Is it wise for us to vulnerably create something through writing, music, art, or other gifts? What if others disagree with our work? What if we’re rejected or even mocked? What if our creative expressions have no impact on other people at all?
The Tao Te Ching invites us to find a balanced point where we can openly express ourselves through our work without becoming attached to the results:
Do your work, then step back.
The only path to serenity…
He who clings to his work
will create nothing that endures.
If you want to accord with the Tao,
just do your job, then let go.
I thought of that passage when I watched a profound video of gifted Ukrainian artist Kseniya Simonova in action. She skillfully moved an audience to tears by wordlessly telling a terrible war story through her ever-shifting “sand animation.” She quickly and deftly lifted, wiped, molded, and even threw handfuls of sand in perfectly timed motions that created a clear story of the horrors of war and the triumph of love. And as each frame of the story was complete, she brushed the completed image away in a moment and smoothly launched the creation of the next image.
She had no attachment to each image that was created and destroyed, created and destroyed. She expressed herself completely – a true force of nature – and then let it go. Her final message was written in the sand to those who were lost: “You are always near.” (Click here to watch her amazing work.)
As you start the new week, may you do your best work with integrity and then let it go!
I loved that sand video!
Me too, Yumi — amazing!!