Do The Work Wednesdays
The Artist and the Addict
By Steven Pressfield | Published: May 18, 2011
The artist and the addict are not very far apart, are they? Often they’re one and the same. A blues musician or a painter can be an addict one minute and an artist the next. He can be an artist and an addict at the same time. On Tuesday you’re rocking the casbah; on Wednesday you’re checking in to Betty Ford. Why is that?
“It may be the devil or it may be the Lord,
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.”
If Bob Dylan is right in Gotta Serve Somebody (and I think he is), we all do have to pick our masters. The question is whom.
The artist and the addict (or the artist/addict) both face the same dilemma each morning. Will they serve their higher nature or their lower? Between the two stands Resistance. Like gravity, Resistance exerts a pull back to earth. Its object is inertia. Resistance doesn’t want you to do something evil. It wants you to do nothing.
Resistance wants you to go back to sleep, meaning remain unconscious. Resistance is always selling the easy way, the shortcut, the cheap shot. Resistance urges the artist/addict to slack off from, to sidestep, to avoid, to run away from, to not do. It wants you and me to stay shallow, to remain superficial, to continue unfocussed and uncommitted; to accept mediocrity, to avoid pain, to back away from the fight.
The addictive substance is Resistance’s ally. The addictive substance wants the same thing Resistance does. The addictive substance is the free ride to unconsciousness and to surcease from pain.
We’re all human, and the human condition hurts. How do we make that pain go away? How do we get to that place where we can set down our burden, close our eyes, draw an easy breath?
I’m no expert; I could be wrong. But it seems to me that the road turns two ways. If you serve the devil, the ride is free. Serve the Lord and you have to work.
The thing about the Muse is, when she gifts you with inspiration—the idea for a new album, a ballet, the impetus for an act of love or commitment—she dumps the job in your lap and says, “Jane, take over.” The Muse doesn’t do the work for you. She can’t; she’s not here in this material dimension.
You and I are the only ones here. We have to work. That’s the sign. That’s how we know the inspiration is real.
But to say we have to work is only half of it. Not only do we have to work, but we have to perform that work in the teeth of fear, isolation, self-doubt and self-sabotage. Often we have to labor in the face of opposition—fierce opposition—from the people closest to us, who love us the most and whom we love and whose approval we seek. We have to fight our bosses, our mentors, our religions, our pasts and our beliefs about ourselves and what we’re capable of.
The addictive substance is different. When we take that airline, we fly for free. Not only is no work required (other than the labor of acquiring the addictive substance itself), but there’s no imperative to wake up or to elevate our consciousness. On the contrary, the payoff is lack of consciousness. Oblivion is quick, visceral and gratifying. The pain goes away.
We’ve all done it. We can be addicted to crack cocaine or Haagen-Dazs, to love or hate, to our husband, our cause, ourselves. It all works. It’s all easy.
The addict and the artist are both struggling to emancipate themselves from the tyranny of the ego. The petty, piss-ant ego that devalues and undercuts and holds us earthbound. The addict gets off one way, the artist another. The addict/artist yo-yo’s back and forth. When she’s an artist (or reaching by any means toward her higher self) she somehow finds the courage to take the slow, hard, unglamorous path. When she’s an addict she grabs the EZ-Pass.
We all bounce from one form of service to the other, don’t we? I know I do. And none of us is really fooling himself. It may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but we all know which master we’re in servitude to—and we can’t hide from the knowledge that no one has made the choice but us.
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I think it is important that we never loose sight of the fact that, as Steven King says: We drink because we are alcoholics. It’s that simple.
Everyone who set their sights on a higher calling experience resistance. It’s only a select few that are predisposed to have it manifest as substance abuse. Substance abuse certainly is an effective tool for resistance, but if we kick the addiction, we will have to deal with the next thing resistance employs against us.
Also, there is a passage in The War of Art that complicates the picture, namely about substances sometimes providing a door into the realm of possibility. When I drink, I sometimes have a vision of the other life, my unlived life, and how close it is. Everything seems clear and straightforward. I think non-alcoholics can safely use alcohol or pot to unlock the door to their dreams and actually weaken resistance from time to time.
