The Cave You Fear to Enter
Seeking Hidden Treasure
Hitting a deadline versus making art.
My intention was to share a Word of Purpose today. It’s going to be a good one, though it is not good yet.
My commitment to making art rather than a daily post told me it needed another day.
Ironically enough, since I posted about the practice a few days ago, I need to ‘Saturate and Sit’1 with it at least overnight.
Committing to making art sounds like it might be easy. Deadlines are hard sometimes to make, though they are obvious targets.
It is no exaggeration to say that I am a leading authority on establishing a system of execution and delivery. I spent 30 years doing precisely that in some of the biggest companies in the world.
With enough practice and a system, you can eventually hit deadlines in your sleep.
Thinking about making art brought to my mind something from Joseph Campbell.
“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.”
Campbell loved the format of myth to spark reflection and insights.
So did George Lucas, who used a similar metaphor with Yoda for Luke Skywalker’s training.
Yoda: "That place… is strong with the dark side of the Force. A domain of evil it is. In you must go."
Luke: "What's in there?"
Yoda: "Only what you take with you."
Facing our fears, stretching ourselves beyond what we can’t do in our sleep, or attempting things where we haven’t perfected delivery systems.
That is the theme and what I’m pondering today.
I dug through my notes and found the full text of Campbell’s challenge.
Let’s go spelunking together.
It is by going down into the abyss
that we recover the treasures of life.
Where you stumble,
there lies your treasure.
The very cave you are afraid to enter
turns out to be the source of
what you are looking for.
The damned thing in the cave
that was so dreaded
has become the center.
You find the jewel,
and it draws you off.
In loving the spiritual,
you cannot despise the earthly.
Joseph Campbell🌱 The unknown of making art over the comfort of the known. Thanks for joining me in facing the fear in real time.
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