Chosen by the Muse

Her voice a song.  Her smile the rays of the rising sun.  Chosen her charge from my early days, she has shaped and guided my life.  Chosen.  Exalted by her grace.  Gifted.  Granted command over a thousand worlds and a trillion lives.  I am her servant and her master.

My dad was an artist.  I say was because he shunned the muse, or she he, long ago.  My earliest memories of are of watching my dad paint.  I never had a reason to doubt that the hand of man could create wondrous things.  I grew up in the presence of artistic genius and, even though my dad left all that behind to lament the limits of his reach in this world, I was introduced to my Muse before I could even walk.

How strange is our relationship.  She was mother and teacher.  Friend and lover as I grew older.  Ally, adversary, enemy.  Wanton, wicked, willing, witch.  Stubborn, still, stagnant, stygian.  Fertile, fantastic, fabulous, fruitful.  Unnecessary and vital at once.

How are we artists different from others?  You feel it, don’t you?  You are set apart from so many others by your talents.  You sometimes stand above them because of your ambition.  Some will love you for this.  Others will hate you.  So many want to see you fail.  There are those who have flirted with the muse though.  There are those who haven’t the talent to create but they are inspired by the worlds and works of the creative.

Life is hard, harsh and cruel.  We have so many responsibilities and obligations and so rarely is life what we hoped it would be.  Humans need diversion.  We need the things that speak to the soul, to uplift, to allow us to relate to one another.  Music, literature, art--those things that make use passionate.  Sports, holidays, festivals.  The muse is at the heart of all these things. 

And we?  The creatives?  We are chosen to continually create those things that help people to keep on living.  Is it that dramatic?  Yes, I think so.  People talk about politics and religion with stress and fear.  They talk about a new movie with smiles and a light heart.  Songs bring people together without a word spoken just to move their bodies in celebration of that shared experience that touches and connects their souls.  They talk about the book that changed their life forever and when they find someone else that fell in love with that character, as they did, they are thrilled on a level that few things could touch.

We are chosen by the muse, gifted with talent and the ability to acquire skills that will change the lives of others.  Be proud of what you are and wear that like a badge of honor.  And never forget, my friend, my brother or sister of the pen, that with your talent comes a responsibility to use it.  It might take you years to complete that novel.  It may seem like an uphill struggle but some day, your words will impact someone in a way that you’ve yet to imagine.  And perhaps they will hear the voice of the Muse through your work and awaken to this amazing world in which we chosen walk and breathe.

Listening to: Eva Cassidy- Time After Time