He who does not crave that roofless place eternity should stay at home. Such a person is perfectly worthy, and useful, and even beautiful, but is not an artist.
There is a notion that creative people are absentminded, reckless, heedless of social customs and obligations. It is, hopefully, true. For they are in another world altogether. It is a world where the third self is governor. Neither is the purity of art the innocence of childhood, if there is such a thing. One's life as a child, with all its emotional rages and ranges, is but grass for the winged horse--it must be chewed well in those savage teeth.
The working concentrating artist is an adult who refuses interruption from himself, who remains absorbed and energized in and by the work-- who is thus responsible to the work."
Mary Oliver Upstream: Selected Essays
"The most regretful people on earth are those who felt the call to creative work, who felt their own creative power restive and uprising, and gave to it neither power nor time."
I found this passage today and realize that for three hours every morning I have been doing "land art", making my garden into a sanctuary especially for me and hoping others enjoy what I have done. It is physically demanding manual work but it is creative work as well or I wouldn't do it.
But the rest of the day, I am lost because I am no longer engaged in what I do best. It is hard to switch gears.
Like most of us, I am looking for that balance between the social self and the "other self".
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