Monday Musing, 2/18/19

Hello Apprentices--

Three cookies for you this muggy February Monday.

First, one of my favorite quotes, from noted novelist and theologian Frederick Buechner (to whom I once wrote a fan letter, and he wrote back!!)…

“Doubt is the ants in the pants of faith.”

Likewise, cookie 2, from Robert Hughes, presses home this idea that unimpeachable knowledge is in any way something to be pursued.

As soon as something is SET, as soon as any idea becomes entrenched, as soon as doubt becomes the enemy… stagnation begins to creep.

If your faith, or your art, or your politics, are intractable, are unable to be challenged, are unable to be questioned… what does that actually say about said faith, or art, or belief? It says, that on a deep level where most of us don’t like to visit,  we don’t trust that the truth can hold up to scrutiny. Which begs the question… is that truth truly true?

​Stagnation leads to rot. In rehearsal. In performance. In relationships. In beliefs.

​DOUBT… lets in air. Allows water and sun to filter. Creates room for growth and discovery of newer/better/deeper truths. The ants in the pants metaphor is so hilariously simple and apt. Ya gotta keep moving, keep jiving, keep looking for ways to encounter each doubt, so that your belief and your art can be stronger, more supple, more earned, more vital.

Perfect confidence ends up shackling you, so that you can reach no further, and move no further forward Which brings us to cookie 3. 

Doubt need not be debilitating. Doubt is not “paralysis by analysis.” Doubt is actually the rich soil from which blooms your courage, because moving forward—even if you aren’t entirely sure of how you’re going to get there (which is basically a description of every rehearsal process)—is all that is ultimately required of the artist. Not genius. Not brilliant insight. Just moving the body of work forward, in spite of your doubt.

Move forward this week.