Friends, we are the artists in the world at this time.
Let that sink in.
We are, to quote Arthur Shaughnessy, the “music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams.”
If you’re making songs, poems, paintings, dances, or anything else that was born first in your imagination and heart and then brought forth through your skill and vision, YOU are an artist in the world at this time.
I see us as a family. And I see those who came before us as our Big Brothers and Sisters, and those who will come after us as our Little Brothers and Sisters.
Now, some will quibble that, yes, there are a lot of people creating at any one time, but only a few of them are “major” artists.
The criteria for determining who falls into this category are, on even a cursory inspection, quite superficial: fame and money. You are a major artist, they reason, if popular opinion, critical opinion, and financial remuneration have anointed you; otherwise, you are a “minor artist.”
I call bull on this idea.
There is no such thing as a minor artist, a minor poet, a minor painter, a minor musician.
There is only Artist, Poet, Painter, Musician.
I encourage you, I encourage everyone, to see yourself this way and to discard any ranking system which you may have imbibed with your cultural milk and which prevents you from enjoying the full power and dignity of who you really are.
Inevitably, there are some who will invite you to see yourself as a minor poet, or a minor artist, or a minor musician, or a minor whatever-you-are.
The invitation may be made to sound reasonable: “Well, you are not famous, after all… You do not earn your bread from your art… You have not been decorated and celebrated as others have…”
The invitation may also be made to sound as though it is for your highest good: “I don’t want you to be disappointed… I don’t want you to get hurt…”
Refuse to accept this invitation even from the seemingly well-meaning. Let me clarify: this invitation is never, ever in your best interest. It is, however, in the best interest of the one making it for whom your boldness and color is, on some level, disquieting.
Instead, see yourself as kin with the artists you most admire. See yourself as an older sibling to the ones who are coming up now. See yourself as adding invaluable artistic energy to the world at this time. See yourself engaged in a beautiful, soul-driven mission to create.
See yourself as an Artist in the World.
You will create more, you will create with greater skill and deeper impact, and you will walk taller. You will allow yourself to flourish!
(Pictured is my friend, John Keats. Labeled a “minor poet” during his short life, he is now regarded as a poetic genius who left us some of the most beloved and respected poems in the English language. The ones who mocked him for his ambition and desire are now forgotten, while John, who just kept making poems, lives on. A great “Big Brother” in poetry for all of us!)
