On one of my other blog sites, The Spiritual Visualizer, there has been a series ongoing regarding the Objectivist virtues [as opposed to the Christian and Pagan ones] and how they apply to being an artist... the last, and by far the most controversial, is the one of Pride - and its contrasting with its opposite, Humility... unlike the previous sets of listed virtues, I added a run-down regarding the opposite, humility, showing how it is in fact, contrary to 'conventional wisdom', NOT a virtue but is inimical to the flourishing of being human... further, when discussing pride, pointed out that it has nothing to do with boasting - that indeed, boasting is not an affirmation of pride, but an expression of insecurity of oneself... in each case, it involves the sense of one's worthiness... it does not take much understanding to see how this is involved with, especially, pen and ink artists... far too often it is expressed in how one sees one's own works, or how in the viewing of others' works, the belittlement of being human is [sometimes not so evenly] subtly expressed... most of the time this is due to the artists not understanding the nature of what it is being express, so ingrained by lifelong indoctrination to the idea of humility as being a virtue and pride as the vice....
What does it really mean to practice humility?
To begin with, one must understand that it came out of a worldview which emphasized submission to authority [whether real or imagined], a worldview which supported human domestication [initially from being members of another or outside tribe, thus not considered 'really' human], better known as slavery... little wonder, then, humility has been touted as a virtue for millenia... Humility is defined as 'the quality of having a low estimate of one's importance, worthiness, or merits; marked by the absence of self-assertion or self-exaltation'... remember, 'submission to authority' means to accept someone else's mind as final over one's own - self-abnegation... humility considers this virtuous, even as the consequence of it despairs and inhibits the achievement of self-esteem and to, as consequence, a commitment to self-improvement [because self-improvement requires self-esteem] - it is the conviction that one is doomed to deficiency, which is disabling because it undermines a person's motivation to seek to act as should [ to, in effect, create a false break between a 'could' and an 'ought' to be]... the result would be, then, to 'why bother', since the end would seem to be an assured failure...
It would seem at first glance easy to see a parallel of this to how some artists see their own works and their ability to do better - and so true, as it is one of the most prevalent depreciation effects on rendering, especially among pen and ink artists, as they more than most others have such an adversed perception of their medium's worthiness... keep this in mind when thinking back over productiveness - how it is in the doing that counts, even as the market may not yet gain its appreciation remunerationally... keep in mind, too, this effect in perseverance, the struggle to see more clearly what one is striving to do and why - and yes, why bother...
What, then, of Pride?
What does it really mean to practice humility?
To begin with, one must understand that it came out of a worldview which emphasized submission to authority [whether real or imagined], a worldview which supported human domestication [initially from being members of another or outside tribe, thus not considered 'really' human], better known as slavery... little wonder, then, humility has been touted as a virtue for millenia... Humility is defined as 'the quality of having a low estimate of one's importance, worthiness, or merits; marked by the absence of self-assertion or self-exaltation'... remember, 'submission to authority' means to accept someone else's mind as final over one's own - self-abnegation... humility considers this virtuous, even as the consequence of it despairs and inhibits the achievement of self-esteem and to, as consequence, a commitment to self-improvement [because self-improvement requires self-esteem] - it is the conviction that one is doomed to deficiency, which is disabling because it undermines a person's motivation to seek to act as should [ to, in effect, create a false break between a 'could' and an 'ought' to be]... the result would be, then, to 'why bother', since the end would seem to be an assured failure...
It would seem at first glance easy to see a parallel of this to how some artists see their own works and their ability to do better - and so true, as it is one of the most prevalent depreciation effects on rendering, especially among pen and ink artists, as they more than most others have such an adversed perception of their medium's worthiness... keep this in mind when thinking back over productiveness - how it is in the doing that counts, even as the market may not yet gain its appreciation remunerationally... keep in mind, too, this effect in perseverance, the struggle to see more clearly what one is striving to do and why - and yes, why bother...
What, then, of Pride?
I admit am surprised this hasn't drawn out comments, either that it is 'misrepresenting' humility, or that it is overstating its effects, or some other - or even glad someone pointed this out... interesting, if all those following this are reading it...
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