A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices. ― David Bohm, Physicist
Why are so many people stuck within their own ideologies? Whether it’s an issue related to their craft or beliefs about politics, economics or religion, it seems that humans just can’t seem to keep an open mind. And despite the fact that society has made fantastical advances in science and technology, human psychology seems to want to remain living in the past — a past ridden with repeated prejudice, hate and violence. Somewhere in our history, mankind has made a wrong turn and it still hasn’t been able to develop or act on the kind of insight that would move us away from what seems like constant conflict.
As artists, we’ve been privileged to partial insight due to a heightened sensitivity to the deeper rhythms of the universe. But we don’t possess total insight for we remain vulnerable to the pangs of our ego, which endlessly tries to lead us astray; greed, fear and vanity plague the artist as much as the next person. That said, creative people can see with a higher level of precision the immense beauty of the world and can help others to discover it. But they can also more readily see the darker side — the irrational ugliness that is the result of our selfish behaviour. Perhaps this explains why artists can seem so positively inspiring but also so depressed, appear immeasurably grand and generous one moment while at other times come across as narcissistic or self-indulgent. This gift and plight of the artist has been duly noted by the greatest of thinkers from Aristotle to Krishnamurti. While in tradional eastern cultures artists were seen to possess both knowledge and wisdom, western thinkers such as psychologist Carl Jung were often confused by and critical of artists, citing them as neurotic or even demonic, the gift of insight accompanied by the curse of mental suffering.
So what is the creative person to do? To maintain a modicum of sanity, I suspect the artist must find balance in his life; he must continue his development of this fine sensibility while reducing the level of selfishness. It’s a tricky proposition. The artist needs to express himself (the word expression coming from the root word meaning to press out or press on) because if he doesn’t he will not only feel unfulfilled, but be haunted by his daemon*. At the same time he must be careful not to be overwhelmed with what he sees and experiences. Should success or failure reveal itself, he can not and must not personalize it too much, for therein lies the danger; excessive thinking and personal attachment clouds the mind and burdens the heart.
* today the word “daemon” has been culturally distorted to mean demon or devil, as in “the devil made me do it.” In Greek origin, it was meant to relate to the bestowed actions of the supernatural or divine intervention.
I slept and dreamt that life was joy.
I awoke and saw that life was duty.
I worked and behold, duty was joy.
— Rabindranath Tagore, Poet
For myself as an artist, I can only say I keep things as simple as possible. Big lists and fantastical ambitions might sound inspirational and in alignment with the so-called “American Dream” but it’s too easy to get lost in all that and forget about the process, which is what really matters most. Therefore, I spend most of my attention on being attentive, and to do so on the few things that I find matter. In essence, I work daily to keep my mind empty and clear, my body strong and flexible, and expend the rest of my energy towards creating. To some, that might sound like work or duty, and depending on how one defines those words, I guess it is. To me, that’s living and life worth living — a lifetime devoted to looking, listening and learning thru doing. But we can only do so effectively by possessing a mind that looks free of prejudice, eyes that listen in deep awareness, and a humble intellect that triggers the courage to take action. Anything else that comes as a by-product of such living — increased knowledge, enhanced skills/ability, wealth or social respect — are ultimately insubstantial and irrelevant. After all, virtue is its own reward.
As a difficult year approaches its end, I’d like to extend my blessings to all my readers a future occupied with looking, listening and learning and to love every moment of living in such manner.
… the ability to learn in this way is a principle common to the whole of humanity. Thus it is well known that a child learns to walk, to talk, and to know his way around the world just by trying something out and seeing what happens, then modifying what he does (or thinks) in accordance with what has actually happened. In this way, he spends his first few years in a wonderfully creative way, discovering all sorts of things that are new to him, and this leads people to look back on childhood as a kind of lost paradise. As the child grows older, however, learning takes on a narrower meaning. In school, he learns by repetition to accumulate knowledge, so as to please the teacher and pass examinations. At work, he learns in a similar way, so as to make a living, or for some other utilitarian purpose, and not mainly for the love of the action of learning itself. So his ability to see something new and original gradually dies away. And without it there is evidently no ground from which anything can grow. ― David Bohm