As I continue working on this Fun a Day proejct, one of the lessons that’s emerging is that of trusting one’s own nature.
In Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Pirsig wrote “You want to know how to paint a perfect painting? It’s easy. Make yourself perfect and then just paint naturally.” There’s certainly nothing perfect about me or about any of my art. But I am an adequate part of the universe. Whatever I do is as natural as the sunset or the flight of a bird. It has its place.
Are these pictures any good? Do my poems have any literary worth? There is a level on which I care about other people’s answers to those questions, sure. But on a deeper level it’s a matter of getting out of the way and letting something as natural as a flower blooming just happen.
So to twist Pirsig: You want to know how to create worthwhile art? Understand that you are a worthwhile part of the universe and then just create naturally.
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