I look around and I see it. It is everywhere repeated around me. Every step I take and every move I make has a parallel existence in a stranger sitting next to me. I am but a different version of the person passing down the street right this second.
Art is a way of living, and our lives and every situation we go through is the result of one thing: our thoughts. My art is my way of thinking. We live while claiming that we celebrate our individuality. Every student in a high school class should be proud of his unique beliefs and his creative thoughts. A distinct individual is a person capable of expressing himself in an uncommon manner. We promote thinking outside the box and thinking differently, but we forget that everyone stems from the same root and that we all have the same beginning.
Any child in this world will have the natural urge to learn how to walk. Children unconsciously and unknowingly look at their parents and try to copy them. Our parents never gave us the permission nor did we ever ask for it, but we do it anyway; we still copy them. We come up with the idea of walking, thinking that it is ours but the truth is that it is just the result of an observation. This is plagiarism. Nonetheless, this proves that our actions and decisions are formed and polished through experiences we go through, people we meet and what we see.
Learning core concepts is plagiarism, techniques and methods are plagiarism and beliefs are also plagiarism. All these three are based on previous knowledge. Coming up with a new idea requires knowledge from basic concepts, and using basic concepts is considered simple plagiarism because these ideas were never yours, yet we consider a new idea a “revolution”.
Now, is the art of thinking a plagiarism or a revolution? Can a person really have a unique way of thinking, when every thought is actually linked to a previous old thought and every belief could be held by millions of other people that we might not even know exist?
The answer is: it is neither. The art of thinking is a revolutionary plagiarism. A square is different from a triangle, but take two right isosceles triangles together and you form a square. They are not that different anymore. Labelling a new idea as revolutionary and genius is wrong. Labelling a regular idea as plagiarized and redundant is also wrong. It is always a matter of perspective. Every new idea is based on old information that is simply concluded in a new way. This doesn’t change the fact that the idea is old; however, no one can overlook the ultimate truth that this assumption is a unique approach.
I have my own thoughts and beliefs; thus, I have my own way of thinking. It is my environment and the people I meet that shape who I am. The way I understand and comprehend what I see and feel is relative to what I know. A unique thing to me may be a common thing to others and a daily routine to me might be a dream for someone on the opposite side of this world. We are our backgrounds but we are also everything we go through.
We are our experiences and a part of us is a part of the people we meet. Art is never revolutionary nor is it ever plagiarism. It is a combination of both. You take the information from different observations in this world and transform it to something unique and new.
