Becoming a professional

I’ve been reading Steven Pressfield’s “The War of Art” and “The Art of Salvation” by Elder Ephraim recently. I have noticed a synthesis between the two, and more than that, they are both helping me relax and reprioritize. It’s helped me to relax in that I no longer care about doing “art” in the traditional sense. I don’t care about getting paid for art or finding success in art or fame. 

I just don’t care.

I don’t need any of that anymore, but I have also been performing since I was in high school and so it is difficult to walk away from the arts, if only because my cells are wired in this way.

This has been filling a void for me, lately, a void that I did not know was there and, because of its emptiness, has made me a real pain to be around—even if it is just with myself. 

If I don’t do art, I become a little less than a jerk in the social hierarchy, and as much as I really—really—don’t want to sign up for an open mic anymore I am compelled to do something artistic. I’m sure many people feel the same. 

So, with that, these two books have helped reorient me toward that means so much more to me than stand-up ever did (and that is saying a lot, truly), and that is seeing Christianity as an art form. Salvation as the art of arts, which is practiced by the perfecting of prayer, humility and communion with God, “Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the Kingdom of God!” (Luke 14:15).

A crucial step that I found by entering the path of Orthodox Christianity is that, despite my initial observations as an outsider, it is not as mysterious as it is often presented to be. Now, I should mention that Orthodoxy is mystical, in spades, however, the day-to-day practice requires a more grounded, sober mindset. 

We are invited by our Lord to pick up our cross and follow Him, which is not as mystical as it might sound, the reality is it is arduous, but real transformation and spirituality is arduous. 

It is a trudge through the spiritual trenches. It does not always feel like wartime, and the reprieves we do get are quite mystical, but the war continues, and the enemy never sleeps, “The warrior and the artist live by the same code of necessity, which dictates that the battle must be fought anew every day” (Pressfield 14).

We are tasked as Christians to die daily, to not feed the enemy, what Pressfield deems “Resistance” and to do the work rather than giving in to the temptation to avoid it. Dying to self, that phrase, is super cool—don’t get me wrong—but the reality of it is much more difficult for an application than it is in our heads, at least in mine. Death to self carries this romantic notion of laying our life down for our friends, just as Jesus did (John 15:13), but to crucify the self is never as dramatic as the Gospels show, because dying to self is seen in small gestures of humility: forgiving others, serving our neighbors, and returning good for evil. 

These are the ways in which we become God-like, and it is infinitely difficult, especially because we are called to this duty out of love, not of obligation. The artist’s attitude is of extreme importance, because it will not produce good fruit to approach the canvas begrudgingly, but out of a deep respect for the process and love. 

The mysteriousness of the Christian way of life loses its initial sheen when we get down to the nitty-gritty of what it takes to be this kind of artist, “A pro views her work as a craft, not art. Not because she believes art is devoid of a mystical dimension. On the contrary. She understands that all creative endeavor is holy, but she doesn’t dwell on it. She knows if she thinks about it too much, it will paralyze her. So she concentrates on technique… The sign of the amateur is over glorification of and preoccupation with the mystery. The professional shuts up. She doesn’t talk about it. She does her work” (Pressfield 78).

The art of salvation is about going pro, leaving behind the amateur approach of praying for fun, part-time; the weekend warrior who loves the call of art and creativity, but not enough to dedicate their life to it, to go full-time (Ibid. 62). If we do not take steps to demystify the art of salvation, theosis, then we will remain entrenched in the part-timer mentality: praying and painting when we feel inspiration rather than praying and painting until inspiration strikes, being prepared for it with technique, and then praying and painting after inspiration leaves us. 

The mystical, transformative power of the artform comes in small ways, every day and as we chip away at the uncarved block of our soul God’s grace works alongside us. The technique is this artform is simplicity, not forcing ourselves, but with love for God we take up the Jesus prayer and, interiorly, offer it to Him. Soon Divine grace will wash over us, purifying our hearts and minds, opening them to spiritual joy and sanctification. This is done in and through Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, for it is God Who teaches us to pray.

“The Holy Spirit teaches us everything. It sanctifies us. It assimilates us to God. When we have the Spirit of God, we become incapable of sin, incapable of sinning. When we have the Holy Spirit, we cannot do evil. We cannot be filled with anger or hate or speak evil.

