ArtsLIVE in Ventura County

Op-Ed / Essay Submitted by Javier Gomez

Art … affirms

All who live, no matter the career they labor in, must poetically express themselves in what gives them satisfaction through dance, music, theater or art ... this will give them the reason to live.  

To me, art is a way of life that defines the very core of an individual’s every aspect of existence. 

My ancestors called our existence “In Xochitl, In Cuicatl”  (Flower and Song, a metaphor for poetry) as they interpreted that all things, living and inanimate, existed in harmony with each other; each maintaining a certain unconscious poetic order, unique unto itself; we call it personality traits. Upon our birth we execute our lives in our own uniqueness, not easily replicated.   

Since understanding what art is, it has clarified my view of life as I examine my surroundings and discovered its undeniable imprint, its beauty and the aesthetics all around me as I work, play and live.

 I have also learned to embrace the spiritual impact that it has on the soul as well as the physical being.  Hence, I have made it my mission to assist others to discover their soul as they develop a love for themselves by becoming the artist that they have denied or were meant to be – thus discovering their full potential.   

I have learned to be the “Momachtiani”  (a person who causes himself to learn), in which I have discovered the unlimited degrees of obtaining excellence within the scope of the time we are allowed to live. And more importantly, we must teach others to likewise discover what we have learned and accomplished artistically.

– Javier Gomez is a retired teacher, who works with teens at the Inlakech Cultural Arts Center in Oxnard to stage productions of traditional dance, music and theater.

Javier Gomez of Oxnard is a member of the ArtsLIVE Advisory Council of the Ventura County Community Foundation.  This Op-Ed is one of a series celebrating the arts and their impact on leaders in Ventura County.

< Back to Op-Eds / Essays