We have to face a breaking point. That is the truth. We have to face a huge abyss where there is nothing but nothing. We stare at the darkness and call out but only a distant echo of our voice is heard. Our dream will lead us to this.
The good news is that the dawning of every great idea or personal story had to come to this breaking point. It has to come to a point of utter exhaustion, overwhelming doubt, and chronic confusion. What do we do next? How will this work?
These questions reverberate in the void. At those breaking moments they come back completely unanswered. We get and got nothing. Our willingness to go for it and invest into a future reality has led us to no return and perhaps only a loss.
This is the fertile ground. Most people at these critical junctures quit. They assume it is a dead end. They misinterpret. This is not the end, it is a pivot point. Through this void is the meaning and transcend we desire. But not without the break.
At these moments the artist must trust his gift. There is a destination. There is a story being told and we are not at the end. Work through the break. Create. Use the pain to tell more stories. Write some purely therapeutic work no one ever sees.
Don’t quit. When you can’t believe, trust. Listen to the ones around you who know the special something about your gift. Don’t try to figure it out. You won’t. Such things are not to be “figured” anyway. They are portals for us.
They are entry points into a world of imagination and freedom. They are doors that are simply opened for us. We do not open them. We simply walk in as a kid and found a door open and walked in. What we found there was magical.
It still is. Trust. It still is magical. The frustration is not definitive. It is temporary. What you found there is real! The time you had there really happened. The joy you experienced there is something the rest of us need. Find your joy!
These glimpses into the other world may be more real than anything else we experience. That is in part why they translate to the people. They find in them (through whatever mediums they happen to come in) real hope.
Beauty is certainly an apologetic in that way, an artists prophets. The task of getting people to slow down, to really look, to consider, to wonder, to awe, is a task no less from heaven than any other religious or civil duty. They are essential.
We get to assist people to see the world inside the world. There is more to life than merely what is seen. There are undercurrents of a world without end, the seeds of a government that can and will establish world peace.
Giving peace a chance starts now, starts here, and is celebrated in art and music. Peace really is a better way. We must do our part but certainly there is a divine part to be played. We are one little but essential piece of the peace train.