Stephen King is wrong…Alcoholics drink because they LIKE it. They same with resistance. You gravitate towards it because You Like it.
Joann.
I just want to say, although it’s not very witty or novel, that you have made a monumental difference in my life by continuing to write about this subject. I invoke my own muse (almost) everyday and otherwise do everything I can to show up, do the work and fight Resistance. It’s not easy and it’s not glamorous and, so far, it hasn’t been particularly lucrative, but it is a whole hell of a lot better than the alternative route that I chose for myself for more years than I care to admit.
So, yes, this is a fan letter. You rock. PLEASE, for the love of God, keep doing what you do.
Amen, Sister!! What she said. I completely agree with and relate to every word….so add my vote to the encouragement to keep writing about this. It truly helps us all every day as we collectively battle the resistance.
Lots of wisdom here, Steven. Congrats and thank you very much!
I think I just can’t put in words the good things I’m becoming able to see (and, yes, do) since I read The War of Art, Do the Work (from you) and Poke the Box (from Seth Godin).
It’s nearly impossible not become a “man of action” (or Man in the Arena, as Roosevelt have said) after reading and understanding you message.
Thank you very much!
Best regards,
Douglas
The addiction/resistance battle is also expressed in Steve Winwood’s “Can’t Find My Way Home”
Here are the lyrics:
Come down off your throne and leave your body alone – somebody must change
You are the reason I’ve been waiting so long – somebody holds the key
Well, I’m near the end and I just ain’t got the time
And I’m wasted and I can’t find my way home
Come down on your own and leave your body alone – somebody must change
You are the reason I’ve been waiting all these years – somebody holds the key
Well, I’m near the end and I just ain’t got the time
And I’m wasted and I can’t find my way home
Winwood had a “Can’t Find My Way Home” Contest and he sings it here beautifully on YouTube:
http://youtu.be/eoSn2Y-b6wI
Every comment (thus far) has
been posted between 3-5am.
Do Artists/Addicts
need to be nocturnal?
Thanks for the insights,
and the inspirations.
I live in Denmark, so no, I keep very sensible hours
Thanks, John and Ulla. That is the greatest exchange we’ve ever had on the Comments page. And without a wasted word!
If I didn’t know you to be a very kind man, I’d think you were mocking us.
Thank you for this very timely and interesting series.
Excellent post. I heard it put another way last week that also made sense:
All of us are growing all the time. Growth is painful. Change is painful. Addiction is our means to keeps from growing and changing, to keep the pain away. Addiction intentionally stunts us.
Stunning post.
Addiction is like a quest for God turned inside out. Like you said, addicts and artists both crave that sense of — transcendence and meaning and fullness — it’s a question of whether you’re willing to work for it or submit to the illusion that someone or something else can do that work for you.
And how many of us are absolutely, 100% willing to work for it all of the time?
We get so tired. We get so discouraged.
We all have a way of finding that road to our vices, the ‘little’ addictions as well as the hard stuff. I know when I’m reaching for the EZ pass, even if it’s never going to land me in a twelve-step program.
But maybe the addict and the artist feed each other: the empowerment and self-awareness that we must cultivate to navigate and stare down and dance with those addictions brings a new depth to our work (and to our willingness to get it done).
The culture so often muses on why so many creatives are also addicts on one level or another. What would happen it we flipped that question around, asking why are so many addicts so talented and creative?
without passion, inspiration probably is wasted. i think first comes the passion. then you receive the gift from the Muse. the Muse serves those who have the passion, and no one else can hear her.
This response makes the most sense to me. It’s all about “Passion” when the artist is in the creation spirit. I live it.
Thank you, Steven.
Wow, Steve this is so deep!
I loved this:
“I’m no expert; I could be wrong. But it seems to me that the road turns two ways. If you serve the devil, the ride is free. Serve the Lord and you have to work.”
It’s true all of us have two choices and it boils down to whether we’re going to take the easy way out or actually do the work. The muse is no joke…she’ll give it to you, but you have to put in the elbow grease.
Thank you for the reminder.