Who's Got Your Power?

Today I got my twice-weekly newsletter from Robert Gens (sign up here: http://painterskeys.com/subscribe/, it's free) and he tackles the issue of artistic power- thought some of you might find this interesting because it touches on the struggles we all have and who we blame for our problems. He's right on- read it carefully! Then read it again.

The need for power may be at the root of some creative lives.
Many artists have told me art gives them a purchase on the
universe and their reason for being. Like me, in childhood they
often found themselves unable to compete in more socially
acceptable ways. Art gave them a place to be. And just as
art-power is discovered and developed in youth, it can be lost
or discarded in later life. Some see a conspiracy against
themselves--parents, teachers, spouses, peers, rivals. Whatever
the reason, the power and the glory wander away and are lost.
Julia Cameron, who has an excellent understanding of this
dialectic, states: "When we are angry or depressed in our
creativity, we have misplaced our power. We have allowed
someone else to determine our worth, and then we are angry at
being undervalued."

With a philosophical attitude, a great deal of latent anger can
be neutralized. A better illusion is imagined and put into
force to replace a poorer one. Leopards can change their
spots--and they can change them again and again. The good news
is that the success ratio for creative people is high because
we are already in the business of illusion. Psychotherapist
Anthony de Mello puts the responsibility squarely where it
belongs: "It's an illusion that external events have the power
to hurt you, that other people have the power to hurt you. They
don't. It's you who gives this power to them."