Aestheticism.

This is my philosophy and my political belief, as the 21st century has been wrecked by other philosophies and political beliefs. Most only serve to dehumanise or belittle. However artistic expression is something in which we can rediscover our shared humanity.

I was born in Jamaica in 1975. My parents were white British. My very existence seems to be a paradox, but I feel an almost defiant pride both in my British heritage and with my citizenship status as a de facto member of the Commonwealth. I have felt a great affinity with other Anglo-Caribbean writers like the Domenican born Jean Rhys and her lesser known contemporary Eliot Bliss.

Eliot Bliss was a Jamaican born author. She moved to Britain when she was still small, however she reminisced about the island of her birth as if was a lost Eden,

“Purple peaks going up in the sky. How large and near and blue the mountains loomed”.

Now all of my dreams feature those looming blue mountains, as if they are mislaid characters from the narrative of my life. For me this begs the eternally foxing question, “who are we, really?”, are we just flesh and bones? Is our state of being a purely ontological one in that we are simply and basically human? There other notions that serve to beguile us. It is the elemental things that make us unique individuals, where we are born, our early childhood memories of significant places and people, and our parental ideals and practices.

I wrestled with contradictions all through my life, and at 18 I felt piqued by a maelstrom of conflicting ideas. I had been brought up by socialist parents but at heart I had romantic yearnings, these were the direct opposite of perfunctory political philosophies. Literature and music were the centre of my life (they still are now). I couldn`t contemplate what I wanted to do in the future because I was far too busy daydreaming. However my artistic impulses inform who I am today and in the future, they provide hope in a world consumed by despair. I want to inspire others to follow me in this pure philosophy of aestheticism.