The Work of the Artist (and All of Us)
Dear friend,
I don’t think people account for the emotional work artists must do in addition to their visible work of content creation.
Art is like ocean water. It flows from an infinite source. We can’t understand it—we don’t need to—but in order to be a channel through which it can flow, the artist must be empty.
This emptiness is good—it is freedom. Freedom from pre-existing thoughts, beliefs, baggage, rules, judgements. It is freedom to receive only what is, and to let go of everything else.
Through this emptiness—this open channel—the ocean of life flows and the world is fed, watered. Vegetation springs up on its banks.
This emptiness is good... and it is a lot of work! This is the work of the artist.
I, for one, didn’t know this when I signed up. I knew I wanted to make things. I saw things a certain way and was driven by the thrill of creating. Spending a year chiseling away at a single line of a single song until it rang true felt worth it to me. That’s why I signed up.
Little did I know what it would truly cost to walk this path. And, little did I know the incredible joy I would experience along the way.
The work required to be an artist—to empty oneself again and again, to remain an open conduit for life's infinite flow—is immense. Yet this emptying, this emotional work that seems unique to artists, is actually the great work that lies ahead for all human beings. Artists just go first.
—Nathan
PS. Thank you for being a reader! Have a wonderful holiday!! 🎄
Originally posted at: https://nathanpeterson.net/going-first