something to be used, but something that might be understood and related to for itself. There is seemingly nothing to accomplish with it, nothing for the left hemisphere to make work, so instead we seek with the right hemisphere the arts relations to itself and the world, we attend to it, awaiting discernment of whatever it may reveal itself to be."

People are useless, that's why we can love each other. When they only have utility, they become slaves to another.

"EXCELLENT" self satisfaction is remarkable!

Derek, This makes for an interesting post! On can perceive this in so many ways! I can so relate in the area of "Me Time" It’s hard to relax into this mindset, after 19 may I add plus years of the opposite.

Ya know, I am SOO trying to get the same thing for myself. I have not given enough time for myself, and it's bothering me. Time's a-changin'! I love seeing you always improving/evolving/challenging yourself. I DID notice that about you--that you are always trying to be useful, and I did wonder what made ya stop with playin' music, since you had put sooo much time into it. I am happy to hear that you are doing more things for yourself and getting happily lost in it all! :)

I always tell folks that 14 was my fave age because that was when I was the most happy in my life. The main reason why was because nearly everything I did was something that I loved doing (yes, even homework! ;D). I am trying to add more things I love doing in my life to get back to my "14-yr-old" self. Thank you sooo much for sharing and talking about this! Happy Happying! ^_^

Art IS useful, Derek. I drape my clothes over it every day!

meaningful

This is the central conflict of my life really, and one of the main reasons why I'm studying philosophy before I dive into the real world. Both of my parents are full-time creatives, and I grew up having no other idea for my own future but to also be a self-employed creative of some kind. But then I became more aware of the wider world and all the problems humanity faces that people really need to be working on, discovered the utilitarian ethical system and became obsessed with helping, with improving the world, with effectiveness. Now I see my career as something I have to consciously design so I can be as useful to others as I can. I will continue to make art in my free time, but my plan now is to be a tool, live for others and be useful for at least a decent while. Then at some point later in life when I've done my bit I'll retreat, relax and just make beautiful things. There's value in both, but I still can't get it out of my head that there's too much that needs doing in the world for me to have an artistic career, that I somehow have to earn my time of creative freedom by being useful first.

Derek - Some things are immeasurable value-wise. Its better to say SOME art is useless AND worthless. WE should think of music like food which is intended to nourish us physically - to edify us, to strengthen us so as to live long and healthy lives. But face it: some foods, though tasty, cheap, fast, and popular - if consumed regularly, is verifiably unhealthy - even morbid; just check hospital records. Similarly, a diet of music that does not nourish positively our spirits, minds, and souls is not only useless but also verifiably unhealthy- just check the ''musical'' preferences of the vast majority of our prison populations and drug culture. As consumers we must be vigilant about what some profit-blinded Corporations are feeding us - and our vulnerable children. Best, Ric

Art is useless. Sure. The random guy that passed by my window just now is just as useless. Like how useless i am for him. Each artwork is just like a living person. An individual, with specific characteristics, unique attitude. Except that most artworks do not change over time, but they might change inside the person experiencing it.
An artwork/art should be handled as another, whole entity. Just like how whole we are (or most probably not quite whole.) Some art (people) are entertaining, some are aggressive, some are kind, some are deep, etc.
Some art (people) are on the same page as us. It could be a song, a painting, or dance performance. Some feels like a kind of therapy. Others not quite. Some art (people) has no connection with us. There is no crossing in our stories. But sometimes we just get to know an art (person) who is by nature on a different page. We might even start to understand fractions of them. We might start to see their motivation, the reason for their unique kind of attitude.
Of course, we do not have to agree with them, but each meeting has a somewhat unique mood, each meeting somehow show a little bit more about ourselves - if we try to observe ourselves.
Now, observing oneself is useful (if not the most important) in the development of self-consciousness.
I believe that each person (not art) has a very intimate experience in their stories. Maybe it happened in childhood, maybe the first love, the first touching musical piece. We still had no words explaining what just happened. That moment might have triggered something in our emotional development and motivation. As long as we try to downgrade these experiences to words, they are useless in the conventional sense.
There should be two distinct words expressing the usefulness towards the many and the usefulness towards the individual…
I play several musical instruments while being a visual artist. I experience a lot the usefulness of art-related activities, but the moment it has to be translated to words, they lose a lot from their meanings.
Our concept-based thinking is just a small part of ourselves. People should start focusing on things that can not be expressed! ;)

How refreshing. Thank you :)

I sit, I play my guitar, I sing and although I gig some, the time I sit, play, and sing is for me only. It completes me along with my morning coffee, useless but never worthless :) Good article Derek ! Thanks for sharing.

