An Artist's Journey

The mastery of great things comes with the doing of trifles."

                                       Henry Miller

Laura, an established ceramic artist, confronted with a sudden creative block,  began to feel smothered by the very thing that she had loved since childhood, and made a flourishing career of.  She yearned to break free from all the visible/invisible barriers, strike a discordant note, venture out into the expanse of unchartered territories. But, sadly, she had forgotten to let herself go. And just as she thought she had reached that pointless acme in her career, which is every artist's nightmare, a friend told her about a Master in Japan, who might be able to help her.

In no time, having stuffed some clothes in a backpack, Laura had bought herself a ticket and zoomed off to the land of the rising sun,  Shinto, origami, and sushi.

For the first six months, Laura was assigned the arduous job of sweeping and mopping the Master's house, along with cooking and cleaning the kitchen, and doing the laundry. The many chores in and around the house devoured up her whole day... what's more, she was not allowed anywhere near the studio...not allowed to touch the clay, nor to fire the kiln. After what seemed like a lifetime, the Master beckoned her. Inwardly relieved that the long spell of austerity had finally come to an end, she stood before the renowned teacher, waiting with bated breath for the next session of her training to begin. Imagine poor Laura's disbelief and disappointment, when she was asked to continue with her usual chores for three more months. However, every now and then, when and if she found some time, she was granted permission to stand outside the studio and watch from afar the Master and his young students at work. So, that's what my patient friend did, unflinchingly. Confident that the next session of training was bound to give her a free pass to the holy sanctum: the studio, she stood outside, smelling the earthy fragrance of the wet clay, mixing with the fired-up wood in the kiln. Oh, how she ached, and itched, and yearned all this time, to get her hands all dirty.

Three months over, the teacher called her and announced that her training was now over, and she was free to leave. Bewildered by the Master's decision, yet unable to question him, she left, with a heavy heart. Perhaps, she had not been a worthy student after all, and the Master had given up on her. 

Once home, Laura locked herself up in the studio. And lo, nine months of pent up creative energy effortlessly flowed through her soul, inundating her like the miraculous surge of a mighty wave, and finding expression in her new collection of tour de force. Clay was no longer a tool  to assert her inner self...she was. Yes, the artist had consented to be the tool, the instrument, and let the clay enunciate itself through her...

The Master had rightly gauged the origin of Laura's discontent: the ego. And, it was only through the effacement of the ego, could she have freed herself from her own limitations. She needed to understand and appreciate the mundane to explode into the ultimate sublimity of Reality. She needed to surrender, and become an instrument, the chalice to receive the universal Creatrix energy.