This is a pretty heavy post for my second ever blog post but this is what’s on my mind today.
Another artist friend of ours has been staying with us this week and as we were having breakfast this morning we were discussing whether or not it is relevant to be full time painters of beauty when the world seems to be crumbling around us. We, like most of the rest of world, have heavy hearts today. Sadly, we are less shocked by terror attacks now but also feel more weighed down by them. We are more depressed and worried about the future of the planet and all its inhabitants. We talked about our desire to DO something in response. However what should we do? Is painting a vacuous endeavor? Should we stop? Is it wrong to focus on joyful things when the world is going mad all around us?
I momentarily felt a twinge of guilt that I quit working in cyber security. Yet as proud as I am of the years I have spent in service to others, most of those years were fueled by the desire to do what I thought I could and should do instead of what brought me joy. Exhibit A: I painted and played clarinet and oboe throughout my childhood, got a music scholarship to attend college and then ended up on the other end with degrees in accounting and computer science because my wonderful rational brain told me it was the responsible thing to do. Eventually it became clear that I wasn’t going to save the world. Instead I was depleting my own soul with every passing year of inauthenticity.
So I humbly offer this – People who are authentic to their soul’s calling are peaceful. I don’t know how to stop terrorism. Frankly right now I don’t think anyone knows. However I believe that the best way for me to contribute to the universal peace of the world is to paint because it brings me peace and when I am peaceful, that positively affects my surroundings far more than teaching someone how to secure their phone.
I have no desire to tell other people what they should do but I can’t help but think that if everyone were doing what brought them peace – if a feeling of peacefulness magically fell over every soul on earth, this would be a very different place to live.