A warning to creatives
The ethos of our day extols the power of platform, scale and influence. But to what end?
Is it about blessing others? Or about establishing oneself?
Platform size is easy to calculate, but belies the reality your audience is always and only one.
It’s the one person reading this, seeing your painting, watching your show. It is always and only a singular conversation - the one mind you are speaking to right now.
As a creator, it is easy to dream of acclaim and fame.
But why? Is it about impact or more likely, validation?
Audience size is like a blanket perpetually too small to cover uncertainty, insecurity, and existential angina. Creativity deployed to validate the self is a cruel master.
It is subject to the fickle whims of audience and critic, leaving you worse off than where you began.
It will rob you of your ability to create, instead forcing you to adapt to the voices of the audience itself.
Instead, pursue the beautiful, the true, the good in the creative act. Speak as best as you can to the one. The many will take care of themselves.