Sherry Chandler wrote a post related to this recently and what struck me most was this:
If, like the monks who pray at Gethsemane to restore balance to the world, I choose to spend my life as an obscure poet, nourishing my own human spirit and with luck a few readers’, then who is to say that is not a worthy thing to do, whether or not I leave an individual mark on the world at large.
Of course! Why I never thought of it this way before, I don't know, given my Catholic upbringing and its orders of secluded nuns. Absolutely, the world needs the sisters (and the secular) who live and work within our communities, but as much of a critic as I can be, I also (need to) believe that the world also needs those secluded nuns sending forth their silent prayers.
On a related note, this weekend my Netflix adventure was disc one of Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth, the long-ago PBS series where Bill Moyers interviewed Campbell, the now-late legendary thinker and teacher. I'm still digesting their discussion and hope to write more about it, but for now I'll focus on the part related to this post. Campbell suggests the artist's function is the mythologization of her environment. This turns everything upside-down for me, in a very good way. For far too long, I've looked at myth as something of the past, something unchangeable. But here's a directive that I, as an artist, am responsible for creating new myths. And, as Campbell points out, the world is in desperate need of new myths that meet the needs of our contemporary society.
Campbell also likens the poet to the shaman of primitive societies, for both share a unique connection to the universe and act as intermediary between the visible world and its invisible plane.
Now, let me be clear, I'm not suggesting I have shaman-esque capabilities or the sanctity of secluded nuns, but Campbell's message and Sherry's post came at one of those times when I was feeling frustrated with the limitations of a poet, the only real role I've felt "called" to do. I guess I'm saying I take my messages of affirmation any way I can get them.
2 comments:
I have often thought that life can be so much about survival, however the artist has the ability to elevate the experience of being human - choose your weapon of paint or pen etc...
Perhaps call it shamans-in-training. Remember the shaman uses myth to heal and maybe in this day, that can be the most healing thing - to slow down and focus and remember that we are human.
Also, when you mention creating new myth, I always think of the Jungian archetypes and how they are so embedded in our brain. For example, there is certainly a HERO archetype, and it is almost always associated with a make figure with a body like Hercules. The HERO in our society seems to be very highly paid. What a shame that we cannot have a SCHOOL TEACHER archetype.
Campbell talked about the Jungian archetypes. I think you'd like the program. It reminded me of you and the talks we had in Madison about Jung and dreams.
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