The world and the mind are malleable in nature but the weights and self-imposed restrictions we each carry can sometimes impede our ability to BE as we would like to BE. Detrimental patterns of thought, emotion, and action—usually rooted in the subconscious—impair our ability to shape our self and our world in a creative, life-sustaining way.

In these street performances, I use playfulness and absurdity as tools to temporarily disrupt those inhibitory patterns. I try to invoke within myself a state of freedom and lightness, then do what I can to benignly infect others with those qualities, if they seem open to the experience.

Ben Jon Miller (www.benjonmiller.com) performing on 6th street during the South by Southwest festival in Austin, TX, USA, March 2018. Camera: James Fain

Why?

Firstly, it feels so darn good!

It feels liberating to allow myself to be foolish and childlike, to let go of behavioral rules and limitations, to unshackle myself from the expectation to be normal—to be myself. It feels good, but on a deeper level, learning to access this state makes it easier to connect with myself, to connect with others, and to connect with a sense that life is meaningful and worth living.

I have so many internal patterns that withhold me from this state. Pessimism. Anger. Apathy. Lethargy. Sadness. Loneliness. Judgment of myself and others. The demons available to us are bountiful and ever eager to shake our hands, only to never let them go. Creating the amplified lightness and playfulness that I do in public performance gives me a chance to counterbalance my inner attachments to misery and reinforce my visceral connection to hope, love, and laughter.

I could do these things alone at home, but when I do it in public and am able to share it with others, the felt effects are exponentially multiplied. I amplify the experience for the audience and they do the same for me. We are all constantly creating the collective reality. In these performances, we create and access another dimension of existence in which personal freedom and lightness are more readily available. And that is what I want my art to be: a tool to improve and harmonize our collective existence, not only as a theory in the head, but also as something felt stirring in the heart, singing through our skin and bones, shaking loose the ossification and letting the vitality of our being flow freely, torrentially, teeming with an undercurrent of experiential beauty.

Is that idealism? Probably, but why not try? Why not try to make a step in that direction, regardless of how small the efforts may seem, regardless of how insurmountable the mountain may appear? Maybe we will never reach a peak where pain is absent and all problems are solved, but if we can get even a tiny bit higher and freer, that is something worth trying. Every day, we wake up and find there is still more life in our palms. Why not do something beautiful with it?

Video: Street performance during SXSW Festival in Austin, USA, March 2018. Recorded by James Fain.

On my blog, you can find more writings on art and alchemical thinking, interviews about creativity, psychologically-oriented reflections on tarot, and more. You can check out past posts in the categorized list below.

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Art
- Dec 19, 2016 Wakey Wakey, Inner Kiddo
- Dec 28, 2016 How to Make Magical Oranges
- Aug 17, 2017 Put the Potatoes on Your Face
- Sep 14, 2017 Art is a Portal
- Dec 1, 2017 Why the Tutu?
- Apr 3, 2018 Public Alchemy: Notes on Street Performance
- Jun 22, 2018 The Freedom and Fear of Being Yourself (Notes on Performance and Life)
- Jul 2, 2018 About the Folks Who Think You Stink (Notes on Performance and Life)
Interviews
- Feb 21, 2018 Artist Interview: Samantha Blumenfeld
- Mar 1, 2018 Artist Interview: Lawrence Blackman
- Apr 23, 2018 Interview: Yogi Ron Katwijk
- Jun 4, 2018 Artist Interview: Sally Nicholson
- Jul 18, 2018 Artist Interview: Kayle Karbowski
Magical Thinking
- Dec 28, 2016 How to Make Magical Oranges
- Jan 15, 2017 Following Fear
- Feb 19, 2017 Why Does Heartache Happen?
- Jul 6, 2017 Nerves and Tutus
- Aug 7, 2017 Three Reasons to Destroy Yourself (Or Not)
- Sep 14, 2017 Art is a Portal
- Dec 1, 2017 Why the Tutu?
- Jan 5, 2018 Chaos' Playground: Finding Gold in the Shitstorm
- Apr 3, 2018 Public Alchemy: Notes on Street Performance
- Apr 16, 2018 Questions for Limitations
- Jun 22, 2018 The Freedom and Fear of Being Yourself (Notes on Performance and Life)
- Jul 2, 2018 About the Folks Who Think You Stink (Notes on Performance and Life)
- Aug 23, 2018 Melting a Snowball of Misery
- Jun 21, 2019 White Peacocks, Constipation, and Emotional Liberation
- Aug 5, 2019 Celebrating Your Misery
- Dec 4, 2020 The Healing Voice: Wounds, Addiction, and Purgation
- May 18, 2023 Magick is a Sentient Entity: Using the Imagination to Co-Create with Magick
- Jun 21, 2023 Magick for Reshaping Life and Transmuting Trauma
Tarot
- Aug 26, 2017 Tarot as a Tool for Reality Construction
- Feb 28, 2018 Today's Tarot: The World is in the Seed
- Jun 27, 2019 Today's Tarot: Snot, Beauty, and Tea for Pain
- Aug 12, 2019 Today's Tarot: The Moon of Self-Loathing
- Aug 13, 2019 Today's Tarot: The Golden Devils Inside You
- Aug 18, 2019 Today's Tarot: Shifting Pain by Surrendering to It
- Aug 25, 2019 TAROT QUESTION #1: Why is the Present Moment So Much All the Time?
- Sep 3, 2019 TAROT QUESTION #2: Do abusers know they're being abusive, or is that just their sense of reality?
- Sep 25, 2019 TAROT QUESTION #3: Why can't I find more hours in a day?
- Oct 11, 2019 TAROT QUESTION #4: How long will it be until I have a new job?
- Oct 24, 2019 TAROT QUESTION #5: Why does my skin crawl with wonder and fascination as such important relationships in my life are connected by the eyes?