Artist

Artist Facing Blank Canvas, Norman Rockwell, 1938

Facing blank paper
Is an artist’s terror.

When an artist creates, he or she is like a shaman. Inspiration comes as a gift. Those who follow Tao are the same. Their awareness of Tao is not something they have cleverly formulated, nor is it something that they possess. Tao comes to them like a gift. That is why the arts and Tao are so closely allied : The act of receiving and expressing is the same.

Just as an artist dreads not being able to make art, so too does one who follows Tao dread not feeling Tao.

There are many times when we are called upon to be creative : an athlete on the field, a lecturer before an audience, a musician on stage, a cook at the stove, a parent with a child. How do we keep the channel open? Some people try by maintaining tidy and regular lives, others by being constantly active. We are all different, and there is no right or wrong. The only thing that counts is feeling Tao in your own life and maintaining that feeling as much of the time as possible. If you find those special things that are latent in you and learn to express them, then you will know Tao.

Deng Ming Tao, 365 Tao

Ah. A reminder that I need to get back to doing art again… I suppose I need that. I have focused a lot on being lately, and not much on doing. I wonder where I will be able to do art with two golden retrievers flopping all over the floor… what I really need is my own art space, and right now I don’t have one, so I put it off and put it off…

But yes, there are things that are latent and need expressing. Funny that I have been at one time or another all the things mentioned in this passage – an athlete (amateur soccer, but still…), a parent, a cook, a singer, an artist. And so many more. It’s difficult to think of a time in my life when I have not been creative in some way, even now, with my little blog space. I do truly love blogging – being able to put up my thoughts where anyone can find them, and yet, so few seem to come by, even fewer seem to comment, but it doesn’t bother me in the least. I feel as though I’ve finally reached the point in my life where I don’t mind the reaction or nonreaction of others, I don’t live for praise or fear condemnation anymore. I’ve been praised, I’ve been condemned, I’ve been told to feel guilt for things I never felt any guilt for doing, and people have tried to shame me for that, have punished me with their silence, but I no longer care.

And perhaps, that is the point one needs to get to in becoming an artist – or in becoming fully themselves. Being able to express yourself with no fear of what others may think of you, and no desire for them to praise you in any way. Like the Tao, art simply is. And an artist, a true artist or creator of any form, simply is, in their being if not always in their doing. I no longer fear the blank paper or the nothingness that surrounds the Tao. The Tao, and the art, will eventually fill them both.