The Arrogance of Belonging

The arrogance of belonging is not about egotism or self-absorption.  In a strange way, it's the opposite; it is a divine force that will actually take you out of yourself and allow you to engage more fully with life.  Because often what keeps you from creating living is your self-absorption (your self-doubt, your self-disgust, your self-judgment, your crushing sense of self-protection).    The arrogance of belonging pulls you our of the darkest depths of self-hatred -- not by saying "I am the greatest" but merely by saying "I am here!"
    from Big Magic​: Creative Living Beyond Fear  by Elizabeth Gilbert

The studio is in the midst of a massive wild rumpus.

Many pieces, projects and commissions occurring simultaneously.  None of them done.  All of them in the embarrassing stage where a self-doubting artist couldn't possibly show them, let alone post them in a blog.

​So of course I had to post them.  :)

Works in Process

Gilbert's words with my morning coffee, the day after a long hike and some rather profound introspection and philosophical discussion on a mountain, have me thinking.  Thinking about the threads of connection and words and interactions that create ripples.  Some of those ripples are positive, while others leave a heavy stain the requires a lot of internal scrubbing.  But in this case, Gilbert was influenced by David Whyte, who coined the phrase "the arrogance of belonging" and "claims that it is an absolutely vital privilege to cultivate if you with to interact more vividly with life" (Gilbert paraphrasing Whyte).  And here those very words are, smacking me in the forehead, because interacting more vividly with life is exactly the course I want to sign up for!  Positively sparkling ripples, joining the ripples of dazzling hikes and art rumpuses.  

Vivid might be a wee bit of an understatement.

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​Blogger and blog will take a tiny hiatus for a long weekend and a mini vacation, but will return next Thursday.  In the meantime, Wonder Mike hinted that it has been a long time since there was a reader giveaway!  Post a comment below with your thoughts Gilbert/Whyte's words and how you live creatively, or post a really good recipe using rhubarb. (!!!!) Either way, one lucky commenter will be selected by my studio hound and receive  a copy of The Storyteller's Apprentice  (written by the amazing Dana Kumerow and co-illustrated by me).

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