Paul Atreides in DUNE caught fractures of a dream...
of a planet he had never been on before.
Something in spiritual realm was drawing him to Arakkis…
where he would soon encounter an initiation beyond his most terrifying and wildest visions.
His life was turned upside down, but it was the path laid out before him...
and he answered the call.
For those creatives who want to make something with real impact...
This your Artist’s journey
Every time I have set out to make a film, write a script, an album…
I sense hints of the destination on the edge of my horizon. I must move forward towards that vision until the reality of it forms step by step.
It gets deeper into the nature of myself, and what personal issues are keeping me from walking through this new initiation.
The artist delays discovering their identity when they avoid stepping onto their personal Arrakis (Dune).
Fear must be overcome.
The fear of exposing your soul for the world to see.
The fear of failing. The fear of succeeding.
The fear of letting go of an old identity.
This hero’s quest invites the artist into a more expansive development of their being.
We have an idea… and it emerges from our heart and from our psyche.
I often will get the name of a song or even an unseen frequency I feel before I ever play a note. I get an emotional or energetic imprint, or sometimes a simple visual that instigates my journey towards the uncovering of that project.
C.S. Lewis did this when he started the Narnia books. He was obsessing about an image of a fawn playing in the snow around a lamppost. That simple spark led to a beloved series of classic fantasy books.
David Lynch talks about how he merely saw an image of severed ear in a field, which led his curiosity into the visionary creation of Blue Velvet.
Some of the most profound ideas arrive to the artist when we are spiritually open.
Joseph Campbell and Carl Jung talk about the images of the Collective Consciousness find its voice through lasting art. There are universal images and themes that repeat themselves throughout various times and cultures.
We need to be spiritually in tune with this space to truly develop a project that can provide a profound impact with our art.
“We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us.” - Joseph Campbell
You may be writing the story of your protagonist, but you are likewise beginning to embark on your own voyage to walk through the tests and trials of the soul.
Not only to create the art, but to embody it as well.
I have seen so many individuals lost in the dream.
Staring off to the horizon and talking about their amazing ideas…
never actually creating the art that’s trapped inside. . .
Why?
Because the spiritual and personal calling upon them is too much to bear.
They want to fantasize of being their hero, but they haven’t walked the path yet…
they are too afraid to step forward.
so they remain as the villager who stays behind.
Nothing to lose… and nothing to gain.
To create your art as an expression of the soul demands transformation, or the art will be unearned and fraudulent.
These spiritual energies are embedded into every stroke of the pen, every hue, and note and cannot be cheated.
It’s either authentic or it’s not, and that is the invisible language that art speaks into our souls.
If you have been holding back on releasing your album, writing your book, shooting your film, playing a live show, ask yourself if you are willing to walk the path of your protagonist?
Will you answer the call forward into your initiation?
You may become MORE than imagination.
“I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past,
I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone, there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.”
Frank Herbert, Dune