Artists and Buddhist Monks A friend and I was talking about what it's like to be an artist and how it can be a really tough way to live. One issue that came up was dealing with emotions and sensitivity. I said that I often walk out of the studio feeling very vulnerable, very sensitive to everyone and everything around me. Then that slowly fades after an hour or so, before I start feeling more "normal".
My artist friend had this more dramatic description of the same kind of situation..
"Buddhist monks seek deeply but need the padded comfort of a monastery and fellow seekers surrounding them, yet the poor artist seeks just as deeply and is bombarded with the harshness of everyday society. We walk around with our fragile fronts, trying to readjust to society, even though another layer is taken off the onion each day.
Our everyday human defenses are taken down in order to seek that which can't be seen with the leather jacketed skin needed to operate in society. One cannot paint with a leather jacket on. One must paint with naked abandon and submission."
>> Being an Artist  ¶ 12:42 AM