On our artist’s journey, we move past Resistance and past self-sabotage. We discover our true selves and our authentic calling, and we produce the works we were born to create.
The Artist’s Journey, Steven Pressfield
The Artist’s Journey
I’ve just read The Artist’s Journey: The Wake of the Hero’s Journey and the Lifelong Pursuit of Meaning by Steven Pressfield. It’s a new book and follows The War of Art on resistance and Turning Pro on moving from being an amateur to a professional.
The Artist’s Journey is about how in shifting to being more professional in our habits, we move from the hero’s journey to the artist’s journey. This focuses on our pursuit of meaning, our calling and our ‘daimon’:
On our artist’s journey, we move past Resistance and past self-sabotage. We discover our true selves and our authentic calling, and we produce the works we were born to create.
I’m a big fan of The War of Art and Turning Pro, both books being pivotal in my artistic and creative development and featuring in my 36 Books that Shaped my Story. What I love about this book is how it relates our artist’s journey to our lifelong muse and voice. Each piece in our body of work is a piece discovering our voice and story:
We find our voice that same way. Project by project. Subject by subject. Observing in amazement as a new “us” pops out each time.
This is such a great book by Steven Pressfield, more spiritual in focus than the previous two books in this vein. It’s as if the journey continues through resistance and past it. We turn more professional and sit down to write and in this we discover our artist’s journey. It’s another book to read over and over.
Words to inspire you
Here are a few words to inspire you from The Artist’s Journey:
On hero’s journey + artist’s journey:
What counted was that I had, after years if running from it, actually sat down and done my work. This was my epiphanal moment. My hero’s journey was over. My artist’s journey had begun.
On gifts:
What gift do you bring for the people? You will learn that, now, on your artist's journey. Share on XOn your subject + niche:
You have a subject too. You were born with it. You will discover it on your artist's journey. Share on XOn style:
Style is inseparable from voice. It evolves out of subject and point of view and blends seamlessly with medium of expression.
On the “true work”:
The thesis of this book is that the artist’s journey, which follows the hero’s journey chronologically, comprises the true work, the actual production, of the artist’s life.
On “write what you don’t know”:
The conventional truism is “Write what you know”. But something mysterious and wonderful happens when we write what we don’t know. The Muse enters the arena. Stuff comes out of us from a source we can neither name nor locate.
On process:
The artist's journey is an alchemical mixture of the airy-fairy and the workshop-practical. Share on XOn skills:
On the artist’s journey, we develop skills. Skills we did not have before. We teach ourselves these skills. We apprentice ourselves to others wiser than we are.
On body of work:
You can practice your art. You can produce, over time, a body of work that is the produce of your calling, the fruit of your authentic being, the full expression of your truest and highest self.
Other posts and a podcast chat on The Artist’s Journey
You can read more from The Artist’s Journey in How to Undertake the Artist’s Journey.
Marie Forleo has shared her thoughts on the book here.
You can also learn more about The Artist’s Journey via this fabulous The Creative Penn podcast chat with Steven Pressfield:
The Artist’s Journey with Steven Pressfield .
Here’s a beautiful snapshot of me in action, quietly writing in a sacred creative space at our recent retreat in Hoi An, led by Kirsten Pilz of Write Your Journey. The retreat was a critical step in my continuing artist’s journey, finding my voice and gaining confidence. This image is by Nigel Rowles and used with permission and thanks.
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