The art within

“Only art experienced within, in which the personality plays a creative role can be of interest …To achieve this, those of you who are not already in this sense dead, must die an expiatory death of all superficiality, of all that you have already learnt, of all encumbrances and of all that is false. Then, like a seeker, you must go softly down into the darkness of your inmost being, where you were as a child and listen to the whispering of your desires and yearnings; become once more like a child, a tree, a flower,—genuine, pure, filled with abundant life. And when, full of reverence to God within you, you are still and lay your ear to the primeval rock to listen to the mysterious note that sounds through all creation. He will kindle in you the sacred fire of that imagination which draws power from your own being and nature. And if you are both humble and strong, then you will see into the realm of your inmost self, the realm of pure things, strength, too, you will find, greatness, beauty itself and sorrow also, tenderness and transfiguration. …You will become a creator.”

– Edwin Fisher, pianist

Cited at: Crisis Magazine (accessed 12 July 2012)

 


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