Just another billboard in the desert

Why this website?

When I first heard it, I loved the mental image of Jon Jantsch’s “billboard in the desert“. The billboard was his analogy for the fancy new website produced by a startup. Such websites were, he argued, the focus of a large amount of futile effort. The website, seen by no-one, is like a billboard in the desert. It is bright and shiny and beautiful. No-one reads it. No new thoughts occur. Nothing happens.

So why, then, am I working on this website with no product and no customers?

The answer is simple. And I believe it is compelling. But to see if you agree with me, I need to fill in a couple of lines of backstory first.

When I started painting again in 2004, after 40 years as a scientist, I had a serious case of imposter syndrome. On what basis did I expect anyone to take my new philosophical / artistic explorations seriously? Surely, I had spent too many decades tied up in a different way of experiencing the world? Not that there’s anything wrong with that way. It’s just that I had no track in this new way of describing my experiences of this amazing life. Surely, my efforts would be too artless to engage others on their own journeys towards beautiful expression? Surely, my lack of familiarity with the territory would exclude me from informed conversations about exquisite sources of meaning?

I was bursting with wonder yet without a vocabulary or skills in a medium to express myself. Those with an interest in humouring me – family, friends – have been patient. They have listened, watched and responded as I tried to formulate what was shaping inside me. But in large measure, I think I have been procrastinating since 2004. Yes, of course I have been afraid of rejection by those with real track in this space. But then there’s the big one. What if I pursued the path in earnest and it turned out that I had nothing significant to say after all? At all.

I don’t know about you, but I often find that I learn what I think by talking with someone. So I am opening this conversation with you. My goal is to find out what I think. It is to learn what you think. And, for each thought, it is to learn about relevant paradigms: what the world at large thinks. Then I can identify the most beautiful thoughts and pursue them. Find metaphors for them. Find ways to express and explore them. With you. And other Riders of the Long Tail.

This website is how I find you. If you have read this far, then the miraculous has already happened: the Long Tail has found me. And if you haven’t read this far or, much more likely, not found this site and never see these words? Then another tree has fallen in a forest that is free of ears. And this website is just another billboard in the desert.