Turn on, Tune in

I came to know about an interesting idea.

Stories, music & other works of Art exist before they are created.

Elizabeth Gilbert talks about this in her Ted talk – Nurturing creativity

What does this mean for the artist?

An artist then, is just a radio. Receiving & transmitting the art as per their tuning.

The form in which the art is transmitted is insignificant for the art itself. As it is being transmitted at all frequencies. There are bands of frequencies. There is a band for painting, one for writing, another for music. Within each of these bands there is a range of frequencies.  In the music band, there is a range for classical, one for blues, one for rock, maybe even one for hip-hop. Every artist is set to receive a specific band. It is this tuning that makes her a musician, a writer or a painter.

When she digs deeper into the band & makes an effort to match the band frequencies, she is eventually tuned in. She can now receive the signals within this band. This decides what kind of musician or what kind of artist will she become. This also decides the range of her work.

We all are radios.

Maybe an artist is just a radio that has a powerful transmitter & receiver. While most of us can “tune out” easily, it is difficult for the artist. Once a clear signal is received, it must be transmitted in as much clarity as possible. As the transmission exists independently of the radio (artist), we all can learn to appreciate the transmission only if we make an attempt to Tune in. With effort, we can hone our radios so they not only become good receivers but excellent transmitters as well.

We all are artists.

All we need to do is Turn on & Tune in.