FURTHER, further.
Further thoughts on comments by Ayn, Tianka, Theresa, Judi, Bedazzled and Tammy.I`m so pleased to see other`s thoughts on this quandry. The subject is so difficult to grasp, even for the esteemed writers that have philosophised about it. As I read my original post, the language seems stilted, too precise. I think I`ve read from some of my favorite bloggers that a true writer labors over the simplicity of his/her words.
To try again, with more humble words, I believe, with Rank, that most people shrink at the knowledge of their mortality. On an unconscious level, the various defenses that define our personalities {Obsessive-Compulsive, Hysterical, Narcissistic, Depressive, Passive-Aggressive, Schizoid, etc.} are the means that a human denies his/her mortality, denies his/her animalness. For most of us, life goes on day to day, familiar, comfortable. Of course, at times we all face hardship and misfortune. It is at these times that we shrink further into our personalities, our defenses becoming more pronounced. We may even reach levels of stress such that our usual characterological defenses are not strong enough to alleviate the anxiety, driving us to resort to more primitive defenses. For example, an obsessive will become more paranoid when his/her intellectual defenses fail him/her. This is the usual pattern.
However, be it genetics or life experience, some of us do not as easily repress the anxiety that life presents to an animal that is God-like in his self knowledge. As my commenters have so wisely stated, this anxiety seems "free-floating", it does not ordinarily congeal as death anxiety. Yet, for these people, there seem to be only two ways to alleviate this anxious feeling. One can further constrict their world by expanding the strength of their usual defenses to the point of neuroses or one can try to make sense of their experience through the creative act. Again, even for the artist, these are generally unconscious acts; there is just a need to become.
Finally, for me, all art is equal in its heroism; some is more admired because of the artist`s talent, but I feel equal admiration and love for all of us strivers.
V
posted by V @ 3:03 PM
Comments: 11
