examining. The success of a creative recovery hinges on our
ability to move out of the head and into action. This brings
us squarely to risk. Most of us are practiced at talking
ourselves out of risk. We are skilled speculators on the
probable pain of self-exposure.
Living is a form of not being sure,
not knowing what next or how.
The moment you know how, you
begin to die a little. The artist
never entirely knows. We guess.
We may be wrong, but we take
leap after leap in the dark.
AGNES DE MILLE“I’ll look like an idiot,” we say, conjuring images of our
first acting class, our first hobbled short story, our terrible
drawings. Part of the game here is lining up the masters and
measuring our baby steps against their perfected craft. We
don’t compare our student films to George Lucas’s student
films. Instead, we compare them to Star Wars.
We deny that in order to do something well we must first
be willing to do it badly. Instead, we opt for setting our
limits at the point where we feel assured of success. Living
within these bounds, we may feel stifled, smothered,
despairing, bored. But, yes, we do feel safe. And safety is a
very expensive illusion.