An Exquisite Balance

Perspectives from The Artist's Road

Inspiration Photo by John Hulsey

The sensitivity that is at the core of being an artist is both a blessing and a curse. The paradox seems to be in how to maintain and nurture it while at the same time developing the necessary hardness to protect oneself from the bumps and bruises of life. It is good to refresh ourselves from the reading of other artists’ words. Here is a favorite:

The wonderful poet, William Stafford, said in an interview, “I think what I’m trying to locate is that condition of a being who has not been distorted from the receptive, accurate encounter with experience. It’s possible to overlearn fear or overlearn confidence. The conditions of life are such that they make survival depend on the organism’s ability to come back level again and be ready for the conditions of life as they are on the earth. . . . An individual’s intellect and emotions should be like a good seismograph: sensitive enough to register what happens but strong e…