Great, Derek! Considering that many people can live perfectly happy lives without having really anything to do with art, is it silly that I place such importance on it? I've come to the conclusion that meaning is whatever you give something, not matter how unimportant or trivial it is. The important thing is to have stuff that you feel that way about, even if no one else agrees.

Thanks! I needed that! (I'm 65.)

DIG that you're getting back into music for the JOY of it. It's rewarding to do the things you love for the LOVE of doing it.

Would you agree Derek?

When we are able re-connect with the self, source, without distraction or judgment, it is quite possible to to connect on a universal level.

One of our human needs is to feel like we are a part, even if we are a part of the anti part, we find ourselves with the need to be a part of.

When we express ourselves unselfishly, without judgment, universally, others are able to connect to that same source through our expression and feel like they are a part of.

I can think of no greater use of art than to connect with self, and through that expression connect with everything.

Well wishes connecting with self again.

Art, in any form, is enjoyable. It could never be useless

I've been telling musicians this for 31 years. There's many different ways to say it, but in terms of music, there is art and commerce. The two have very little in common and if you're only interested in commerce, or if that is WHY you make music, stop now. Spend the time in a real job with measurable criteria to make a living. Put your head to the grindstone and work your way up into higher levels of money, the result of commerce.

If you want to make art, then do what you want. Use any rules you please. If you'd like to make more generally pleasing art, that's okay, there are all sorts of guidelines to help you make music with a better chance to appeal to a wider audience. But that still likely won't result in commerce. But a real musician will make music no matter what commerce says. You can't help yourself, you have to keep going in the face of criticism or worse, complete disinterest. But...

The satisfaction you get, the meaning music and what you create, has on your life, is unlike nearly anything else to those born with that skill and drive.

I gave up making music myself because I found something which also gave my life meaning and also inherently fulfilled me in ways nothing else could, and that was helping others, meeting people face to face around the world, traveling and expanding my life experiences in ways I never dreamed of, being able to visit nearly any country in the world and having a friendly person there who knew me without meeting me, and welcomes me into their home, their life, their orbit. 49 US States and 50+ countries (and counting) later, I too feel a little pull to make music again, but as before, I am content doing with with others or by myself with or without anyone's approval or support. And by not focusing on money I have done more in my life than I could ever have done with millions (and they things I would have needed back then).

Good essay. I am glad you finally realized this. But I have been telling you this since the 90's!

Brian Austin Whitney
Founder
Just Plain Folks

People befriend one another under the influence of art. They broker deals. They open up and share the wonder of life. Art restores the mind. In all honesty I could never for a moment believe that Art is useless.......its a catalyst for all kinds of wonders but I know what you mean.....in and of itself it is of no practicle use....art is reaches for the ideal and inspires us to higher standards but there is no provable result so the artist is generally left to it and no one is going to offer him a horse to ride....but they are happy to throw some change as they ride by and thats not useless...you can buy food with these tokens of respect
btw please see the latest doco on my site www.lukehurley.co.nz its called to be or not to be

do you make docs? wanna make a serious doc about living by accident rather than by design and just going where invited. Its amazing....as you know. The street is a river of life...a veritable Nile. Come stay with us
730 sandringham rd ext mt roskill

have you visited news hub tv3 ? Emma Hurley/Jenna Lynch they do great stories. Emma is doing what I wanted to do when I was young. She's taking it to the top!
I know you don't answer but I do hope you are still reading.
Most wonderful revelation I had was this. Where we came from is the same place we are going back to. We have no anxiety about where we were before we were born and yet it is the same place we go to when we die and we are most concerned about the latter and give no thought to the former.....yet its EXACTLY THE SAME

I couldn't agree more.

As Oscar Wilde said, "the only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely."

I admire art with an irrevocable intensity, which in turn makes me want to create a beautiful, equally useless, thing.

It's an observation that reflects human nature I think, born from both angers of handing ourselves over so to speak to reclaiming our autonomy.

And more so, this comment is useless. What do you think, Derek?
☺ You’ve got it! — Derek

Proletoj de ĉiuj landoj, unuiĝu!

