From the Author:
We live in a rapidly changing world, where technology and profit margins are increasingly hijacking our collective consciousness. The once-sacred ‘geist’, or spirit of authenticity that resides at the heart of artistic creation, is rapidly being replaced by technological algorithms and a mechanistic system of persuasion and control that have sacrificed our individual sovereignty of thought.
To proceed forward without losing what is essential, I believe we must learn to remember how to embrace the sacred once again.
Writing a comic strip was actually nothing I had ever consciously considered. In fact, it was quite some time before I realized that drawing a comic strip was what I was actually doing. In a way, I had not found it, but rather it had found me. In my mind, I was simply drawing a pictograph narrative, not unlike a cave painter 30,000 years ago. It was a type of distillation of life experience that due to its minimalistic nature usually gravitated towards a fundamental truth.
Meet the characters:
* Molé the archetypal seeker, blessed with the fortune of being alive while striving to find meaning and purpose in a complex existence
* Kool Kat his best friend who lives each day with pragmatic self-acceptance and simplicity
* his master teacher the Zen-like turtle who offers wisdom not by pontificating or lecturing but rather by inviting Molé to observe with openness
* the penguins, snails, and other critters reminding us that in the alchemy of life one of the most important ingredients is whimsy that helps make the whole experience worthwhile.
About the Author
Rick Hotton is the creator of the Holy Molé comic strip. Born in 1958, he has spent the majority of his life as a teacher. Owner of West Wind Karate Dojo, a traditional karate school he established in Sarasota, Florida, in 1976, Rick also founded Sunday Morning Keiko, a global martial art community aimed at developing camaraderie and fellowship across various martial art disciplines.
In addition to teaching at his dojo and conducting remote online training programs, he travels throughout the world introducing the benefits of martial art practice not only as physical exercise but also as an anchoring point in the search for meaning in life. Many of these ideas, founded in his experience as a martial artist, have manifested in the creation of his comic strip. In his own words, ‘‘Holy Molé began as a cathartic exercise to protest an overly manufactured world where profit margins began to take precedence over the intrinsic spirit of things.’’
