"Every breath we take, every heartbeat, every evolution of every cell comes from God and is sustained by God every second, just as every creation, invention, every bar of music or line of verse, every thought, vision, fantasy, every dumb-ass flop and stroke of genius comes from that infinite intelligence that created us and the universe in all its dimensions, out of the Void, the field of infinite potential, primal chaos, the Muse. To acknowledge that reality, to efface all ego, to let the work come through us and give it back freely to its source, that, in my opinion, is as true to reality as it gets."
- p.162, The War of Art," Steven Pressfield
Besides the fact that the first sentence is exquisite, I think it taps into a beautiful truth: that we as artists are not our own. We have been endowed with gifts by a master Artist, and it is nothing of our doing. Thus, because we have been so given, we must give our gifts back to the ultimate Creator, doing our work for him. In denying our own egos that tell us we are the best there ever was, we give our work back to the One from whom it came, and in turn, continue forward, using the gifts and giving the work back. I think I can live within that cycle quite happily, I believe. It takes the pressure off and gives me full reign to express myself as I see fit. A glorious freedom, indeed.
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