I love your approach. I wrote this definition of art a few years ago.

Art in the life of each individual is good because it allows a beginning point of quality. Good art is a no holds barred ardent enterprise of uncompromising quality of some kind of unique and individual expression. This quality is not spread uniformly across all aspects of our life. It begins at a point and spreads, like the big bang.

This kind of art is not for consumption by others. It is largely a personal soul enriching activity. Art for consumption by others can never live up to this definition because it's too expensive in time, money and effort.

Good for you.

---- Life, Liberty, & The Pursuit of Happiness----
________________________________________________ = 1

-----------------Art----------------------

Derek,

With regards to the foreign language learning, and the music playing, I believe you are actually being EXTREMELY useful to others learning these skills, it's just the feedback look between you learning those things, and actually being useful to others is quite long.

You make someone a CD for them, they pay you that day. Very quick.

You learn a foreign language for 1 year. Spend one day in a foreign city, using this language, and you have an AMAZING story to share with people for years to come.

Feedback length may be the wrong word, but there might be something here.

Thanks Derek,great point,I do agree with you on this,but there is something that can be added to this.I am 20+,so this is the time of my life where I need to charge forward in my pursuits,so a mentor of mine suggested me to listen to aggressive music,and because I play guitar too,I started playing allmy favorite heavy metal and likely music,It has worked wonders for me and my mindset.So,in this digital age building a career as a music maker is pretty dicey because we need money and getting it is a little more difficult than pre-mp3 age,so by those measures Art is useless..But it can be useful for any individual to engage in any art form in order to document their phases of lives and just their message to everybody else in general.Now,that is easier to do than ever,so if we all could find an outlet through it,it can be pretty damn useful in that way,need not be a masterpiece,but might just connect with someone,somewhere..going through the same hustle.

Hi,
I admit, I had the same reaction as you obviously did upon hearing "art is useless". I saw it on your website and thought I had to read it to see what you meant by that. I wasn't disappointed... I know exactly what you mean and am so happy to have read this little article. Someone else feels the same as me on this subject. Why should we base our existence solely on how much we matter to other people or how much we bring to their life? It's important to us but not to the point where our life doesn't come first or even matter. It is my life after all.
I just happen to be on a personal development trip right now, separating myself from mainly other people and their opinions. They do become overwhelming and I need to concentrate on some of my own stuff. I have been and it feels amazing.
Anyway, I just wanted to say that.
Also I was wondering if you could tell me a bit about what you do now, finding assistants for musicians. I play the guitar although I wouldn't call myself a musician, but if you find help for musicians I would happily participate if I can. Let me know...
Thanks
Millie

I like how you write for you without any agenda. I recently started my own blog that I do for me as well. Just a little contribution to say what I feel in my heart, regardless of who (if anyone) else reads. Thanks for sharing yours.

Derek, I have to say this is the first time in 14 years that I do not 'completely' agree with you. You are soothing your own soul with art right now. The art of music, the art of language, spoken and written. And, you're changing direction after decades of selflessly serving others. I do completely agree that you are long over due to turn that passion and dedication back onto to yourself.

I am as always, very proud of you, happy and hopeful for you. Now that you have turned the page, I don't know that you will ever read this email,or answer it, and I am good with that. There is no way I could ask for more than what you have already given.

Derek Sivers, you are a true pioneer and the cornerstone upon which today's Independent Artist Industry was forged, one Artist, one email, one recording at a time. Be happy my friend and mentor.

Sincerely,

Tina Jackson

If it's Chinese, I can help and be your tool :)
哈哈哈😆

I live for days filled with uselessness; I find I can't be as useful without them. And I do want to be useful. However, engaging in those things deemed useless often helps me come to an understanding of what it is that I truly value. In turn, what I value tends to dictate where I want to be useful.

Just found you today, Derek, and I'm thoroughly enjoying your candour and insights.

useless for who?

i see art as the fruit of a tree.
some useless some eatble and some just nice to look at, some we dont know for the purpese, some is for us and some is for others.

I like mixing the two, like cup coasters with art on them, or clothing that's aesthetic and functional. Easier to sell. But this still holds true; art on the coaster is still "useless".

