this is why you make art

Summary

Highlights

• Artistic urge goes beyond talent or fame; it's about deeper exploration. ✨
• Artists can't accept the world at face value; they dig for real meanings. 🌱
• Art makes life meaningful in a random universe; it’s about creation of meaning. 🎶
• Creating art challenges societal stories and personal limitations. 🌟
• Art preserves moments, serving as a rebellion against time’s fleeting nature. 💡
• Art allows time-traveling discussions with one's past, present, and future self. 🌈
• Creating is a sacred act where something larger flows through you, giving meaning. 🌷

Key Takeaways

• Art is not about talent or fame; it's a primal urge to explore deeper meanings. 🎨
• Creating art helps make sense of and bring order to a chaotic universe. 🌌
• Artists rewrite personal narratives through their work, challenging societal norms. 📖
• Art is a rebellion against time and forgetting; it immortalizes moments. ⏳
• Through creation, artists connect with different versions of themselves across time. 🕰️
• Artistic creation transcends logic, becoming a sacred act of personal presence. 🧘‍♂️

Overview

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction: The Misconception About Art The chapter "Introduction: The Misconception About Art" challenges the common belief that art is created solely due to talent, passion, or self-expression. Through extensive research into journals and interviews with the world's greatest creators, the author reveals that these are not the primary motivations behind creation. Instead, there is a deeper, more primal force driving artistic creation, and by embracing this intrinsic motivation, one can develop a profound connection to their craft.
• 00:30 - 01:30: Truth 1: Art Connects You Deeper to Life The chapter delves into the fundamental idea that art enables a deeper connection to life in contrast to the superficial existence many people lead. It begins by distinguishing artists, who create because they can't accept merely the surface level of life, from the larger population that often lives on autopilot—following the same routine daily without question. This section is part of a broader exploration of six truths about art.
• 01:30 - 02:30: Truth 2: Art Creates Meaning The chapter 'Truth 2: Art Creates Meaning' discusses the underlying feelings and sensations that suggest a deeper meaning in life, which can often be realized through artistic creation. It addresses the common experience of looking beneath the surface and feeling a sense of unease when life doesn't feel creatively fulfilling. The text emphasizes the artist's inherent drive and need to create meaning through art, suggesting that this yearning is a call to awaken one's creative spirit.
• 02:30 - 04:00: Truth 3: Art Redefines Self This chapter focuses on the concept that art has the power to redefine one's self and perception of the world. It emphasizes the importance of looking beyond the superficial or 'normal' aspects of life to discover deeper meanings and truths. A quote by Vincent Van Gogh is highlighted to exemplify this idea, suggesting that a conventional path in life, while easy and comfortable, lacks the beauty and complexity found when one seeks deeper understanding. The chapter encourages artists to introspect and identify the deeper emotions or truths they wish to convey through their art.
• 04:00 - 05:30: Truth 4: Art Is a Rebellion Against Time This chapter explores the concept of art as a timeless rebellion, highlighting how artists like Georgia O'Keeffe and John Coltrane transcend ordinary perception. It delves into the idea that artists engage in exhaustive yet rewarding journeys beyond comfort zones, penetrating deep into emotions, mind, and soul. It emphasizes the unique understanding artists possess, motivating them to explore universal truths and existential purposes through their work.
• 05:30 - 07:30: Truth 5: Art as a Time Machine In 'Truth 5: Art as a Time Machine', the narrative delves into the concept that the underlying realities of life are more authentic than surface appearances, and art is the tool to explore these deeper layers. By engaging with art, individuals can uncover profound truths that are often avoided. This chapter suggests that art does not merely reflect reality, but actively shapes it, echoing Burlot's sentiment that art is a transformative force that imparts meaning to life.
• 07:30 - 10:00: Truth 6: The Sacred Nature of Art The chapter "Truth 6: The Sacred Nature of Art" delves into the existential ponderings prompted by the vastness of the universe, quantified by its 700 quintillion planets and 200 billion trillion stars. It questions the meaning of existence as perceived through the lenses of science, which views us as mere atomic arrangements, and society, which equates success to material accumulation. Amidst such perspectives, the concept of inevitability as suggested by time, makes the search for meaning seem futile. In this context, artists are presented as revolutionaries, offering transformative perspectives that challenge these conventional notions and assert the sacred nature of art as an essential counterforce in a seemingly random universe.

