Given Van Gogh’s feelings for wisdom from the East, it isn’t far-reaching to speculate that he was also exposed to the intuitive serenity of Zen Buddhism and the teachings of Hinduism, including the Law of Non-Attachment.

While it might not have solved all his problems (he had no control over epilepsy, or mental illness), transcendental knowing and not being attached or a slave to the precise outcome of his desires would have most certainly provided him with a healing perspective and a buffer—to whatever degree—from his maladies.

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Holidays often bring about feelings of introspection, which can be a turning point for those willing to risk the unknown.

It is a difficult and demanding thing to find out who you are—your unique voice—in a vast sea of social conditioning where the dominant culture, to stay afloat and in charge, demands more cogs than unique parts, which have no apparent use in powering or steering the machinery, the ship of state.

Our distinctness as artists is our contribution to the collective magic that is life on Earth.

If you aren’t aware of your own self and the responsibility you have for making life work, you risk getting soul wrecked—and, in the end, washing up on the shore of despair alongside the flotsam and jetsam of the disingenuous—those artists who were called but chose not to risk, not to go. 

The shape of each soul is unique. Each person has a destiny to fulfill.

It is up to each person to find out what her dharma mission is and then do it—this is divine fulfillment. Until your soul finds its tenor and direct expression in belonging to your work, there is angst, regardless of how much money you are making.

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Frame the question correctly and you will get the right answer.

Its never should I trust my intuition over reason, logic, or practical considerations. Since intuition is infallible and thinking is not, you have your answer. The question then becomes do you have the courage to live by your intuition.

Remember, many are called; few choose to go. 

From An Artist Empowered:

I write about firsthand experience; secondhand knowledge is what it sounds like. I wouldn’t ask of you what I haven’t done. This approach fosters an effective and enduring medium of communion—also known as trust.

Artists who have maintained unsatisfying beliefs, spurious understandings, and questionable commitments, the time and means for confronting your old decisions has arrived as challenges in this book. 

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