There is so much in the world to lament. Suffering of all kinds, unnecessary selfishness, unbridled greed, poverty and disease. Artists with sensitive souls often watch all this and feel a strong pull to “do something”. What can we do?
There are many great causes. Artists of all kinds have devoted their time, money and energy to excellent organizations to make a difference. The famous can start foundations or charities, the not-so-famous (which is most of us) can do benefit concerts, teach pro-bono, and reach out into our communities to offer ourselves and our art, to raise money and consciousness, to uplift.
The power that drives all this toward the good is love. Love is that which allows us to give for the sake of others. Love is the energy that fills us with gratitude and grace, and allows us to share that outpouring through music. If the world would sing, dance, play and create art instead of doing all the other things it does to cause harm, how different things would be!
Love is also what makes us want to be “the best”. It’s what pushes us to strive to improve, to overcome, to expand, to grow. It is what allows us to appreciate other artists’ contributions, and to receive what they do with joy and satisfaction. It gives us courage to keep creating, go on with our path, re-dedicate ourselves to the purpose of opening ourselves to the next discovery or facing the next failure with dignity and humility. Love is what makes us see the sweetness of life, the beauty all around us that gets lost sometimes in all the bad news that comes at us every day. Love lets us fly. It keeps us from feeling “less than” other artists who might want to do something different or who seem to be “more successful”. How can we compare ourselves to others? Each artist is always totally unique.
If you can find the love in what you do, if you can sing love in any form, if singing is what you love and you love to make music, what you are doing is connecting with the force that is at the essence of all that is. Sound. In the beginning, there was sound. Maybe it was the Big Bang. Maybe it was the Divine speaking, “Let there be light”. Maybe it’s you, practicing for your next lesson or gig.
Never lose track of why you are here………the name of that reason is L O V E.