CREATION

Fearless living is going your own way across the river.  It is believing in the ford no one else can see.  Fearless living is walking the tightrope without a net.  It is balancing on a thin line with destruction at either side.  Fearless living is embodied in the prophet, whose voice can only be known as truth after the prediction has come true.

Fearless living is belief.

If you are like me, you may look for supporters before voicing an opinion.  If you are like me, you may imagine the judge's opinion is the truth.  If you are like me, you may think "people like this" is the same as "this is good; or "people agree with me" is the same as "this is right."

Yet, the truly inspired and revolutionary expressions are rarely the result of considered opinions and carefully crafted agreement.  Instead, they are often the result of someone's blind trust.  People revere the music of J.S. Bach and Mozart, but neither composer achieved much acclaim while he lived.  Their music was largely ignored and and rejected.  Nevertheless, both composers believed in the validity of their creative impulses, and it is their notes that somehow transformed and communicated themselves into all European-derived music since.

Rather than supported, arbitrated, and popular, their music was brave.  That raw bravery (or, perhaps, megalomaniacal assurance) is integral to true creation.  There really is no way to know in advance whether a creative expression will be a success.  Creation requires wild guesses, and an acceptance of failure and loss.

So how do I decide that I must speak up and out?  I must create?   I must express?  That requires a belief in my inherent worth that society tells me is unhealthy.  Yet, an artist cannot be constrained by society.  I have to decide to see through and past society to speak truth.  That is the fact about revelation-there really is destruction on either side.  The water may actually be as deep as it seems.  There is no way to know the outcome before it happens.  I simply have to choose whether or not I believe more in myself than I do in the expectations of others.