Master of Composition

Ivan Kulikov,  1904, Oil on canvas, Gemäldegalerie der Stadt Murom

I am plagued by an unusual curse in life that to a large extent has limited my efficiency of output in my journey of story. During each occasion that I apply processes and habits that are tantamount to purposeful action and positive results I am bombarded with imagery and memories from my formerly successful past – my dreams morph into the passion of my youth. It isn’t until my eyes creep open that I must self-inflict a painful reminder that my former dream is now dead and the passion I once had is a crop that can only grow but never produce. This cycle is debilitating, anguishing, and demoralizing. The common solution to this problem is to engage in behaviors that will distract the mind – behaviors that do not hammer a single nail in the foundation of success.

But tonight I stumbled on a realization.

The successful behaviors I employ today run along the same wires that propelled me to perpetual improvement during my youth. It seems that running current through the “success” channels of my brain may be what is prompting the vivid memories that I’ve spent so much effort to contain to the past.

Successful behaviors will produce the desirable result across different fields of application.

Our tendency to produce work that passes our highest degree of scrutiny will dictate the quality of our artwork. The determination to shape each plot point to its proper timeline, each character change to its newfound obstacle, each word to its speaker, and each action to its motivator will all work in tandem to deliver a story that resonates with the viewer. The same characteristics of tedious effort carry over to music, to painting, to family, and to life.

Now what if in God’s hands we are no different than one of our works? What if our ability to shape our thoughts and actions toward unrelenting focus on a singular goal is what enables Him to make us that artist we seek to become? Perhaps by undertaking the same processes, disciplines, and habits we know are required to deliver masterful compositions we are enabling ourselves to be shaped into a master of compositions.

I’m sure these connections may be obvious to most, and to others unconnected, and to still others uninspired by any deity, but to me this has been a light-bulb revelation.

I find it ironic that my previous post was making a mockery of the need for an exemplary script prior to moving toward production. I have spent the past 2 days ceaselessly sharpening my story to the point that it will puncture the mind of the viewer. Despite the likelihood it will not achieve any great recognition even when it has been completed, that is not going to stop me from trying.

The composing of art to the highest level of personal achievement is both fulfilling and self-developmental. Any artist on the bottom is not creating to be heard, recognized, or profitable. We are creating because every object of creation competes with every other object of creation. Each individual has the right to compose their piece with a masterful stroke of brilliance should they reach high enough to grab it. The ability to acquire these skills is a God-given right, and for me that is a most tremendous blessing.

Savior

When you’re having trouble and all is blue,

When clear blue skies are filled with gloom,

When all your hope has turned to doubt,

When all your paths are all worn out,

That’s when you turn to God and say,

I need you to erase all of this grey.

I need your Spirit to succeed,

I need your son to come save me.

Then serve Him and you will see,

The King of Kings saves those in need.

So much so that you will know,

God exalts those He chose.

– Thomas M. Watt

The Price of Penalization

She bundled herself up under the blankets. “I don’t want to do it. Please let me leave.”

“Stephanie,” he said. “You pay the consequences if you don’t. He gave you the role, now hold up your end.”

“I didn’t know what he meant!” she said, rubbing a small fist into her eye. “I thought it was a joke. He shouldn’t have laughed if it wasn’t a joke.”

“Well it’s too late. Harry’s waiting outside. You’ll never get a part again if you back out. This is your life, your dream.”

“Exactly. It’s my life. My dream. My decision.”

He scoffed as he set his hands to his hips. “You realize he’s not gonna let you walk without a fight, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright, as long as you know.” He exited the trailer.

She opened the blanket just enough to make sure. The knife was still there.

Harry entered the room, and undid his belt-buckle. “Alright, you agreed to this.”

“I asked to be an actress, not a whore.”

“One in the same baby doll.” He laughed, unzipped his jeans, and dropped them to his ankles. “Open wide.”

She smiled.

“What?”

“That’s what they’ll be saying to you from now on.”

“Huh?”

She pulled out the knife, squeezed his dick with one hand, and sliced it off with the knife in the other.

– Thomas M. Watt

Conversation with an Angel

Jack pulled his hair out. He had lost everything – his house, his car, his job. Boom boom boom. Despite his enormous pain from misfortune, he lowered to his knees everyday and prayed to God almighty that He would help him out of his mess. His prayers weren’t quite Our Fathers, but strings of passionate thought which roped along slews of angry, bitter curse words.

During this time Jack grew closer to God, and could see clearly that God was involved in his life – just not giving him the things he so desired.

One day, as he was praying alone in his room, he heard a chuckle. He turned, and spotted a golden-haired angel.

