For those who are too lazy to check out the story, here is a short summary of one of the stories:
In a zoo, somewhere, there is a tiger in a cage with no top. This Tiger had a very strong desire to escape the cage and was well aware of its own strong jumping ability. Therefore the Tiger then planned its escape. One night, the Tiger took the chance and leaped up outside of the cage. When the Tiger finally came to and realized where it was, it realized that it once again inside another cage, inside another zoo. The Tiger then decides that during the night, it will once again jump the fence. When it does, it lands inside another cage in another zoo. The Tiger continues to do this for all eternity, never being able to escape the cages. The main message provided by Flaum is that one may not simply change its surrounding in order to truly change, we cannot merely just destroy the environment that we caged ourselves in but also destroy ourselves, metaphorically, in which that environment was created for.
Here is one of my favorite quotes from a song called "The Machine" by the band Lemon Demon. Written by Neil Cicierega, "The Machine" is a song about a man building a large machine for unknown reasons and the reaction of the frightened public.
"Lost in solipsism
he then slowly pulls a lever
which sets off a mechanism
which does nothing whatsoever
but the nothing that it does
negates the everything we know
because it's screaming "Just because!"
because it's neither friend or foe
and so we label it a menace
or a grandiose work of art.
From its finale to its genesis
we slowly pull it all apart.
That's the beauty of it--
It doesn't do anything, do anything."
The quote above speaks to me as a creative person because I feel like it addresses a timeless issue that seems to pertain through most of Western society. Within the quote a man works in solipsism, in a way meaning that he has forgot the rest of the world, to create a machine that has absolutely no purpose. In the song and the quote, the public is quite frightened by the idea of this huge machine, speculating what its purpose could possibly be. It is not the idea that this machine is positively dangerous or that it is assuredly a grand machine. What frightens the grand masses is the idea that they do not know the purpose of this machine. The theory that something could exist without a purpose just does not simply make sense to the civilized world. An automated world where every single aspect of every building, every gadget has a function. A doorhinge exists to swivel, a rounded edge on a table exists to prevent injury, a window exists to let in light, a painting on a wall exists to add to the visual appeal of a room, carpets exist to add cushion to our feet, everything has its purpose. This idea of nothing "Negates the everything we know." Humans have conditioned ourselves to forget that things may simply be and not have a purpose.
You do not need to look far to see numerous examples of this. In almost pretentious ways, humans try to find a purpose in everything. For example, it can be argued that religion only exists in order to give ourselves a purpose to exist. We cannot live with the idea in today's society that humankind simply is, "because it's screaming 'Just because!'." Humans have even convoluted and twisted the idea that Nature serves its own purpose, its purpose to feed our society. In a way, it is taught in schools that trees exist in order to replenish nitrogen to the soil and exchange the carbon dioxide in the air for oxygen. Trees cannot simply just subsist.
This idea begins to frighten me, as a creator of creative material, when it comes to Art. It seems that anymore that the most holy ground of "Just because" is even beginning to become susceptible to "purposing". Take any Art class in a high school or college and you will be taught that paintings have meanings. Just as in the lyrics, "... a grandiose work of art. From its finale to its genesis we slowly pull it all apart", there remains an idea that there must be a deconstruction of every last brushstroke. A painting may not simply exist, a piece of Art must exist to send a message. Simply searching Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, brings you a result of pages worth of analysis on every millimeter of each brushstroke. There is an idea carried throughout society that Da Vinci did not paint her just because he felt like it and that is the end of it, there must be an idea behind it. There must be a message. There must be some sort of purpose. I am not trying to say that Art can send its message to the public, but I am rather trying to communicate the idea that the philosophy so hardwired into us may defeat the very purpose of art in the first place.
As a creator now and in the future, I wonder how the world would be different if it allowed more "it just is" statements and did not concern itself with finding a reassuring meaning behind each frame. Much of our world is spontaneous and as disturbing as that is, we, as a human race, do not always need to find a reason. What if? What if movies were written and created not to make a person rich or famous? What if every slice of film wasn't scrutinized? Objects do not always have to be "a menace" or "a grandiose work of art" to distribute to viewers or readers. I realize how informal I have been, but I encourage you to go out and create something, not to show it to friends, not to make money, but rather just create something great as a therapeutic act. Let go of the philosophy in today's world that everything must have a purpose. Pure creativity.
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