My iGoogle page throws big thoughts at me on a daily basis via a Daily Literary Quote gadget. I love it. Somedays it is more profound than others. Some days it seems to speak directly to my day, as though iGoogle Oompa Loompas planned it that way. (They do spy on us, you know.)
Anyhow…here’s today’s quote. My head is hurting just thinking about it. It reminds me of a conversation I had with a friend a while back about art and galleries and all sorts of smart person thinking.
Art is only a means to life, to the life more abundant. It is not in itself the life more abundant. It merely points the way, something which is overlooked not only by the public, but very often by the artist himself. In becoming an end it defeats itself.
Henry Miller
Let’s chew on that for a while. It’s good to think hard sometimes. Think hard, until your head hurts.
I think the part I’m working on in my mind is the third sentence. Then, once I think I get that, I’m not sure the rest of it fits anymore in my mind…I’m looking for help on this one. What are your thoughts? Articulate your thinking for me…
OK. Here’s what I’ve resolved to understand from this — We all get too hung up on “writing a book” or “being a writer” or a musician, or a painter/sculptor/[insert your art of choice here]. We neglect to understand that it is not the art itself that we are desiring, or the title, but the process. I WANT to write — not “I want to write a book”. You WANT to sing/paint/draw, not “I want to sell my CDs/art.” Because, in the end, it is the process that will bring us happiness. It is the thinking and creating that will fulfill us. If we focus ont he end, rather than the means, we will become a machine — cold/heartless/detached from our emotions/ourselves/our roots. This, is what I’ve deduced…and you?