Falling back at once, Jack gasped loudly and stared blankly at the sweet innocent child. “You’re… you’re… an angel!”

“Oh,” said the angel, “You can see me? I have to go!”

The angel fluttered her wings and started away, but before she could escape Jack caught her by the leg. “No! You’re not going anywhere! You’ve got some explaining to do young lady!”

The angel laughed. “You’re crazy mister. This is gonna piss God off, you know.”

“I don’t care!” Screamed Jack. “I want answers… I need ’em!”

The angel sighed. “Okay, okay. What’s your problem?”

“I lost my job, my house, my car… what’s God doing over there?”

“Well first of all, you lost your job, not God. Second of all, he’s barbecuing hot dogs and hamburgers for the great feast.”

“Don’t mess with me! I demand to know why God’s been ignoring me.”

“Ignoring you! Are you stupid? I’m here, aren’t I?”

“Yeah,” began Jack, “But you aren’t doing anything.”

The angel laughed and shook her head. “So what do you want? Your job? Money? Your house?”

“Yeah!”

“Why?”

“So I can live comfortably.”

The angel smiled and shook her head. “Did you ever stop to think that maybe the road to heaven comes by prayer and devotion, and not by money?”

“So?”

“Blessed are the poor in Spirit. Do you know what that means, Jackie boy?”

“Sure.”

“What?”

“It means we’re poor here so we’re rich up there.”

The angel shook her head. “No. It means that the less you have, the more you must rely on God. The more you rely on God, the richer you become in Spirit. The richer you are in Spirit, the better things are looking for you and the big man.”

“What?”

“Judgment day.” The angel smiled, and flew away.

Jack shrugged, got on his knees, and returned to praying. Only this time, when he thanked God, he finally understood why.

– Thomas M. Watt

Tragic Heart of the True Believer

True believer how I fear,

The current trend of worldly tears.

True believer know I know,

The pain of heart few others know.

True believer know I see too,

The sights you see and things you do.

True believer be not afraid, the God of yours is not decayed.

He is there, speaking with you, He is the one whom I know too.

He is the one who answers prayers, fixes problems and always cares.

Don’t be saddened by worldly loss, the pain that comes with natural thoughts.

When your eyes open they might state, this path of yours is too much too take.

I know it’s hard and it’s not fair, when no one sees the cross you bear.

Other laugh and feel joy too, and yet you hurt to do God’s will.

Am I an idiot, is God true, am I simply out of tune?

Am I crazy, am I misled, is faith the way of just pretend?

Do not worry, do not cry. Trust the Lord, He will provide.

– Thomas M. Watt

(Photo courtesy of freelance astronomer Dan Watt. See more of his amazing photos at http://www.pocketrubbish.com)

Happiness

Give me this and give me that and then give to me you too.

I need more money no more food no more sex, I do.

I cannot sleep I cannot work I have no energy.

I feel like death and in decay I’m tired but can’t sleep.

The thoughts whirl wild all are bad want to bring you down.

This is a man who has been tricked into taking what he’s found.

Find another person’s view – the one who always gives.

Find another who goes on to feed all those who are in need.

Take a stance to listen more to give and to defend,

Be the one who laughs the most and calls humble folks his friends.

Watch what happens when you set out to do what just was said.

Observe the way your life transforms when you live to serve instead.

What is this? No it cannot be oh no it just cannot,

What can be said when we’re misled into thinking what we’ve got,

Is better ours and better kept and better with us too.

And yet the truth that we all know the truth that you can see,

Is the one true key to happiness is that  giving fills all your needs.

– Thomas M. Watt

(Painting by Ayse Juaneda, the greatest artist in the world today. Visit her blog to view more of her paintings at http://www.aysejuaneda.wordpress.com)

An Overlooked Passage

There is a passage in the bible where Jesus feeds five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish.

The food appears to be the same before and after it is raised up to God. There are no additional loaves of bread, and nothing magical happens. So how can we understand this?

The bread is ordinary bread. A person is an ordinary person. We have problems, fears, worries and doubts. We have faced terrible events in our lives that still bother us today.

When you are far from God, in your natural state, all these problems weigh you down. They all seem to be purposeless, random events and make you into a limited being. For instance, because of what happened to you in your past, the future is now bleak.

When you give yourself to God completely, he takes all you have and makes use of it. Your prior struggles help others to Him, your defects suddenly have a purpose. He takes every piece of you and uses it to feed his cause, to feed others. You become the bread that is enough to fill others with the Spirit of God and you will never run thin doing it.

What you have is already enough to serve God’s purpose. He does not need you to become perfect before He can work through you. That is the point – what is given to God will be used by God. It is not your job to create a new self, it is your job to give your being to him. And even then, you will on the outset appear the same, your being will remain the same, but the Spirit will guide you through your work.

