Birdsong – Art:

If This Card Chooses You – Your Soul Cries Out for Definition –
Birds gotta sing. It’s who they are. Do you dream of artistic products – paintings, sculpture, film – or artistic endeavors such as performance and construction? Do you get ideas for fresh pieces and experience exciting nonconformist thinking that seem to evaporate upon waking?

Some of Us Are Warriors for Art – Art is the judge of our poetic confrontation with the world, the cure and the cause. It is also our prime avenue for non-verbal healing. Only non-verbal healing can address pain that can’t be quantified.

The Warrior Soul Cries Out – Your inner self is signaling to you that it is time for you to access another language – art – and become expert in its terms, and to start inventing terms of your own. Only art can establish the secure connection with others required to nourish you now.

You Are An Artist Whether You Like It Or Not – Every single one of us chooses mode and objects of expression, consciously or unconsciously, every single day. We buy one object over another because it gives us pleasure; we arrange our living spaces to express some intangible quality about ourselves – a self-definition that signals to others who we are and where we are on our journey.

Welcome to the Art Warriors – Art demands individuality. We begin by copying but we must move on to expressing our uniqueness or our soul won’t evolve. If we are happy being part of an unthinking mass we are truly “unborn.” This exploration will grant you a deep peace about being alone with yourself, a strong confidence in who you really are and a feeling of spiritual value.

New Battles to Fight – This journey is awkward at first, and in other people’s eyes it may remain awkward forever. Why wouldn’t you copy what’s popular? Why not mimic the uncontroversially successful? The problem is, while you are doing that the core of your self-hood is dying like an unwatered plant. And if your soul is dying, you are dying. Also, being bullied by the “art enforcers” is not what warriors are about.

Sometimes We Bully Ourselves Worse – Perfection is not the answer – it is the enemy. Remember – we flee stagnation. Our soul’s “perfecting” never reaches an end – that’s the definition of immortality. Constantly shaming yourself as a no-talent, pretending poseur is horrifyingly destructive to your precious infant specialness struggling for life.

Make a resolution to start supporting yourself. The fact that a work is unsuccessful, even a horrific mess, doesn’t mean it isn’t an advance for your vision, insight and style. These are the building blocks of creation. Don’t get hung up on approval. You need teachers, not fans. Read The War of Art by Steven Pressfield.

Models & Mentors – “Creativity takes courage” – Henri Matisse

“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see” – Henry David Thoreau

“The only thing worse than being blind is having sight without vision” – Helen Keller

“You were born an original, don’t die a copy” – Jon Mason

“Life beats down and crushes the art in your soul to remind you that you have one” – Stella Adler

#Haiku: Disclaimer

I don’t write haiku
They write me
Jaw slack
Eyes closed
Ego playing
Dead