The Artist's Way

Some of you are thinking, “If it were that easy to take an
action, I wouldn’t be reading this book.” Those of us who
get bogged down by fear before action are usually being
sabotaged by an older enemy, shame. Shame is a controlling
device. Shaming someone is an attempt to prevent the
person from behaving in a way that embarrasses us.
Making a piece of art may feel a lot like telling a family
secret. Secret telling, by its very nature, involves shame and
fear. It asks the question “What will they think of me once
they know this?” This is a frightening question, particularly
if we have ever been made to feel ashamed for our
curiosities and explorations—social, sexual, spiritual.
“How dare you?” angry adults often rage at an innocent
child who has stumbled onto a family secret. (How dare you
open your mother’s jewelry box? How dare you open your
father’s desk drawer? How dare you open the bedroom
door? How dare you go down in the cellar, up in the attic,
into some dark place where we hide those things we don’t
want you to know?)
The act of making art exposes a society to itself. Art
brings things to light. It illuminates us. It sheds light on our
lingering darkness. It casts a beam into the heart of our own
darkness and says, “See?”
When people do not want to see something, they get mad
at the one who shows them. They kill the messenger. A
child from an alcoholic home gets into trouble scholastically
or sexually. The family is flagged as being troubled. The
child is made to feel shame for bringing shame to the