I recently finished rereading The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. I’d first gotten it a couple of years ago on the recommendation of a friend, and enjoyed it at that time. But not long ago, I was doing tidying-up and it surfaced again as I was moving some books. I thought, “Well, why not reread it?” So I did, and I’m glad I did. It has reinspired me about my own work.
Much of what Pressfield has to say addresses the way creative people resist their own creative impulses — everything we let get in the way of “doing our job.” It is so much worth reading and rereading that I need to post a review of the book with my other reviews of books on writing.
But in the meantime, I want to quote the last page of this book – to inspire, encourage (and maybe scold for procrastination) myself and anyone else engaged in creative endeavors.
The Artist’s Life
Are you a born writer? Were you put on earth to be a painter, a scientist, an apostle of peace? In the end the question can only be answered by action.
Do it or don’t do it.
It may help to think of it this way. If you were meant to cure cancer or write a symphony or crack cold fusion and you don’t do it, you not only hurt yourself, even destroy yourself. You hurt your children. You hurt me. You hurt the planet.
You shame the angels who watch over you and you spite the Almighty, who created you and only you with your unique gifts, for the sole purpose of nudging the human race one millimeter farther along its path back to God.
Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It’s a gift to the world and every being in it. Don’t cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you’ve got.
(Page 165)
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Of course, the expectation is that we will all work hard to make our art (in whatever form it takes) the very best it can possibly be. Turning out shoddy work would be as shaming to the Almight as turning out no work. But I think all creative people do need the reminder from time to time, that nobody else looks at the world exactly the way each of us does. If we don’t share what we see, we do diminish the world around us.
So… celebrate your vision, do your work, share it with others.
