Obedience is an unpopular word nowadays, but the artist must be obedient to the work, whether it be a symphony, a painting, or a story for a small child. I believe that each work of art, whether it is a work of great genius or something very small, comes to the artist and says, "Here I am. Enflesh me. Give birth to me." And the artist either says, "My soul doth magnify the Lord," and willingly becomes the bearer of the work, or refuses; but the obedient response is not necessarily a conscious one, and not everyone has the humble, courageous obedience of Mary.
As for Mary, she was little more than a child when the angel came to her; she had not lost her child's creative acceptance of the realities moving on the other side o the everyday world. We lose our ability to see angels as we grow older, and that is a tragic loss.
Madeleine L'Engle, Walking on Water
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Well Said: Obedience and the artist
Still out of town and still quoting Madeleine L'Engle.
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Well Said
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