Heroes Not Zombies

Montaigne created a new genre of writing. Many people had written memoirs or autobiographies but nobody had published this self reflection. His essays are not about “I did this” and “I did that”, they are about what he encounters and the thoughts and feelings these encounters provoked. Maybe that doesn’t seem so ground breaking now but it was in the sixteenth century.

Many creative people find a new way to express themselves. Each of the art movements, whether impressionists, cubists, or whatever, had their pioneering artists who created paintings which were different from those ever created before.

You can say the same of musicians and composers who created distinctive and different expressions of their own unique voices. Once you become familiar with Beethoven, Mozart, Paul Simon, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, or whoever, you can recognise them instantly.

I remember the first time I read Jack Kerouac. His writing style was like nothing I’d ever read before. In fact, he gave it a name – Spontaneous Bop Prose.

I think this is the phenomenon referred to here. Every one of us is unique and every one of us can create and express in brand new ways. We each have our own voice, our own experiences and our own perspectives which we weave together to bring into existence something which has never existed before.

You are unique.