It is each man’s choice to keep himself or to give himself to God.

– Thomas M. Watt

Why Bad Things Happen to Good People

If you study the Christian religion from a logical standpoint, you will realize it is based entirely upon renouncing the present world in favor of the Kingdom of God. This is the reason the Christian man so often struggles – the moment he sets out to do Christian work without the Spirit of God, he is taking part in the worldly realm and doing nothing to help himself. To put it simply, there are two powers – One is power of self, the other is power of God.

This is the reason Christ abstained from money and all worldly things. It was in order to further his dependence on God.

How then can the struggling Christian access this power of God? All that is of God is received through faith, so he must slow himself down and set his heart on God. Not on the problem at hand and how he(self) can fix it, but on the belief that God will provide for him. How and why are unimportant, that is God’s decision to make. In the life of self, it is your job to act. In the life of God, it is God’s job to act, and your job remain in Him.

– Thomas M. Watt

Pangs of Selflessness

Thoughts of anger resentment and greed,

Knowledge of loss and defeat and need.

Awareness of difficulty and thoughts unseen,

Realization of reality and dreams still dreamed.

Eyes are opened hope is lost pain too much to laugh and scoff.

Not one listens not one loves not one says things just as one does.

It was this no it was that no it was thinking by left brain and wearing this cap.

This life is blind the whole of mine has been spent seeking what is divine.

You know what’s funny? Where the problem resides? It’s in the heart where the spirits meet time.

Can’t understand why we are all still taught the only problem with sin is when you get caught,

Also can’t see why Christians today spend all their time smiling to say I follow the way.

When the way of God and the prophets of old was too be hated and denied and constantly told,

That they were all evil that they disobeyed that they were the men who lived in decay.

If Jesus Christ is the way life and truth then why is it that we think we must prove,

We are all good Christians by dressing so nice, saying ‘Yes please’ and ‘Could you please pass the knife?’

Is anyone left with crosses to bear that are more than good language and playing games fair?

For instance there’s one thing yes one thing I know and that is that God’s way the humans don’t know,

For God works in secret and not much with flair and when he speaks through you very few hear

The words that He says and for good reason too because God work is to do what’s no benefit to you.

– Thomas M. Watt

The God of the Living

And the clock ticks

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

When the clock ticks, when the hand strikes, when the time moves, when the words fly.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Days are upon us, nights aren’t as long, work goes unfinished, albums become songs.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Light never fades, darkness subsides, the truth is unmoving, the truth is inside.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Wisdom is silent, God’s voice doth speak, teachers in school, teach what they see.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

When does the world, see truth unfold. When will the world, stop being sold.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Since the beginning, when God made His man, man has been fooled, by what’s in his hand.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

You see there’s a thing, few really know, for what is divine, is more than what’s shown.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Don’t you ask why, don’t you ask how, know God will do it, and doing abounds.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

The truth is kept secret, shouted are lies, the voice of the night, in the day we despise.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Come look around, come see for yourself – others like you still know what you’ve found.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Down with religion, down with God’s rule, is what they all chant, is what they all do.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

But there’s a problem, a big one you see – God will continue, because he hears you and me.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

What is the meaning, how can you say, what good does belief do when God’s in decay?

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Oh-hoh-ho-ho, he-he-he-he, you still must be lost, you still can’t quite see.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

You see it’s a myth, a blinding big lie, for what is of God, rules over time.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Still are in wonder? Worries surround? Fine I shall tell you, listen to the sound.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

God cannot pass, his way cannot go, He’s the God of the living, as faith surely shows.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

What is to say, how can we see? How can God live if the world rejects He?

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

How can you be lost, and not understand? Listen to me – God’s way has a plan. He is the strong one, and stronger than men. He is the true King, and He is still the end. Men cannot kill, they cannot destroy, their very creator, who makes of them toys. When you soon learn, and can know it too, you will shortly see, that God can’t be disproved. He’s made it this way, on purpose He has, to stifle the wicked, and swat them in hand. He knows of the humble, He knows of their prayers, he raises them up, in ways seen unfair. For His way is different, much different you see, God’s way is to give, and He gives unto we. Don’t be afraid, if you still do not know, just go on in faith, and God will expose. The fault is of thought, to think you must rule, the greatest mistake, is to think you must prove. God’s way on your own, the words that he spoke, that you must somehow, make wisdom glow. All you must do, and listen to me, all you must do is leave action to He. Go on in trust, of what you can’t see, go on believing, and God sets you free.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

– Thomas M. Watt

(Photo courtesy of Dan @ http://www.pocketrubbish.com/ap/)