Derek, I see your point and completely understand your actions. As to art being useless I think that if one looks at art as a means to an end then yes, perhaps it is useless. However, art has been an intricate means of human expression and communication since we evolved as human beings. Humans painted on cave walls long before they had written language and It was not done easily it was however "necessary " for what ever reason. I find it hard to categorically say art is useless when it has been a part of who and what we are for millennia. The act of creation whether through visual or musical media begins as a selfish act , an act that is essential to the maker. From this point, what the art becomes or is used for is up to the creator and those who experience it. I personally find it very useful both as an act of self realization and as a way to communicate complex and often intangible thoughts and ideas.

"Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it."
― Mahatma Gandhi

It's OK to do "insignificant" things.
In fact it is "very important" to do them...

I made a little video that is similar to this idea, though I use the word "pointless."

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohdx62BjJVw&t=3s

Are you playing the guitar or the base these days?

We live in a time of quick results and where, therefore, everything that seems not to be useful at first look gets discarded. The problem is that in the long term we live more and more on quick solutions that sooner or later will break into pieces.
Art is more than useful. Art has lead revolutions, inspired scientists and lead generations out of depression. Leonardo Da Vinci escaped religion prosecution by using encoded messages in Art or created innovation using Art. Art is the opposite of limited thought and quick results. Art is a philosophical process of thinking by using symbols and connections, much more complex than we may think. Stefan Sagmeister is one of my most loved Designers. He takes the time to create ideas...ideas that are not templates but new concepts.

Art is not useless. Life will be meaningless without art!

I used to lessen my enjoyment of certain arts and entertainment by having silly, widespread but silly, definitions of what they were supposed to be.

I still lessen my life by too much puritan "must be useful" thinking. Or do I? Striving for balance is a lifelong endeavour.

By the way, I like collecting art. I bring the small 3-D stuff to my table at toastmasters to brighten up the meeting.

I loved its and think you are so absolutely right on spot!

cheers
paule

My, so many comments, such an embarrassment of riches that I could return to several times... as long as I don't think all my time has to be useful, ha-ha.
And as long as can slow down to re-read, rather than rush and rush until life's no fun.

Too much to comment on, except—I like at #482 Jack Walker going to Ruskin Theatre where folks are given a prompt/idea and then happily pump out a script to be performed that very day, no time to get to self-conscious or perfectionist. Such fun together.

I do the same every week at Friday "free fall" writing as invented by writer W.O. Mitchel, where we have a prompt (an object, picture or a slip drawn from a hat) and write to a time limit, and then read aloud. It is just "not cricket" to write slowly or to edit. No, just write freely for the joy of it. Then we go around the table reading aloud what we just did.

Useless compared to our sober writing at home, but very fun. Gets us from out of our lonely rooms and into meeting together.

Love this!

I’m not sure I agree about the difference you draw between an art and a tool. I often turn to art - books, music, articles - when I’m struggling with unrelated issues. Embracing someone else’s perspective and their feelings, which art offers in some small way, has a profound effect on me psychologically. It improves my problem solving, can get me out of a rut, and brings me happiness.

Even the relationship that you describe with art is arguably useful. It changes your mindset in a way that is useful.

Perhaps the distinction you’re making is more that the use of art is more experiential than it is goal-driven. It changes how we are right now, rather than directly contributing towards our pre-stated goals. To say that that’s not useful, however, misses a great deal of the value of art, I feel.

A similar trap one can fall into is judging a day based on how "productive" it was. From the sound of it, feeling like you have to be "productive" all the time can easily have a similar result to feeling like you have to be useful to others all the time.

excited for you xxx

Thanks Derek, hits home!

Hi, I don't agree with you Dereck !!! Art Revolutionized the peoples mind and perceptions trew years in history and sometimes it put words in people's definition of their feelings trew songs,images or writhings !! Art is everywhere !!! It's a way of making things and a way of beeing !!!For example you don't need to be on stage to enjoy your sens of humor, you just need to be with people that you like to spend time with and having fun !!! As for me i love beeing mix up by a painthing when my definition of thing is not set on one definition !!! That's the magic of art !!! In a meanwhile, hope you'll find peace of mind !!! Take care !!!

Imagine a life with no vain art (and flowers)... Without aesthetics, this would be one horrendous world. But there is nothing that could tame the malady of an artistic mind than this vanity. As someone who loves art, I love it so much that I didn't take it as college course. I took the closest to it, like an asymptote. So I could run parallel with its track.

