Are You Blind to the Beauty You Create?

A myth of an artist

The Myth

A long time ago, when the land was still dirt, and the sky was still blue, a restless mind created mysterious markings on the ground beneath their feet, attempting to quell the unrest they felt.

At first glance, this meant nothing to them, just another track in the dirt for their mind to follow.

Looking down again at the distinct marks they made, something stirred inside, unfamiliar, yet gave them focus, away from their restlessness.

To the left of them, they noticed some rocks. As they went to collect them, the unknown feeling they felt confirmed itself as inspiration as they began to move with haste, placing the rocks down next to a few twigs and tinder.

Then, the “magic” happened, with the salient glow of the fire illuminating the markings, a deep evoking emotion occurred amid that final glance.

Astounded at this, they frantically created more markings, adding different objects they found to try and recreate that confusing yet peaceful emotion, but sadly, to no avail, they just couldn’t reproduce what they felt that first time.

As they continued this pursuit, frustration and despair started to grow and over time, made them blind to all the beauty they were creating.

After a while, they began to retreat inward and isolate themselves from the rest of their community, fixated on chasing this magical feeling, eventually becoming a recluse.

Soon after this, the community bestowed the label of ‘crazy’ upon them as no one could understand, why or what was driving them to do this.

The Legend

Many years later people would walk through that part of the community which was now a vast maze of mounds, markings, and small sculptures perfectly positioned and elegantly intertwined with the un-kept vegetation.

Almost everyone that would pass through would eventually pay homage and visit. The place stirred their emotions, in that same provoking way that was felt all those years ago by the artist.

The concept of art was born…

Well okay, it wasn’t. It’s just a tale, which very loosely attempts to capture the “stereotypical” birth and journey of an artist, highlighting the somewhat tragic balance of joy, anguish, and passion we lock ourselves in while bringing to life the “beauty we create”.

It’s almost meta-ish.