Great art, they say, is not created over a full belly.
Why is it so, that the most oft sought: contentment at heart, becomes the greatest hindrance one faces while pursuing excellence? Is satisfaction really that overrated? Is it being placid? Or languid?
How does one make a pick?
You know, I have been wondering this for some while.
I wanted to have that filled heart, that satiated sense of serenity which the ease of being in one's own skin brings with it ... AND I wanted to be that restless soul with an unwavering spark of passionate creativity.
Lately, I have realized that the two are mutually exclusive!
No chance of convergence!
The sole route of an existence that justifies itself is maybe the same as of those in whose chest the agony of pierced heart ferments to the potion of bliss!
3 comments:
Just a few thoughts - not for the sake of disagreement:
Mutual exclusivity depends on how you look at it. The most unprivileged humans never even get a chance to think about creativity. So it does take some leisure on one hand, but also all the elusive components such as certain kinds of sensitivity, motivation, intelligence - and inspiration which seldom comes in the same way or through similar means for everyone, and for some, never at all.
Perhaps you are saying that creativity is not compatible with wholesale satiety, which is something like the absence of pain. I'd say the desire to create some positive value in the world may still arise. Buddha is a good example, because alongside being a prince, he was a very imaginative and humane individual.
A pashto proverb looks at satiety in a different way: "a full stomach speaks farsi" - derogatory in context, but literally, not bad at all I think. :)
Walter Kaufmann says, being happy all the time is not compatible with being human.
Many thanks for dropping by Taimur, giving this insightful input and adding another dimension to the perspective.
You are right, I was interpreting placidity in terms of absence of pain.
Be it Iqbal's 'aah-o-fighaan-e neem shab', or Rumi's 'Sharabe showq menosham / Ba girde yaar megardam', the ecstasy of an agonized lover is always a prized entity.
A smooth sail through life could always be the preferred idea, yet, I guess, there's nothing like challenging the sea gods amidst a rocking sea-storm :)
"Between the human being and God are just two veils—health and wealth—all other veils come from these. " -Rumi
Hope to hear more of you here. A thorough pleasure!
Satisfaction is the goal. Creation in a process for achieving that goal.
Creation for the sake of creation (art for the sake of art) is empty shadow play. But when done with undivided devotion, creation is a path to satisfaction. The result of such a meditation is art.
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