You DOG ! You CAD ! You got, from me, what you wanted....yes!You did ,I was so enjoying your piece , until I caught myself laughing...OUT LOUD ... ! I don't like that, " Joke ",.......of course, I like that ! It happens so infrequently , for me...I read and read....hummmohhh ! Yes ! I get the New Yorker ! Enjoy it....but seldom do I get, a real NATURALLY HA HA !

So you get the cake.....now go back to sleep ! And let me go back to feeling I'm over worked, tired, worn out and an an an an an ///I forgot what all else I was feeling before being led into your trap of humor . ,

I really did enjoy , OK ?

Thank you so much for writing this! <3

Art, besides other things, gives us permission to be more daring, and more lifted off the ground. As I go around in everyday life, art is the little airfoil on my Hermes sandal.

I had forgotten, until just now, that sometimes people have said they valued seeing me in the room because I they knew I would give them permission to be more daring too.

Some years after the Great Depression the development of concrete gave us a chance to make daring buildings. And we did, as much as we dared after being so poor and money conscious for so long. Now people call our buildings "brutalism" and they disparage our creations.

But I tell you, the next generation would not be flying further with their own architecture visions if (besides society getting more affluent) we had not dared to show the way.

It is actually cool to be useless and just enjoying life!

Hmm. Thats an interesting way to think Derek. Thanks for sharing this. I think you need to be useful to yourself, so that you can be useful to others. If you are useful yourself, being useful to others will happen automatically. Is that another way to summarise?

Hi Derek,

Reflecting on this post, I think art is a tool.

Often according to Socrates, art is used to persuade people of certain beliefs.

For example: the Vatican reiterated that baptism via sprinkling was deemed appropriate as opposed to immersion only. Consequently their mosaics depict baptism via pouring. This is used as a tool to teach people the approved way of doing things.

The same principle can apply in movies, music, sculpture, architecture, etc.

it's a tough balancing act

I too have Puritan ancestors, I used to try too hard. Even as an innocent child I could identify with the old actor Kodos the executioner on the original Star Trek, reflecting his life, crying out, "I am tired!"

On a lighter note, Derek you remind me of a scene from the car race movie, "The Gumball Rally" where a driver tosses away half of his map, while the movie audience laughs, saying, "What's behind me is not important!"

Derek, not everyone could toss away 20 years of their life, and not everyone could say, "I was w-w-w-wrong."

For my "less rational" years I could give a silent scream, but no, I just laugh and toss the map.

Wow.. i like this chapter out of all the chapters I read so far in this book.

Im reading your book in Korean, that is published in this yr, maybe last month, and I noticed that this ebook i purchased in Korean version hv links to this blog of yours. Each chapter. So Im enjoying reading some comments.

My one query is - why not update this nice blog, to show recent comments first.
And I know you would say no to almost all haha.

Yes, I will interview people about their dream, their purpose.
This was done by many people, but this will be worthy to do just for myself.

I also believe that the purpose of one's live is to teach other people. That's how we pass on our past experience to someone else, and hope that those knowledge can help them improve a quality of life or help to a community and the World. You did the same thing that you wrote the book to give a tip to people how to cope with difficulty. Thanks again for sharing all great stories to others.

Beautiful ❤️❤️❤️ (...which is useful...)

I remember you once said we should simply do things that are useful for someone in some way. While it is also great to choose being useless, can one really do so when they have duty towards someone? Like say, caring for a small child?

Tks for your sharing.
It makes me feel so light

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Derek,
I'm in a very tough time in my life: my ex-wife wrote a damning letter about me to the local Lodge not wanting to join (fair enough) then said Lodge forwarded it to my school district. And now I'm on admin leave. Crazy world, divorced 15+ years.

I just want you to know I find strength in your words and honesty. Your language speaks to me. So for me you are useful or rather inspiring. I appreciate you and thank you. I continue to read your books over and over and delve more into your mind if i may. Thank you-Paul

Wow, that sounds pretty attractive to me.

‘I am nobody’s tool.’

Ten years ago, I first began to truly enjoy my own company — to indulge in time with just myself.
God, I had forgotten how beautiful that was after 10 years as a happy mum.
Ten years ago, I got my first place — all my own.

‘This is my home.’
And it felt secretly glorious.
Even as a mum.