The Commitment of Writing

I am no writer. But I love writing. Since always. The only obstacle are my insecurities about how good I am at it. I also take very seriously the necessity of a piece of creation to be shared with others, rather than just myself. What’s the purpose? I often ask this question. God forbid I waste anyone’s time with my nonsense and self-talk.

In my own personal journey of contemplating art and forms of expression from others, I realized that the form and shape do not matter. It matters where it came from. The social context matters. What made that human to reach that moment in time and space of their existence? The story telling. That’s what fascinates me about art.

So, to come to terms to the things that I produce, I need to objectively access my own story, and understand where I’m coming from. To objectively do so, I would like to state commitment and values.

This is a process of work on myself, to get to know myself. And sometimes, face my fears, because I believe that is a healthy practice. Ultimately, I am the only person I can fully know and be responsible for.

My commitment is to the learning process. That’s probably what I enjoy the most. And by learning, I mean the very quiet and soft place I feel transported to when I’m absorbing something new about the universe that surrounds me. I’m not talking about collecting information and vomiting whenever I find a soul willing to listen (I apologize). And I do not mean to be rough on myself here. I just want to bring a bit (or a lot) of humor to the fact the I do think I know a lot sometimes.

The learning that fulfills me is like a puzzle game. A lifelong puzzle. Each piece of information I get, adds to the infinite complexity of the universe. The destination is being in complete awe and humbled by our mere capacity to exist, and to be questioning Nature.

The value of non-violence. Ahimsa, as I learned from the tradition of Yoga, to be the first precept to live a peaceful life in our hearts and mind. Note, it does not mean to live a peaceful life on the outside. That’s beyond our control. It does happen that, as we cultivate these qualities inside, there’s a tendency for change to occur on the outside. But still, there will be war, death, disease and violence in this existence, as we know it.

The exercise of practicing non-violent writing, and yet, having fierce discrimination and courage to engage with our current reality, by questioning it and by doing everything I can to decrease suffering and ignorance. That’s the exercise I’m looking for with my writing.

The dynamic process of development of a personality. This is our whole lives. Environment and experiences shaping our self-identity. I find it an extremely exciting task to challenge myself to solidify these aspects of my personality in art form, as a way of extracting it from myself and looking at it. There it is!!! I created this, and yet, I am not this. I’m always a millisecond ahead of the creation. Maybe I already don’t like that or think that anymore. Transmutation occurs. The fear of being labeled may become a humorous realization that the cage never existed. We fear the cage. But there is no cage.

This is an offer of work on myself. Filled with selfishness. Let’s be real. But a constant and sincere willingness to serve in the best way I can. I hope it helps. If not, you can simply look away.