“The progress of an artist is a continual self-sacrifice, a continual extinction of personality.” — T. S. Elliott
Artistic expression is seen on many levels. The obvious is related to: painting, sculpture, vocal performance, musical composition, various forms of design/invention, architecture, dance, poetry, literature and the continual discovery of technological advancement through creative minds. All of this defines our existence in moving forward, with our life’s journey. We may become so immersed in the process of creativity, that our personality is blurred and we relinquish the ego through a conscious choice of will through self-sacrifice. For many, this becomes almost imperceptable. There is a palpable energy that cannot be perceived or classically monitored. It is almost likened to a “void in sentient acknowledgement,” as expressed in another way by Eckhart Tolle, “Some changes look negative in the surface, but you will soon realize that space is being created in your life for something new to emerge.”
We often start out in one direction, while evolving circumstances place us in quite another. Risk can be immensely challenging giving rise to anxiety, fear, tension and stress with subsequent consequences. An artist, in whatever genre, lives in a constancy of change given the variances in demand of those specific skill sets. The creative personality may venture into immense waves of inertia, indecisiveness . . . even dysfunction, which is an extremely harsh reality needing a conscious resolve through awareness. It has been my experience as a performing artist, to deal with adversity head-on embracing the words of Soren Kierkegaard, “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isen’t true, the other is to refuse to believe what is true.”
Starting all over is never easy . . . but given circumstances beyond your control . . . necessary. Begin with the “truth,” and build from there. There is no time frame for this, it may take days, weeks, months . . . and yes, even years. Your personal evolving timetable of conscious awareness, acute present perception and unvarnished reality cannot be compared to anyone else. You may be very surprised at how resilient, innovative, effective, perceptive and honest you can be with yourself. It all really begins right there, and completely unvarnished. You have absolutely nothing to prove to anyone else . . . just yourself. Moving forward without knowing what is beyond that “brick wall of fear” is daunting, but it can be done. Becoming paralyzed with the fear of indecision causes more harm, and taking that first step releases you completely from yourself and the fear. It is amazing to entertain this thought by Soren Kierkegaard, “Take away paradox from the thinker and you have a professor.” JLR