from Elizabeth Gilbert

Why? Is it rational? Is it logical that anybody should be expected to be afraid of the work that they feel they were put on this earth to do? 

creative people across all genres have this reputation for being enormously mentally unstable. 

-

The way that I have to work now in order to continue writing is that i have to create some kind of protective psychological construct. I have to find some way to have a safe distance between me as I am writing and my very natural anxiety about what the reaction from that writing will be from now on.

-

And then the Renaissance came and everything and we had this big idea, and the big idea was let's put the individual at the center of the universe, above all gods and mysteries, and there's no more room for mystical creatures who take dictation from the divine, it was the beginning of rational humanism and people started to believe that creativity came completely from the self of the individual. And for the first time in history you start to hear people referring to this or that artist as being a genius, rather than having a genius. And I gotta tell you i think this was a huge error. I think allowing someone, one mere person, to believe he or she is the vessel, the font, the essence and the source of all divine creative unknowable eternal mystery is just a smidgen too much responsibility to put on one fragile human psyche. its like asking someone to swallow the sun- it completely warps and distorts egos and it creates unmanageable expectations about performance and i think the pressure of that has been killing off our artists for the last 500 years. 

So what now? Can we start doing this differently? 

--

Don't be afraid. Don't be daunted. Just do your job. Continue to show up for your piece of it, whatever that may be. If your job is to dance, do your dance. If the divine cock-eyed genius assigned to your case decides to let some kind of wonderment be glimpsed for just one moment through your efforts, than Ole! And if not, then do your dance anyhow. Ole to you! none the less. I believe this and feel we must teach this. Ole to you! none the less for having the shear human love and stubborness to keep showing up. Ole! none the less.