SUCCESS

Creativity is a spiritual practice. It is not something that can
be perfected, finished, and set aside. It is my experience that
we reach plateaus of creative attainment only to have a
certain restlessness set in. Yes, we are successful. Yes, we
have made it, but ...
In other words, just when we get there, there disappears.
Dissatisfied with our accomplishments, however lofty, we
are once again confronted with our creative self and its
hungers. The questions we have just laid to rest now rear
their heads again: what are we going to do ... now?
This unfinished quality, this restless appetite for further
exploration, tests us. We are asked to expand in order that
we not contract. Evading this commitment—an evasion that
tempts us all—leads straight to stagnation, discontent,
spiritual discomfort. “Can’t I rest?” we wonder. In a word,
the answer is no.
As artists, we are spiritual sharks. The ruthless truth is that
if we don’t keep moving, we sink to the bottom and die. The
choice is very simple: we can insist on resting on our
laurels, or we can begin anew. The stringent requirement of
a sustained creative life is the humility to start again, to
begin anew.
It is this willingness to once more be a beginner that
distinguishes a creative career. A friend of mine, a master in
his field, finds himself uncomfortably committed years in