Positive Pressure

Positive Pressure

"You've turned the tap dance into your crusade…"

I have never felt compelled to modify my language or content while writing these forewords to my images. I am not politically passionate or polarized, so this usually is not a problem when it comes to incensing a potential viewer. The only realm that gets me into a bit of critical hot water has been with certain religious individuals who object to me strong atheism that is evident in more than a few of my pieces.

Lately though, I have been observing a trend with my contemporaries that is a little disconcerting to me - the pressure to be positive at all times. It's not just in the arts, not just in creative photography - I come across these people in all walks of life, more and more it seems.

It's easy to get cynical and snarky, but rather than descend to that, I want to make a rather pointed comment about the nature of the mindset itself - the need to be positive at all times and shun anything and anyone that may be perceived as "negative." Well, you first need to establish parameters of negative and positive, and as this is by default a subjective area (almost everything is), you fail from the get-go. There is no universal positive and negative - they are terms we assign to a vast array of conditions, objects, power, atoms even.

What you are actually doing is enforcing your personal mantra of "positive prayer" outward, projecting it so brightly that if anything threatens that tremulous grasp on positive energy you are emitting, you immediately turn away from it for fear of losing your light even a little. Nothing toxic can enter your realm at all, no one you define as negative is permitted even the slightest leeway in terms of point of view or the space to express it.

You can see the benefits of a positive mantra - or prayer, or whatever you term it - it obviously works for some. But…and this is my point, it does not work for everyone, and your limited scope of what is good or bad is not universally recognized. There is a range of psychologies out there, and not all of us seek the brightly lit rooms of this world to gather in - some of us seek the dark - to explore it, learn its secrets, and perhaps gain some perspective on ourselves, as an individual or as a collective whole.

Indeed, these "positivity police" are becoming very aggressive in their stance, which is naive, given that not everyone shares the same point of view. Bullying is bullying, even if you have decided that your side is the good side, the righteous, the positive. You cannot know the positive without knowing the negative as well; you will have absolutely no frame of reference.

Perhaps instead of labeling someone as dark or negative you should perhaps seek the answers, the pathways that produce the manifestation you find distressing to your one-note energy. This pressure to be positive makes someone like me want to run the other way in reaction. Why? Not because I object to positive experiences - no - because any collective gang mentality is suspect to me, and no amount of floral speech or high-minded principles can disguise the aggressive posturing of a group consciousness determined to eliminate an entire way of thinking or even part of nature itself.

I was not put on this earth to inspire someone, guide anyone, or advise anyone. That is my experience and my conclusion. If I inspire, if I guide, it is a by-product of something I do, and that is as it should be in my world. I am only interested in the dark places, the "negative" energy because it is there in abundance and I want to know from whence it came - in the world, in our history, and even in myself. There is nothing wrong with being angry, with being dark or sad, or even deflated. These are part of the human experience, and while relief from these states is of course needed and desired, thinking you can eliminate them completely is just foolish, and no mantra will give you that result.

My title and intent comes from the lyrics of an old Billy Joel song called "Pressure." The lyric which pertains to my intent in the song are as follows:

"But here you are with your faith and your Peter Pan advice/You have no scars on your face/And you cannot handle Pressure…"

a Before and After version of this image can be seen on my Facebook page: www.facebook.com/MichaelBilottaPhotography

model: Ed Barron