Recently, someone confided in me that they didn’t know whether they were an artist, or not.

Apparently, this question plagues many who would aspire to a life worth living as a creator. Here is a brief excerpt from my book, An Artist Empowered:

A thought inside your head: Am I an artist?

If you have to ask someone, then projecting insecurity shouts: I dont know. And if you don’t know, you havent found your dharma. Somewhere along your quest you have faltered; you didn’t follow through, which is the undoing of many would-be artists. Its not that opportunity to confirm your gift and purpose didn’t surface; you chose to dismiss it, most likely out of fear and doubt.

I make this assessment based on my experience over many years with a master painter. I had witnessed flocks of so-called artists flit into his studio on the pretense of wanting to learn more about art.

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The other day, someone who knows my paintings and writing asked me about the difference between art and craft.

There is a distinction worth understanding, not for comparison or ego masturbation, but for clarity. When a sun is born in the galactic mist, the primordial matter and energy do not go back for another go at it to see if they can do better—the sun is born fully formed and perfect, ready to take its place in the universe.

Art from the soul is like the new star. When I paint, the flow is spontaneous, permanent, and does not require improvements, tinkering, or fixing when done.

When I write, however, I am in a different realm. I know can improve upon my words and structure for clarity, so it appears fluid to the reader and that it couldn’t have been written any other way. I can craft and tweak the writing until it speaks for me. If you can improve upon it, then it’s craft.

Some years ago, while I was writing An Artist Empowered, I asked Julia Cameron (author of The Artist’s Way) for her take on handling rejection, and all the other garbage that might fall in your path.

She told me the following, which is worth reading and doing as often as necessary.

My personal formula is this: Rejection becomes opportunity when ‘Why me?’ becomes ‘What next?’

Today would have been my dear mother’s 82nd birthday. She is forever in my thoughts. When I had told her about my encounter (noted below, a repost from 2003, and also in my book, An Artist Empowered), she nodded, her face glowing like a schoolgirl, in appreciation with her special sense of understanding.

The Door

I was in a Russian specialty food market looking for a hearty bread.

I went to pay at the cash register, which was near the front door.

As the clerk was putting my bread in a bag and getting my change, an elderly black man and a much younger big Russian fellow arrived at the door at the same moment.

The older man held the door open so the younger could enter the shop.

The Russian man said in a half joking manner and in a heavy accent: “Oh, you are holding door for me because you are doorman?”

Without missing a beat, the smart black man said: “No. I’m holding the door for you because I am a gentleman.”

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If you haven’t read George Orwell’s Animal Farm since high school, college, or never, I encourage you take a little time to peruse this magnificent political fable—which he makes plausible with believable situations and characters. You can also find the full text on the Web.

As Orwell sums up in this timely 1946 novella: All animals are created equal. But some animals are created more equal than others.

You will also note many ideas from this book that he later used and crafted into his other brilliant novel: Nineteen Eighty Four.