The human experience can be one full of horror and tragedy, as can easily be see

n by flicking through the news channels; earth quakes, tsunamis and nuclear disa
ster in Japan, famine and AIDS epidemic in Africa, religious genocide and persec
ution in the middle east, the conversion of vast stretches of wild habitat into
natural resource refineries, the exponential extinction of species, the toxifica
tion of our soils and water sources, the death of untold millions in Darfur and
countless other catastrophes. Morbidly watching these travesties night after ni
ght in front of my flickering blue screen, I can't help but become consumed by d
ownheartedness. My thoughts quickly spiraled out of control... What good are th
e scribblings of a painter, the musings of a poet or the improvisations of a mus
ician when our world is increasingly saturated by suffering souls and tragedy?
There are helpless victims out there that need our help. They need clothes, the
y need food, they need doctors, they need shelter and yet here I am, day after d
ay, expending great sums of energy writing music, conjuring images with paint an
d trying to rhyme words. Isn't it all just a sweeping waste of time and energy
that could so much more effectively be toward helping those in need?...
Soon enough I found myself in that place all artists have become ever so familia
r with - the path way to the "dark night of the soul." It is a place where one
comes to resent his art. Where he entirely discounts his creative talents and t
he usefulness of all artistry. But on the other side of that dark night lies a
place of deep conviction. I say this not out of blind optimism but out of real
experience. After what seemed like an endless "dark night" I've emerged bathed
in hope and conviction with an indelible truth all artists must urgently learn.

Here is that message:

The arts are not important to this world... they are absolutely essential - inte
gral even. Van Clyburn, the world's greatest living pianist once said that "The
artist is a missionary - a solider for beauty." If it is true that we live in
a world increasingly full of ugliness (which is hard for any aware person to den
y), then the greatest warriors we have available are our artists. Should we for
sake our arts, the magnitude of the loss would be incalculable - extinguishing t
he very concept of beauty itself. While many of us are unable to give money or
shelter or clothing - we CAN give sympathy, empathy, and compassion - not simply
by feeling it while watching the news, but through the waging war against the s
hadows of this life. And what shall we use as our weapons? Swords? Guns? Bombs
? No - paint brushes, pianos, grande jetes, typewriters, welding irons, clarine
ts, spray cans, easels, pencils, pirouettes, manuscript paper, colors, sounds, t
extures - we have an infinite arsenal of weapons of mass expression. And with t
hem, what we CAN give is of infinite value - it is an articulation of the human
experience through our chosen mediums. Out of darkness and destruction the arti
st is the one who can bring creation and beauty. While the RedCross can heal th
e body and provide so many of those necessary things we are unable to as individ
uals - it is the artist that can heal the soul... For the artists and shamans ar
e one - healers and priests - rectifiers of aesthetic gone askew - restorers of
the human soul. Without the compassionate expression of the human condition thr
ough the arts - humanity will inevitably loose site of the ultimate beauty that
is the fabric of life itself. Evidence of this can easily be seen when comparin
g countries where the arts of treated differently. In China, where the arts hav
e been systematically condemned and persecuted for nearly a century as a matter
of communist policy, the people are extremely depressed, utterly defeated and re
pressed to a point of absolute resignation. But, in a places like Italy, France
, Denmark, and may others, where the arts are not only supported but praised - w
orshiped even- the people have an attitude of unstoppable optimism and jubilance
for life. These people may experience great tragedies but, armed with a cultur
e richly immersed in the arts and creative traditions, their spirit is incredibl
y resilient. The choice is crystal clear - so clear in fact that there is no ch
oice at all - instead, it is an imperative. An imperative to create and to shar
e.
So, all you artists doubting the value of your given talents and gifts - keep in
mind that you have an obligation. You are doctors on call - shamans charged in
leading man kind in giving the highest and most sacred offering possible - the
compassionate and sympathetic expression of the human condition.
Create and Share.