The Art of Life/The Life of Art
All we’re exposed to, from early childhood onward, is constructing our perspective on reality and will push us forward at unequal speeds. I like to believe most of us will be brought to the fortunes life has to offer-health, money, fulfillment, education, love, happiness-albeit we’ll have to sacrifice at least one of these fortunes for another along the journey. What ends up getting sacrificed depends on the realities we choose to live in. The number of realities/mindsets grow into a seemingly infinite list but can be reduced to just two categories. They’ll become constructive and wearing at different points for those who live The Art of Life or The Life of Art.
The Art of Life
The individuals living The Art of Life watch and learn from their predecessors and peers picking up on their mistakes, learning how the world functions. If the safe route is to go to school and obtain a degree, they’re already enrolled. They fill out job applications, work for a great organization and devise textbook strategies for promotions climbing the corporate latter. They’ll likely keep to investing and saving making plans to grow their wealth. Practicing The Art of Life will produce an experienced performer and it’ll show with rewards, recognition, and a steady cash flow. These individuals may own a business though expect this business to follow the blueprints of preceding organizations and not leave a lasting imprint on society, e.g. the neighborhood coffeeshop as opposed to Starbucks. They experience the world the way the world-by society’s standards-wants to be experienced.
The Life of Art
Those living The Life of Art are the creators-those in pursuit of living life as a bestselling author, musician, actor, or filmmaker. Like their counterparts, they may open a business though this startup might challenge Google in creating a new search engine; make a new smart phone that can rival Apple; construct a new payment system making credit cards obsolete. If you plan on making this jump, budget at least 10 years, (in some cases, 20–30), of your life for suffering-working without compensation, being unnoticed and unappreciated for your contributions. There’s no guarantee for shelter or a warm meal. The necessities of life are not seen as a priority. While these individuals can project their goals, they cannot see through the fog separating them from point A and B. If they could view what stands in between-the embarrassment, heartbreak, loneliness, being prone to depression and addictions-they, like most of us, would turn around and follow The Art of Life. The trade off is, however, The Life of Art will bring you more joy, (albeit at the cost of more pain), than most can imagine. These individuals unconsciously work for, not income, but outcome. Those living The Life of Art love what they do and discover how fulfilling it is to make something that will outlive themselves, to make a difference in the world.
There should be no such debate assigning either mindset with right and wrong as its all based in perspective. Both mindsets commence at opposing points-one with an easy road ahead to start, and the other, a more difficult one. But in time-expect years-you’ll witness The Life of Art’s path become smoother as The Art of Life potentially becomes weighed down with regret. Hence why those living The Art of Life may become envious of their counterparts. The hard road often becomes easier and the easy road often becomes harder. Those living The Life of Art-though not being able to verify their endpoint-will keep on their path and not sacrifice their purpose that is usually the price of comfort and those living The Art of Life will never sacrifice their comfort for a life of suffering that is usually the price of genius.
Originally published at https://www.jonathan-bingham.com on March 30, 2021.
