Artists Let Others Wrestle

When I write, I am sharing a piece of myself. I am sharing the thought processes of my life and the questions I’m asking myself. My tendency is to expect everyone on the receiving end of my words to end up in the same places I end up. I was realizing yesterday just how ridiculous that is. Not everyone is like me. Galatians says we’re all unique. No two will live their life or their faith out the same way. We’re not supposed to.

So then I wondered, then why even write? How can I possibly have anything to offer anyone? My solutions will not be your solutions. The details of my life will not match the details of yours. My heart dropped. My writing is not needed, my art is not necessary.

Then I wondered, what if my art doesn’t need to get others to the solution? What if it just needs to start a ball in motion? What if my words on my blog are just trigger points that people can then take for themselves and wrestle with? What if I don’t actually have to have all the answers to the questions I stir inside of them?

So I posed this question on Twitter & Facebook:

“Does being an artist mean stirring hearts and minds without feeling responsible to resolve what we’ve stirred in them? Do we let others wrestle?“

Two responses really helped me to process. The first from my friend Lori:

“I think the wrestling is part of it becoming art to us. Think of Picasso or Van Gogh…they’re not here to resolve it for us.”

The second response was from my friend Angel. We had some good back and forth conversation on Facebook about it. Her general statement was that we have to trust others to wrestle with things for themselves, trust that they’ll find what they are searching for. (Jesus did say if you seek you will find.) Angel was saying as artists we can’t give others a formula that gets them to an answer that will satisfy more than finding their own answers.

I don’t think it was coincidence that the same day I came across an article for parents. It was saying the best way to teach your child something is to give them the chance to try it out themselves, to practice, to wrestle. Sometimes as parents this means we have to allow our children to try things at which we know they are going to fail. This is terribly difficult because we want to save them and ourselves from the hassle and from the pain. However, if we always just give them the answers and never let them see that those answers hold weight for themselves then it’s much harder for them to take those convictions to heart.

If we don’t get the chance to wrestle and get dirty with who we are and what our life means then we’ll end up living out someone else’s convictions, dreams or guilt.

Artists are moved by something and so we want to share that movement with others. Stuff is stirred in us and our heart aches or leaps, we cry out of overwhelming happiness or we weep out of hurt, we feel like we have come alive or we feel as though we can’t breathe or move because we’re so paralyzed with fear. In some capacity we have been moved, our world has been rocked, and we have an inner need to express that, to share that, to see if it connects with any other human out there. That’s where art is created and then it’s thrown out with this big question mark on it, begging of other, what do you think?

But we as artist do not get to these life-altering moments quickly. Most times art is birthed from a whirling culmination of thoughts and relationships and events and visions and experiences that unfold over time. We, as artists, wrestle our own real lives to the ground and demand something to show for it. And sometimes, if we’re lucky, we emerge with this messy canvas that we dare to call art and humbly hold up over our heads as we risk exposing it to the world. We feel fulfilled because we fought hard for that creation and we came out victorious.

I’ve decided it would be a shame to take away the wrestling from someone else. It would be a shame to tell someone, this is what you must get out of it and this is how you must come to that conclusion.

So I’m learning to throw it all out there. To say here you go, this is me and my life, these are my struggles and my victories and I hope they can help you, inspire you, move you, break you or breathe new life into you in some way. I’m learning to be okay with not knowing exactly how to help you process what is stirred inside you while you’re here.

And perhaps when it comes down to it, all art inspires people to wrestle with God in some capacity. He is the author of creativity, it would make sense that it all points back to Him.

Tagged as: artist, writer