Who is the artist, the creative genius? Why are they struggling? Why are they mentally unstable? Why are they doubting who they are, what they create and how they think? Do they not know that they are meant for this and this alone, to be the artist, the creative genius? This is their calling.
Why do we so often question them?
Why must the artists fear their own creation, its success or failure? Why must the creative genius second guess their brilliance? They fit in no mold, they hold no frame, they cannot withhold what is within. They must not.
We must encourage, empower, and equip the artists and creative geniuses of our time to live brightly, think bravely and create boldly, for everyone's sake.
"Is it logical that anybody should be expected to be afraid of the work that they feel they were put on this earth to do?" asks Elizabeth Gilbert, author of "Eat, Pray, Love." In her Ted Talk, "Your Elusive Creative Genius," Gilbert discuss how she, like many other artists, is too often questioned about her life's work. "Aren't you afraid you're never going to have any success? Aren't you afraid the humiliation of rejection will kill you? Aren't you afraid that you're going to work your whole life at this craft and nothing's ever going to come of it and you're going to die on a scrap heap of broken dreams with your mouth filled with the bitter ash of failure?"
The answer is yes, we are are afraid of these things and so much more. Any endeavour may fail, or as equally succeed. But the matter at hand is not the artist's fears. Instead it is the her audience's, critics' and supporters' fears that are worth questioning here.
Gilbert asks, "What is it about creative ventures that seems to make us really nervous about each other's mental health in a way that other careers kind of don't do?" Engineers, scientists, doctors or even lawyers are seldom similarly questioned about their life's work, or sanity, even. So why must the artist face such daunting doubts?
Gilbert argues that perhaps "somehow we've completely internalized and accepted collectively this notion that creativity and suffering are somehow inherently linked and that artistry, in the end, will always ultimately lead to anguish." Why is this? This logic will not last us long. Perhaps the artist, the creative genius, is too different. Their relationship with the world is difficult to comprehend. Perhaps it is the misunderstanding of them, maybe even fear of their abilities that perpetuates the doubt in their life's work. There is no certainty in art, only the exposure of the unknown.
The creation of a work of art throws a light upon the mystery of humanity. A work of art can either be an abstract or epitome of the world. It is the result or expression of nature, both human and wild, in miniature.
Beauty is the mark God sets upon virtue. The beauty of nature reforms itself in the mind, and not for barren contemplation, but for new creation. All men are in some degree impressed by the face of the world; some men are even to delight. This love of beauty is Taste. Others have the same love in such excess that […] they seek to embody it in new forms. The creation of beauty is art. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
The artist, the creative genius, is one who delights in beauty so deeply, so profoundly, until they call it their own, only then to offer it to you and me, not for barren contemplation but for new creation; for inspiration.
According to Gilbert, "There is a divine relationship between a human being and the mysteries of inspiration." I believe that the bridge between these two realms is beauty. The pursuit of beauty results in the experience of transcendence and creation. Beauty plays a role in everyone's life, but it is the artist, the creative genius, who has a relationship with it.
So to the struggling artist and creative genius dare to see the beauty in life and do not contemplate doubting words. They simply create and live within the realm of inspiration. You are beautiful.
