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Soul Graffiti - Our evolution
As most people and certainly as a relatively normal
teenager, I usually did not pay much attention to the inscription on the
walls, but this one cold October day en route to school, I was overcome
by a feeling of confusion as I peered out the foggy bus windows. What
motivates this graffiti that colors these streets, I wondered? I pondered graffiti like an inquisitive child, desperately
asking "why" for no other reason but simply to understand. What
is the purpose of graffiti? Why is graffiti common in some areas and not
in others? What motivates some to draw graffiti and others not to? It took nearly a year for me to really understand graffiti,
and through its understanding, I came to appreciate an aspect of human
life that lingers in the back of all of our minds. Graffiti to me represents
an expression; an expression of a fundamental existential dilemma that
we all face. That dilemma is one of permanence, or rather, our lack of
permanence. As a great poet once wrote "life is but a fleeting moment
that leaves as quick as it comes." We all have an innate calling towards seeking permanence
within our lives. Permanence manifests itself in many different ways,
from having children, to writing a book, to starting a company, to composing
music. It is through creating these illusions of permanence that we seek
to assuage the anxiety within us all – the anxiety that our reality
is one of ultimate impermanence. Graffiti is an act of seeking permanence in an impermanent
world. Traditional graffiti most often can be seen in neighborhoods where
there is sadly little hope of worldly success. Neighborhoods where the
life expectancy is so low that the existence of a building can almost
represent an eternity.
The soul is perhaps the only thing in our world that
is truly permanent, and to me, "true" graffiti lies within this
realm. Touching another’s soul through acts of kindness, generosity,
and charity, can make a mark far brighter and more permanent than any
can of spray paint. "Soul graffiti," is therefore the conscious
act of illustrating upon the canvas of another’s soul. Over the past few years I have begun to share my thoughts
on soul graffiti with many groups and individuals and have witnessed firsthand
the profound impact that its simple wisdom has produced. Soul Graffiti™
LLC was created with the single mission of building a community aimed
at shifting consciousness away from "material graffiti" to that
of "soul graffiti." Soul graffiti is not about inspiration or
philosophy, but rather about action. As one colleague recently remarked
to me, "like love, soul graffiti is a verb, not an adjective." As Maya Angelou once wrote, "when we cast our bread upon the waters we can presume that someone downstream whose face we will never know will benefit from our action, as we who are downstream from another will profit from the grantor's gift." It is likewise my hope that through Soul Graffiti™ we can together lift our spiritual brushes to paint upon the lives of others with acts of kindness and compassion - ultimately bringing true permanence to our own lives and a beautiful mural upon the soul of humankind.
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I
was 17 when I first began to think about graffiti. Riding the bus my senior
year of high school through the neighborhoods of North Philadelphia, it
was as though parts of them were borderless canvasses for the young artists’
palate. Slogans, statements, names, logos, and pictures - some just a
single word, and others, massive murals covering entire sides of buildings
and homes. 
But
in truth, graffiti extends far beyond the walls of inner-city playgrounds.
Graffiti is more than the scribble of ink on a freshly painted house.
Graffiti can be equally seen when one erects a skyscraper with his name
emblazoned in lights upon it; when one names a city after herself; or
when one sadly commits an act of brutal terror. Graffiti is an attempt
at permanence, or at minimum, an act of extending the permanence of our
fleeting lives.