I recently caught a glimpse of a famous masterpiece and it led me, as if I were blind, to an earthquaking epiphany, not just applicable here on Steemit but also in our daily lives.
While we are creating content let me point you to "Creazione di Adamo" - Michelangelo's fresco painting on the roof of the Sistine Chapel.
It is a portrayal of the creation of Adam, the first man, by God that can be found in the book of Genesis in the Bible.
I believe that art is truly subjective, everyone will take something different away when they look upon a masterpiece. We all draw from our own experiences and memories and the truth is that images work in us on a “soulular” level(pardon the neologism).
Images Control Our Circulatory System
We don’t always understand the power of imagery, colours and visualization. But let me prove to you how powerful imagery is and how it is directly linked to your body’s circulatory system.
If I asked you to raise your hand, are you able to do it? Of course you are! If I ask you to whistle? A bit more difficult for some but almost 100% of people can let out a whistling noise of some sort but what if I asked who of you are able to raise your own blood pressure? Now that is gonna be a stumbling block for most people.
Have a look at this image:
So I know this little experiment won’t work for everyone but a lot of men and some women will agree that an image like this can make your blood pressure and heart rate increase in an instant, and her 12.2million on followers on instagram also agree.
I used this image just to prove the point that images work on the level of the soul, they have the power to inspire, uplift, motivate and on the flip-side can also evoke anger, sadness and a depressed mood.
So What About The Fresco?
To get back to our fresco painting I would like to point out to you what I observed and how I was moved by this painting. Firstly God is positioned higher and on the right side( which for 90% of people today is dominant) So Michelangelo positioned God in a familiar and recognizable position of power.
God in the act of creation is reaching down to Adam, not passively lying back snapping his magical fingers but reaching out in an act of love to bring Adam to life. There is no physical contact, no direct junction but yet there is a supernatural connection, we know that because this is the ultimate human creative depicting the most remarkable spiritual creation.
Create With Deep Intention
So let me translate this for you in Steemian! We ultimately want to create connections. Before you start creating understand that everyone creating content on Steemit is in the fortunate position of authority. Authority over everyone who reads what they have created, we have the power to inspire, move and create all kinds of emotions in readers.
People entrust you this power when they subject themselves to your creative process. So make the effort reach down to the level of the reader, engage with them, with the power of artistically sculpted words combined with images that contain colour, beauty or invention to generate a spark that will initiate a connection.
Do not only aim to capture peoples’ attention, commit yourself to bring people to life. After all you can control peoples heart rate, speak to their expectations and fuel their ambitions and give them the tools to go out and act out their plans. Is this not an amazing gift that you should invest time in.
If you get stranded in a remote place and darkness falls, you’ll have to start a fire to stay alive! How much effort does it require to make that fire?
You will need to gather dry wood, find a good place to make shelter, strip some branches to create a winch, get a nice dry short stick, sharpen its endpoint, find a dry piece of bark or palm branch, collect tinder and some flammable roughage. Then you have to winch the stick on the bark until you get an ember, place it in the roughage and blow over that ember till you get FIRE!
How much effort and focus will it take to start a fire and stay alive? You might not even be able to light the fire before nightfall, but you have to do it!
Let's imagine you had a fire source, like a box or matches, a zippo or like Bear Grylls you have flint rock embedded in your boot soles. The work practically gets cut in half, you still have to collect some wood and tinder but you will be feeling more confident and can focus more energy and time on finding and building a good shelter.
In the same way we have a vast amount of information at our fingertips, we have the entire planet to inspire us and give us great images, we have tons of experts to teach us and help us teach others and we can rely on video and audio content to translate our thoughts, ideas and expertise into a masterpiece.
Apply these ideas of authority, connection and igniting to your work! Prepare like you are stranded and execute like you are God and failure will never become a companion to you.
Thank you for sharing your precious time here and now. There are but few greater things in life than connecting to people and I for one feel privileged to connect with you!