this is why you make art Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 I used to think we create art because of talent, passion, or self-exression. And I was wrong. After years of digging through journals and interviews and behind the scenes of the world's greatest creators, it turns out most of us misunderstand why we create. It's not about fame or even fulfillment. There's something else pulling the strings, something primal. Once you surrender to that voice inside of you, your connection to your craft becomes
• 00:30 - 01:00 unbreakable. Here are the six truths that I uncovered. Let's get into it. This first truth is one that really isolates most artists from the rest of the world. You make art because something in you refuses to settle for the surface. Most people live their entire lives on autopilot. They wake up, work, scroll, sleep, repeat every single day. They never question. They never
• 01:00 - 01:30 look beneath the surface of things. But maybe you felt it. That nagging sensation that there's more. That slight discomfort when you realize another day has passed without feeling like you created anything meaningful. That quiet voice wondering, "Is this really all there is?" That feeling isn't random. It's your creative spirit begging to wake up. You see, as an artist, you have this maddening
• 01:30 - 02:00 inability to accept the world at face value. You dig deeper. You chase meaning, texture, understanding. Vincent Van Gogh said it best when he said, "Normality is a paved road. It's comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow on it." Before your next piece, pause and ask, "What deeper emotion, question, or truth am I trying to explore here?" Van Go didn't just see stars. He saw
• 02:00 - 02:30 them pulsing with life. Georgia O'Keeffe didn't just see flowers. She saw universes inside of them. John Col Train wasn't just playing jazz. He explored divine connection and existential purpose. Artists do the bold, exhausting, yet fulfilling work of venturing deeper than our comfort zones allow. You dig into your emotions. You dig into your mind. You dig into your soul. And you do it because unlike most people, you know
• 02:30 - 03:00 that what's underneath is more real than what's on top. Art is how you reach the layers of life that most people avoid. But when you reach those layers deeper, something even more profound emerges. And that's the next truth. It's this. You make art because it makes life mean something. Burlot once said, "Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer which to shape it." We live in
• 03:00 - 03:30 such a random universe. There's 700 quintilion planets and 200 billion trillion stars. only our observable universe. Science tells us we're just atoms arranged by chance. Society tells us that success means accumulation and time tells us that everything is going to end anyway. So what's the point of any of it? This is where artists become revolutionaries. Because in a world
• 03:30 - 04:00 without inherent meaning, artists are the meaning makers. Your creative spirit yearns to transform chaos into order, noise into music, pain into purpose. When you create, you're not just making things, you're making meaning. To tap into this more often, try this out. Assign meaning to something today that most people overlook. Pick a moment, whether in your commute or a
• 04:00 - 04:30 conversation with a friend or just something you randomly saw on social media. Take it, turn it into a story, an abstract sketch or a lyric. Just practice transforming dull moments into something meaningful. Because as creators, we get the rare privilege of saying, "This matters because I say it matters." You don't make art for applause. You make art to make sense of this senseless universe. The one out
• 04:30 - 05:00 there and the one in here. But here's the thing. Making meaning isn't just about understanding the world. It's about defining yourself within it. And that's what the next truth is all about. So, we make art to rewrite what the world told us to be true. The world hands you stories about who you are, what's possible, what matters. Maybe they said you were too quiet or too weird or too much. Maybe they told you
• 05:00 - 05:30 what success looks like, what beauty looks like, and who you had to be. But when you create, you push back. You edit that story. Growing up as a kid, I believed I was weak for being deeply emotional. And that story paralyzed me. But when I started painting through the grief of my father's illness, through the pain of heartbreak and the loss of loved ones, I realized that my darkest moments held the brightest colors.
• 05:30 - 06:00 Creating art taught me that my pain wasn't a weakness. It was a bridge to something beautiful, a place of truth and transformation. I didn't need to fit the existing story into me. I had the power to write my own. Art isn't just self-expression, it's selfdefin. This is why creative blocks often happen when we're trying to please other people instead of speaking our truth. Nina Simone didn't just use her