“We must become filled, replete with the Holy Spirit. This is where the essence of spiritual life lies. This is an art — the art of arts. Let us open our arms and throw ourselves into Christ’s embrace. When Christ comes, we will have gained everything. Christ will alter everything within us. He will bring peace, joy, humility, love, prayer and the uplifting of our soul. The grace of Christ will renew us. If we turn to Him with intense longing and desire with devotion and love, Christ will give us everything” (St. Porphyrios, Wounded by Love 134).

There will be days that it will be dry, however I have found those periods of spiritual dryness to cultivate a spirit of gratitude and patience, “Resistance outwits the amateur with the oldest trick in the book: It uses his own enthusiasm against him. Resistance gets us to plunge into a project with an overambitious and unrealistic timetable for its completion. It knows we can’t sustain that level of intensity. We will hit a wall. We will crash… The professional arms himself with patience, not only to give the stars time to align in his career, but to keep himself from flaming out in each individual work… The professional steels himself at the start of a project, reminding himself it is the Iditarod, not the sixty-yard dash” (Ibid. 75-76).

Resistance will come and pull us away from our art, because it knows it can deter us from the path with small suggestions that are easy to give into: self-doubt and television. Arrogance and Instagram. Procrastination and YouTube. It is all so easy to pick up instead of our cross. Resistance knows this, which is why it is important to let go of the mystery and glory of the work we do in order to do it. 

Resistance is the enemy. Resistance is the devil. It is the demons that encircle us, whispering in our ears that we are better than our peers, we don’t need to write today, “the serpent’s voice that says mailing off that manuscript is more important than doing the day’s work” (Ibid. 80); they whisper that we don’t have to pray today, God knows what’s in our hearts. Repentance can wait until tomorrow.

These are the voices that must be ignored and acknowledged as the enemy, who is experienced and cunning in war. It is not a level playing field, we battle with entities that have been fighting for millennia. They must be fought against by getting up and doing the work, no matter what.

God will not make us want to wake up before sunrise to offer prayer and prostrations. God does not work like that: He is not a genie, and neither is the art of salvation, nor does any art act this way, compelling us to do it with an endless supply of inspiration and genius. 

It is not magic. It is the art of arts.

The path that leads to Life is open, it is narrow, and it is work. It is war. It is full-time. Full stop. 

To do it, is to overcome ourselves every day and get to it. “You must suffer. You must love and suffer—suffer for the one you love. Love makes effort for the loved one. She runs all through the night; she stays awake; she stains her feet with blood in order to meet her beloved. She makes sacrifices and disregards all impediments, threats and difficulties for the sake of the loved one. Love towards Christ is something even higher, infinitely higher” (Wounded by Love, 107).

There are no excuses for a professional. Resistance will come and our duty is not to give in today, tomorrow, or the next day. If we do, it’ll be that much easier to give in the next day and the day after that, “The professional knows that Resistance is like a telemarketer; if you so much as say hello, you’re finished. The pro doesn’t even pick up the phone. He stays at work” (Pressfield 80).

We are called to “work out [our] own salvation with fear and trembling,” (Philippians 2:12), yet we need not become paralyzed by this notion, “for it is God who works in [us], both to will and to work, according to his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13). In other words, when we take steps toward our Creator, He takes a thousand toward us, working with and within us to reveal His glory. 

“Truly, our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the principalities, the powers” (Ephesians 6:12), against overambition, enthusiasm, and Resistance, with patience, for as St. Paisios says, “Where there’s patience, things always fall into place.” 

We are called to abandon this world by forgiving others, serving our brethren, and praying for our enemies, not when we feel like it nor out of obligation, but grounded in love. Becoming holy and perfect as our Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48) is a full-time vocation.

Theosis, the salvific artform of Orthodox Christianity, is something we do seven days a week, something we love so much we completely dedicate our lives to it. It is a calling, it is holy, and it is a long-haul commitment. Let us not dwell on the mystical dimension of art but, professionally, shut up, concentrate on technique, and suffer for the one we love.   

Ο ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΕΝ ΤΩ ΜΕΣΩ ΗΜΩΝ! ΚΑΙ ΗΝ ΚΑΙ ΕΣΤΙ ΚΑΙ ΕΣΤΑΙ