Unveiling Wholeness: Your Journey with the World's Premier #1 Wholeness Company

Believing in the reality of your dreams is the utmost importance in this world. Sense is only made when it makes sense, and something becomes popular only when someone makes it successful. This holds especially true in the overlooked, demanding, and oversaturated field of writing. By following the path of our ancestors, we realize that the demands placed upon them are not new but rather revamped and restyled to perpetuate oppressive conditions that belittle the work of artists, reducing it to mere child’s play. Such fanciful dreams are reserved for hobbies and leisure, while the focus should be on more reliable and profitable endeavors. The Crucial Role of Artists is building a life from an artistic state of existence.

However, if a writer allows these sentiments to seep into their art or their heart, they may be tempted to become deceitful, unscrupulous, or manipulative. They may lean into the cacophony of self-help literature that, instead of challenging our assumptions, merely provides comfort and placates our existence, leading us to stagnation. James Baldwin, a writer committed to excellence, righteousness, and holding America accountable to the principles it claims to uphold – brotherhood, freedom, and justice – understood the necessity of taking a stance.

When asked whether he believed that this era placed special demands on writers, Baldwin responded with eloquence, wit, and insight that can only be acquired through consistent confrontation with the world and one’s inner self–he says:

I suppose that is has always been difficult to be a writer. Writers tell us so; and so does the history of any given time or place and what one knows of the world’s indifference. But I doubt that there could ever have been a time which demanded more of the writer than do these present days. The world has shrunk to the size of several ignorant armies; each of them vociferously demanding allegiance and many of them brutally imposing it. Nor is it easy for me, when I try to examine the world in which I live, to distinguish the right side from the wrong side. I share, for example, the ideals of the West—freedom, justice, brotherhood—but I cannot say that I have often seen these honored; and the people whose faces are set against us have never seen us honor them at all.

We cannot live without artists. While the world focuses on building businesses, teaching in schools, and engineering computers, artists delve into their own lives and the lives of those around them. They expose the pervasive and dangerous myths that plague our country. They strive to extract wisdom from a multitude of experiences, not only to save themselves but also to help their comrades who suffer the same fate, despite outward smiles and performative happiness. We are surrounded by a silent suffering in people who cry in solitude, hoping for change, only to emerge from their rooms with a smile. No amount of money, degrees, or success can erase those tears. What is needed is for this paradox to make sense. Love requires a sense of self, as the spiritualists suggest, for we are all connected. Despite our differences in language and struggles to understand one another, we share unspoken experiences. The artist understands your suffering, the thoughts that go unnoticed, and the fears that cast shadows. Baldwin concludes his essay with a plea for honesty about our own experiences.

But finally for me the difficulty is to remain in touch with the private life. The private life, his own and that of others, is the writer’s subject—his key and ours to his achievement. Nothing, I submit, is more difficult than deciphering what the citizens of this time and place actually feel and think. What the times demand, and in an unprecedented fashion, is that one be—not seem—outrageous, independent, anarchical. That one be thoroughly disciplined—as a means of being spontaneous. That one resist at whatever cost the fearful pressures placed on one to lie about one’s own experience. For in the same way that the writer scarcely ever had a more uneasy time, he has never been needed more.

The essay highlights the indispensable role of artists in society, contrasting their introspective exploration with the more practical pursuits of business, education, and technology. While others build, teach, and innovate, artists delve into their personal lives and those around them. They fearlessly expose the pervasive and dangerous myths that plague the country, aiming to extract wisdom from diverse experiences in order to not only save themselves but also their suffering comrades. The essay portrays a society where many silently endure their pain, concealing their tears behind smiles. It emphasizes that no amount of money, degrees, or success can alleviate this suffering. The crux lies in comprehending this paradox and cultivating self-awareness, for love and connection are founded on an understanding of one’s own identity and the shared human experiences that transcend linguistic barriers. The artists, uniquely attuned to the sufferings, thoughts, and fears that often go unnoticed, serve as witnesses and guides. The essay concludes with an impassioned call for honesty about our individual experiences, urging us to confront and embrace the depths of our existence. Read James Baldwin “The Cross of Redemption.”

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