• 06:00 - 06:30 voice to sing. She used it to speak her truth. In a time where artists were supposed to stay in the box of entertainment, she used music as a weapon against injustice. Creation is how you reclaim your voice. And so I challenge you. Pick a label or a belief that someone forced onto you. Then make something that transforms that lie into a truth you now claim. Now there's another battle that you're fighting that a lot of artists rarely
• 06:30 - 07:00 acknowledge. One against time itself. But before I share that real quick, if this is speaking to you, I made something for you. is all my notes, insights, and studies on creativity from the last four years are all in one place. Just tap the link in the description and tell me where to send it. All right, now on to the next truth. We make art because we're trying to hold on to something that time wants to take. Time is always stealing from us.
• 07:00 - 07:30 Moments disappear, people fade, memories blur, nothing lasts. And art is our rebellion against forgetting. Think about it like that painting of the sunset. The photos of your parents' hands, the poem about the moment you fell in love. It's not just creative expression. It's an act of preservation. I remember back when me and my wife were just friends. I was
• 07:30 - 08:00 laying in bed listening to music and a piano song named Taywa by Mark Kerry started playing. I just got lost in a trance just thinking about her. I felt like words were flying at me. So, I started writing them down. I talked about how much I admire her mind and how beautiful she is. And I've just celebrated our emotional and intellectual connection and just reassured her about my desire to grow deeper with her. By the time I was done,
• 08:00 - 08:30 I looked down at what I wrote and I realized that I created a poem that captured the moment I no longer looked at her as just a friend. It was the moment I fell in love. Art has the power to capture moments. So, choose a moment from this week that moved you, a glance that someone gave you, a sound, a sudden feeling. And whatever your creative domain is, just create something. It
• 08:30 - 09:00 could be small. It could be big. Just something that captures it. Pick one fleeting moment and immortalize it. Every time you create, you're essentially saying, "This matters so much to me that I refuse to let it disappear." That's how art becomes artifacts. This is why we feel so desperate to create after profound experiences, whether beautiful or painful. We sense time trying to wash
• 09:00 - 09:30 these moments away. And something in us rebelss. But preservation is just the beginning. And studying our rebellion against forgetting, I've actually discovered something even more magical. It's the truth that we make art because it lets us time travel. Oh, it sounds crazy, but there's a fascinating study that involved dementia patients in their 80s, and I'll link it below. The
• 09:30 - 10:00 researchers had them create pop art and then observed that it activated memories of songs and images and past events that might have otherwise have been lost. Art is a portal. Through your work, you speak across time to your past, your present, and your future. You talk to your past and you comfort them and you apologize to them. You honor them. And then you document your present so your future self remembers what it felt like to be here. And sometimes you
• 10:00 - 10:30 even whisper to your future self saying, "Don't forget who you are." When a 70-year-old musician plays a song they wrote at 20, they have a conversation across 50 years of life. When you look at your childhood drawings as an adult, you're receiving messages from a version of yourself that you've almost forgotten. Art is how you build a bridge between every version of yourself. Every brush stroke, every lyric, every story
• 10:30 - 11:00 is a message in a bottle sent across the ocean of time. And as an artist, when you fully embrace this timetraveling nature of creativity, you begin to experience something, a truth that transcends all understanding. It's this. You make art because something sacred happens when you do. And I want to be clear, it's not religious. It's not scientific logic. It's just sacred.
• 11:00 - 11:30 You lose track of time. Your hands move before your brain. Something flows through you. And that's not just passion. It's presence. When you create, you come home to yourself. You confront who you are beneath all the noise and the pressure or the mask. You become more you. So, schedule a day to get to know yourself. Don't create an agenda or goal, no
• 11:30 - 12:00 audience, just you and your materials. There have been moments while creating when I felt like I was connected to something larger than myself. Call it the flow state, call it source, call it amuse, call it whatever you want. But in those moments, I know why I am alive. So yeah, you make art, but not because it's easy, not because it always makes sense. You make it because your soul has to. It's your protest. It's your prayer.
• 12:00 - 12:30 It's your proof that you were here, that you lived, that you loved, that you suffered, and you wondered. And if all you do is just follow that truth, if you just keep leaning into your urge to create, that's enough. Because the world needs more truth tellers, more memory keepers, more soul speakers. The world needs more artists just like you.