Archive for the ‘ego’ tag
Art, Ego , and Buddhism … 2 comments
When I was younger I went to art school, twice. Once to an obscure school in the backwoods of Pittsburgh and the other was a four year university in the backwoods of the Bay Area. In any case, besides studying art and photography, I studied languages, African dance and drumming and started my lifelong studies of Buddhism.
One of the main teachings one experiences as an art student is the strengthening of the ego. Art school is fond of ego building and self-centeredness. I am is everything.
One of the main teachings one experiences as a student of buddhism is the diminishment of ego. Buddhism is fond of the elimination of ego and self-centeredness. You are is everything.
This has been a big source of conflict for me as an adult person who is constantly in the state of reorganizing and merging my art and spritual life. There have been times where I have felt very strongly about not budging on my ego. I am everything. The best. The brightest. The whatever. But fortunately I’ve had a lot of conversations with myself on this subject and have very slowly been able to let go of a lot of the I am.
The difficult thing about this is to deal with people who are either artists not on the path, so therefore they are still the best of eveything, or people who expect either me to be a certain way because of the artist stereotype, or my work to be a certain way because of the spiritual stereotype.