Monday, August 25, 2008
Sane and healthy or unstable and brilliant?...
...If you were given a choice, and knew you could be a brilliant artist/writer/scientist/songwriter/whatever but it meant you had bouts with depression and anxiety and addiction, or could be totally healthy and overall very sane but could never quite create anything "brilliant", which would it be? (I DO NOT mean to imply that creativity is intrinsically connected with wreckless lifestyles)
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I think they call the choice with completely stable emotions and no dynamic creativity "antidepressants"
Not sure if I'm brilliant, but I wouldn't trade the mood swings and erratic nature for an inability to fully express my inner visions.
So here's one of my favorite quotes:
There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and there is only one of you in all time. This expression is unique, and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium; and be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is, not how it compares with other expression. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is on a queer, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.
-Martha Graham, Dance, Teacher & Choregrapher
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