“We Must Create What We Most Need to Find”
Carter’s hands
I don’t usually post my Blogher Art and Design columns, but this one seemed like a good fit for this space today.
I came upon this quote on Sabrina Ward Harrison’s website today on a quest for details about her True Living Project opening this week in New York. Harrison’s one of those wunderkind artist who discovered early in her twenties that talent is transformed by brutal vulnerability. Her critically acclaimed art journals spill secrets as quickly as paint. Tattered pieces of poetry, paper and ink tell stories of fear and doubt all too familiar to anyone who aims to live an authentic life. By putting her life as a young artists under a microscope, she illuminated the path forward for the rest of us–a path that turns on shedding what’s comfortable in favor of new territory, that place where fear gives way to fascination with what’s possible when we dare to try.
I’ve been having an ongoing conversation with a friend about the artist life and about how difficult it can be to entertain creativity when so many other matters clamor for our attention. How can I paint when my house is a wreck? How can I start a new creative venture when I have a future to prepare for? How can I devote the time required to develop new skills when ____________ (insert name of spouse, child or employer) needs me so much? How can I even entertain art as a profession when all the little voices in my head tell me I’m being irresponsible to do so?
Wrestle with (or resist!) these questions long enough and well-formed patterns emerge along with a great divide.
My “real” life vs. Art.
My responsibilities vs. my dreams.
My head vs. my heart.
It’s an artificial divide masquerading as common sense. The kind of common sense that keeps you tame, locked down, a predictable cog in the consumer machine. Work, eat, sleep. Wake up in the morning, do it all over again. This kind of rhythm may keep you and everyone you love happy and comfortable, but comfort doesn’t transform us into fully engaged human beings. That process happens when we take risks.
Risks to love.
Risks to believe.
Risks to create.
Call it self-indulgent. Call it a privilege. Call it insane. I won’t argue. But there’s also something incredibly valuable that happens when we dive into the work of making risk-taking an ongoing approach to life and art. And feel free to define art anyway you wish. When we bring that daring side of our selves to the fore, we not only grow as human beings, we increase the chances of stumbling on something that makes true social change possible.
Benjamin Zander, conductor and recent TED speaker, talks about this kind of process as “getting beyond fuck-it”–that place where you realize it makes no sense to continue to hold back, the place where perfectionism and ego fall away and all we’re left with is pure creative passion. Creative passion that can be utilized to solve problems, deepen empathy, increase understanding and change the world.
This is the kind of human experience our world needs today–and not simply because people engaged in meaningful work are happier and more productive–but because when we engage in our true work, we fulfill our obligations not only to ourselves and our loved ones, but to the planet as well.
What would it take for you to value the unspoken wish to spend your life in a particular way? What would it mean to say out loud the one creative thing you desperately long to do? Who would benefit if you were fully alive, fully engaged in the work that draws you in the most?
I’m thinking about these questions for myself these days. I believe there is a certain kind of hope that becomes possible for our world, each time we have the courage to create exactly what we most need to find.
Need more convincing? Listen to storyteller Isabel Allende weave passion with purpose in this famous TED Talk from 2007 (thanks, A., for this one!)
Worried your ego will get in the way? Let Ariel Gore show you how to soothe the savage beast within.
Not sure of where you come from? Patti Dinghi writes a month’s worth of tribute to the women who’ve gone before and who continue to pave the way with courage and grace.
crossposted on Blogher.com
April 1st, 2008 at 8:20 am
this really speaks to me, there is an internal wrestling match in me most of the time. responsibilities vs. dreams and head vs. heart — the ongoing battle. you put it so beautifully into words. thank you.
April 1st, 2008 at 8:26 am
Lighting a candle in solidarity and raising my cup of Darjeeling to you this morning. Here’s to getting beyond “fuck-it”!
April 1st, 2008 at 8:27 am
Wow! Those questions are SO where I am right now. Thanks for this post.
Came your way via Brene Brown’s blog. I love what you have to say.
April 1st, 2008 at 1:21 pm
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April 1st, 2008 at 1:43 pm
I am constantly asking myself these very same questions and trying to live in some sort of balanced way as a mother and a wife and a writer. Thanks!
April 1st, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Oh.my.goodness. All I can coherently say after reading this is THANK YOU. Balancing it all…especially the reality vs. the dreams has been such a huge elephant in my proverbial room lately and one that I have not had the best perspective on, so reading this is just wonderful…wonderful. xo
April 1st, 2008 at 5:19 pm
I have only started reading your blog recently, but it has already become like a breath of fresh air whenever I come by. I find myself facing the same questions on a regular basis and as a writer who has yet to be published, it’s been difficult for me to allow myself to take my dreams seriously.
April 1st, 2008 at 9:24 pm
Every time I read your blog you seem to be directly to me (and I kind of wish you would stop it ;). I’ve resigned from my job, which pays well and has good benefits and I’m going to try to be a yoga teacher full time…yoga is a kind of art and I’m scared to death and having a hard time just thinking about the balance. Thanks for pushing me toward my dream!
April 1st, 2008 at 11:43 pm
Oh. My. God. That’s all I can say about this post…it touched me deeply. It was just what I needed to read, right now. Thank you
April 2nd, 2008 at 5:06 pm
I SO need to read this post today. I’m standing on the edge of a precipice, looking down at a deep and wide ocean of unknown. I have no idea how to navigate the waters because I have spent my adulthood playing the game for money. Have never stepped into that strange place of doing what you love. My heart is banging in my chest and I’m way outside my comfort zone. But I’m also painfully aware of the fact that my comfort zone is too bloody small for me anymore. That I have important work to do. That I have my heart and my mind and my soul to contribute to my community. That it’s time.
Thank you for sharing this. I have an ounce more courage after reading it.
April 4th, 2008 at 10:29 am
I just want to say thank you, as well. You seem to say the things that I need to hear at just the right time. I have often read your blog with tears in my eyes because the things you write about speak so deeply to me. You are an inspiration! Thank you.
April 5th, 2008 at 9:12 am
Interesting synchronicity — I recently wrote about dualistic thinking on my blog, and also used some great TED resources. Hope you have seen Jill Bolte Taylor’s talk on her stroke. Susie
April 7th, 2008 at 7:22 am
jen,
you have no idea how much i needed this.
i shall come back again and again.
thank you.
love,
mccabe x
April 13th, 2008 at 12:21 am
Thank you!! What an inspiring post…it really touched me and gave me great vision and motivation to continue the journey!!
September 10th, 2009 at 9:58 am
this is the first thing i’ve read today, clicked over from twitter. i am so grateful for these words and to you for writing them. i’ll be reading this a few more times as i pack my bags for a big journey next week, hopefully the first of many, where i will be doing the creative work of my dreams. i wholeheartedly agree that there is so much greater risk, to ourselves and to the planet, if we do NOT live our passions.
thank you, beautiful you, for redirecting me here today.
much love, lisa