Natural Tendencies

Mine is to be a trifle hot-headed.

Also, to be impressed by smart words from the mouth of Anne Bogart (director, author, & founder of SITI Company).

Given that dichotomy, when this sentence popped out at the end of a blogpost entitled "Instinct vs. Impulse," I couldn't be surprised that instinctive liking was undercut by impulsive irritation:

"The artist seeks out what cannot be comprehended and welcomes the discomfort of doubt. The natural tendency is to forget and the artist remembers."

As might be said, Lady, I don't like your tone.

Do you kid? Woman, do you jest? Sure, I'd like to take a pass on some particular recollections, but I don't think we forget so easy. And when we do forget, if by natural tendency you mean scientific tendency, not willful sublimation, if you mean degeneration of mind, if you mean, for example, Alzheimer's, it's scary as hell and no artistry will keep you from it. Because whether or not we're cuddling with our nagging doubts, a good many folks who you mightn't call artists are bearing with them, many separated from those artistic communities which you have so idealistically raised up. The common man has his artistry, may possess wisdom that runs counter to "natural impulse," and art is not the only predilection that defies Darwin.

Perhaps Bogart means to offer a more inclusive definition of the "artist" by so marking him: he savors obstacles, pauses in the center of difficulty and challenge. Perhaps she points to the artistry of a common existence that eschews cowardice and braves community, allows the time to gather weight. But there is a truer (and God, less arrogant) way to define a someone capable of these rememberings - and that someone doesn't have to "welcome the discomfort of doubt" but only bear it with fortitude, I guess. Why bother with the rarified vocabulary when you talk about living? If you want to speak of some kind of mantle, give it to people, and not just to artists.