Think Stop

I find that doing lots is fine, but seeing that one is doing lots is self-defeating. Admitting to oneself that one has lots to do is, for an artist, tantamount to surrender of the immediate fact of what needs to be done, specifically, in particular, now. The analogy is in painting. Imagine if Constable had said to himself (and others) "I am painting Hampstead Heath. My God, it's so big," over and over, wondering in part how to get it done. We would have a painting then of Constable having worried about having to paint Hampstead Heath, instead of what we have, which is very particular, and elegant, and raw, and grand.

So I think consciousness is fine where it does some good, but otherwise it's a waste of time and opportunity. How it does good is pretty clear, where one senses inner conflict and is more or less forced to a fresh perspective. But if all you are doing is going on and on about the burden you bear, well, what good is it? Has any great poetry (or art) come from hand-wringingly tedious averments of narrow capacity? I think not.

So, I am doing some things, and tonight I will do them, and then I will do more. Let's have no more spiritual twistings about projects. Let's not! Let's do, publish, and do more.