"The amount of eccentricity in a society has generally been proportional to the amount of genius, mental vigor, and moral courage it contained. That so few now dare to be eccentric marks the chief danger of the time."
~John Stuart Mill
and
we have fallen to a strange era, it seems, where politicking has replaced integrity. the affiliation, the cord between names is king.
silence quickly follows.
if artists don't risk being laughed at, shunned, who will? if artists don't speak frankly about injustices, large and small, who will? if artists don't stick to their guns, who will? who will inspire others to investigate this world, unearth the abandoned ethics, search for meaning, create meaning, give us all a reason to fight, and believe that life isn't pointless? if artists can't be brave, who can be?
since the time of the renaissance, it has ceased to be in the job description for an artist to do what they are told. we work for no king other than King Art itself.
i've said it once and i'll say it again because I need to hear it and maybe other artists do to:
integrity is NOT a rear-guard notion.
2 comments:
Angela, I will return for your newest post when I have time and sufficient focus...you have been working hard. "That so few dare to be eccentric..." I am guilty of trying, from time to time, to pass for normal. Hahaha, as if that has ever worked. It may be that we are all crazy cat ladies only instead of a house full of cats, our burlap sacks are stuffed with quirky notions and edgy attitudes and will never be mistaken for anything else. Here is to your courage and the courage we find in our midst.
marylinn, i'd love to know your thoughts on the newest post whenever you have a spare moment. it is a BIGGUN, for sure. ha!
i am very very VERY guilty of trying to pass for normal and the expense has been too great. i am trying to rev up for something way more honest and way more beautiful. :) i hope to find some courage along the way.
<3
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