Georgia O'Keefe

"I decided to start anew — to strip away what I had been taught, to accept as true my own thinking."

— Georgia O'Keefe

American Painter

1887 - 1986

Papaya Tree-Iao Valley
(1939)

By the time we reach adulthood, we have subconsciously learned a lot about the expectations of the people in our lives — our family, our teachers and our friends.  And we often try to live our lives as others want us to live and work.  The problem comes in when we fail to live up to those expectations.  Some people spend unhappy lives trying to please others.  A few creative leaders are able to shake off the expectations of others and discover their true self.  Who are you?  Are you trying to please your family, friends and teachers?  Or have you discovered the person who you are meant to be?  Turning your back on what you were taught can be very difficult.  Letting go of the past can be very traumatic, but if you want to attain the person you were meant to be, you must find your own voice.

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Ernest Hemingway

"We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master."

— Ernest Hemingway

American Novelist

1899 - 1961

This is an amazing statement from a writer whom many would call a master.  I think what Hemingway is saying is that we should never stop learning about our craft.  Even the best of the best can learn something new — can improve their craft.  The task of becoming good never ends.  We are all apprentices — beginners.  We must come to the task of creating each work of art as a beginner would.

Those who believe there is nothing left to learn have stopped growing and will soon be spiritually dead and doomed to a life of repetition.  Life is in the learning.  Life is in the growing.  So don't despair if you don't know everything because you never will.  Don't despair if you haven't perfected your craft.  The joy is in the learning.  The joy is in the discovery of ways to improve your craft.

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A. S. Neill

"Take from others what you want, but never be a disciple of anyone."

— Alexander Sutherland Neill

Scottish Educator, Writer

1883 - 1973

Life is about learning and everyone we encounter, whether in the virtual world or the physical world, has something to teach us, but no one is the master of all knowledge and wisdom.  No one deserves our devotion or discipleship.  We need to each independently investigate truth for ourselves.  We need to come to our own conclusions.  If we choose to blindly follow one person, we have failed ourselves.  We have let ourselves down.

From time to time in my life, I have wished I knew someone who had all the answers and I could sit at his feet and soak in his wisdom.  But I have never encountered that person and I have had to depend on my own thoughts and wisdom.  I have had to learn to investigate what truth is for myself.  And sometimes I make mistakes and sometimes I get it right.

People often feel they need heroes and gurus.  They keep looking for THE answer.  We put people on a pedestal and when we discovered their actions don't match their words, we tear them down.  We punish them for leading us a stray.  What we fail to realize is that there are no perfect people — no wise men sitting on a hill, only fools trying to get by.

As artists and writers, we must be careful not to worship other artists and writers, not to put them on pedestals.  We need to independently investigate what they have to teach and then make our own choices.  Truth is a slippery slope.  What we believe to be true today we may discover tomorrow was an illusion.

For your listening pleasure, here is one of my favorite Beatles song:  Fool on the Hill.

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