Torchbearing

If the boss asks you to jump, we have been indoctrinated to answer, “How high?”

Another way to think about this is if the boss said walk, you may respond, “How far?”

It’s a silly visualization. To imagine people jumping up and down or walking with no direction.

But the thing that strikes me is this:

We only give what is enough to not get in trouble for a job that we don’t care much about. Even if the destination is pointless. Show me the set of instructions, show me the map, and I will comply. No more, no less.

On the other hand, when we are creating art, you’ll realize rather quickly:

We don’t know what to do because no one is expecting anything out of us. And we are terrified of the space and freedom to decide when no one defines the genre/rules/boundaries for us.

Many of us have a hard time handling this. Which is what makes art so terrifying to begin.

Some people think it’s a call to do art. While you certainly can feel a pull towards one’s vocation, we are way more afraid of the freedom and judgement art creates and call it mystical to avoid the leap to make work that might fail.

What does it say about us if we put our heart and soul into something and not have it work?

To make art is to lead. To take a torch and shine a light in the darkness for others to follow. And if you don’t pick yourself, how are you expected to lead us?