325. What Must Be Shared

The artist is someone who notices. In a world that often appears to offer nothing new, the artist sees something that stands out. This special piece of reality has escaped the attention of others, but the artist sees value in it.

Having discovered value, the artist feels deeply that it must be shared and seen. The beauty of the thing remaining forever unnoticed by others would be too painful for the artist to bear. The artist understands that keeping this gem private would not be to gain something but to suffer a terrible loss.

The beauty that is presently secret calls out to be shared. If it is not shared, it will eat away at the artist, diminishing their ability to function and eventually consuming their entire life. The only way to prevent this terrible outcome is to give the secret away.

The artist then faces a problem. They must find a way to communicate the beauty of the thing to others. This is far from easy, as what is beautiful often cannot be shared directly by pointing to it or describing it in language. In words, it might be nothing at all. The artist has to find a way to transfer the essence of the thing to others, an essence that at once seems too big and too small to fit into any medium.

The only solution is to search for tools and experiment with possibilities. Many of these experiments will be failures, often causing great anguish and possibly even despair. But still the artist will push forward. The power of a beautiful secret is too strong to be diminished by mere failure.

The artist will try and try again until they are successful. Success would mean that the secret has been communicated to others. Even if it takes an entire lifetime, the artist will continue to create artworks that attempt to express what has been noticed and must now be shared.