Passion and Purpose
Greetings dearest traveler! I invite you to a philosophical question I've been trying to figure out: What is passion? Do we harness it or does it harness us? How does society affect our passion? How does passion compare to purpose? I've been pondering this question for years and I think I have a solid foundation of it. If you'd like to add discussion to the topic, feel free to converse with me about it on Discord.
I'd define passion as a feeling where you're willing to go through hardships just to refine a skill. It's that burning, fiery feeling of never giving up and learning from your mistakes. Passion is not a calling, you can have multiple hobbies you're passionate about rather than just one profession or skill. You have to open yourself to something to find passion in it. If you don't try, then you neither fail nor succeed. Do you think every artist started out painting the Sistine Chapel? No! It is years of pure passion and skill built up that marks mastery. What differentiates masters and ordinary people is that masters pursue their passion wholeheartedly.
But, what if you can't pursue your passion? What if life gives you other purposes? That is the unfortunate reality we have to face in society. We as a society do not value artists anymore. We once did when the rich elites would commission artists and offer them to live in their homes. The art price has cheapened over the years to the point of people selling custom art for cents until the price went to free with AI art. Not only is it free but it doesn’t take as long to produce—saving time and money. However, all that time and money is better off to an artist who can provide higher quality work that’s more authentic and can portray the idea better. It saddens me to see how there are constant AI trends and usage that are growing more prevalent on social media.
I think creatives should be valued again, even if we don't have the time or money. Even a little bit of encouragement goes a long way. So go on out there and create! You don't know what's going to happen in the next 1 or 5 years if you keep on pursuing and improving yourself. However, you do know what happens if you don't pursue it. It'd be lost potential in that moment. You can always pursue your dreams later in life if you work for them. Do something, just not nothing.