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Artist's Way
Perhaps the greatest honor one can accord
another would be to say how fully her art
and life have been inseparable from the
tides of humanity. We all have the ability
to use our human voice to rise out of the
confusion of day-to-day struggles and define
ideals of beauty and moral courage. Some
say Samhain is the time to investigate our
shadow selves - to seek out and excavate
that which no longer serves our higher good.
How long can that process go on? Yes, it
is time to weed and allow the subconscious
to rest during the cold months of winter.
However most humans don't hibernate as hermits
for three months. During this holiday of
a thinning veil, I encourage you to look
for the seeds of your greatness hidden underneath
the compost. Allow your living and the creations
that spring up at your feet to become nothing
less than invitations to a life rich with
meaning. We all have an opportunity to be
artist by the mere fact that we breathe
and what results are left by the imprint
of our lives. We are part of a larger community
whose fate is inextricable from our own.
By shining forth in our glory we help to
make that fate better for all. There are
myths about the Artist's Way. They say artists
are isolated, alienated and unhappy, runs
one version of the myth. They are truest
to themselves when committed to nothing
beyond themselves; their audience is a distant,
unknowable enemy, eager to trap the artist's
soul in the web of base expectations, a
cancer to be avoided at all costs. Another,
polar opposite version of the myth insists
that artists are nothing more than entertainers
or celebrities, prisoners of their audience,
of no more significance than the success
of their last release. Popularity is the
only consequential barometer of their importance.
However when you create, whether by painting,
nurturing, providing, writing, dancing,
singing songs as a means of connection to
others and as a means of encountering your
world, you will change it to something more
beautiful than before. Your audience differs
in no essential way from yourself. Neither
flee the desires of your audience, whether
that is in a boardroom, kitchen or wherever,
nor pander to them. Jump with both feet
into your life. Good, bad, ugly or pristine
your life is unfolding as it should. Engage.
Take a stand for you, for your ideals. Only
then can your life's work achieve meaning.
You will not be alone in your intensity,
but rather feel the vibrancy of living through
a strong-willed, openhearted grappling with
the moment.
And it is precisely that immediacy, that
immersion in the moments of history that
grants your work, impact and memory its
lasting power. Artists who are honest with
themselves don't create with one eye on
posterity. They create for their contemporaries,
and the more compellingly they do that,
the more eloquently their work speaks to
the future.
(Adapted from an excerpt about the wonderful
Ms. Joan Baez).
Blessings,
Jamie
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