I am an artist. Been one my whole life.
I'll admit, in our mass
media culture, this statement can’t be verified. I have no bestselling books to
my name, or platinum albums. My films haven’t won any Oscars (yet) and I’ve
never been on anyone’s short list for Poet Laureate of anywhere.
Nevertheless, I am an artist—writer,
musician, poet, filmmaker, storyteller, seer of visions. It has taken quite a
lot of time and effort to find the mental footing from which to say that
without feeling that I’m trying to impersonate someone important and will be
thrown out of the party any minute.
That’s because we—all
artists and creative folk (a much larger demographic than generally recognized)—have
been conditioned to think of artistry as something we do, when it is
always what we are. It is hardwired into our circuitry by God himself.
Look at it this way: Being a Masai tribesman in Kenya is
not a skill set or a career path. It is a person’s nature and fundamental
purpose, a way of being that can’t be any other way, no matter how many
missionary schools give intervention a try.
Poet and philosopher Elsa
Gidlow asked, “What if we smashed the mirrors/ And saw our true face?” Yes, let’s. I think the
answer to her questions is that the world would change overnight.
But smashing mirrors takes
more than a few sticky note affirmations pasted by your nightstand. To do it right
means looking cultural belief-dragons right straight in the snarling face and
saying, “Be gone. I don’t believe in you.” It means—heaven forbid—getting a
little unruly in defense of your creative place in the cosmic order. It means
deciding to be yourself out loud and on purpose.
Toni Morrison said, “We
(artists) are traditionally rather proud of ourselves for having slipped
creative work in there between the domestic chores and obligations. I’m not
sure we deserve such big A-pluses for that.”
Testify, Sister!
Here’s another from Roger
Ebert: “What you do instead of your work is your real work.”
And so begins The Way of
the Artful Warrior—with a shot of courage and an incitement to artistic riot!
May you quickly find your voice and sound like Rafiki, the baboon shaman in Disney's The
Lion King.
Simba: “Will you cut it
out?” (Translation: Stop being yourself!)
Rafiki: “Can’t cut it out.
It would grow right back!”
Next week: Five
Identifying Traits of the Artful Warrior
