Chapter 11: Recovering a Sense of Autonomy
The Artist's Way Journey
Welcome to the eleventh post in a 12-week series dedicated to exploring creativity and artistic identity through Julia Cameron’s 1994 course The Artist’s Way! Whether you are completing the course alongside me, joining us in the future, or here to learn from my insights and reflections, the following series of posts will remain a safe space for discussion and reflection wherever you are in your artistic journey.
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In Chapter 11, we return to the power of affirmations.
This week we focus on our artistic autonomy. We examine the ongoing ways in which we must nurture and accept ourselves as artists. We explore tge behaviours that can strengthen our spiritual base and, therefore, our creative power. We take a special look at the ways in which success must be handled in order than we not sabotage our freedom.
Reflecting on Chapter 11
Chapter 11 began with an essay on acceptance that may just be my favourite essay yet. I’d begun to feel that The Artist’s Way’s wisdom had run dry with the past few chapters leaving me feeling somewhat ambivalent. My journey through the book had begun to feel more like a chore, as though the essays were mere repetitions of previously explored concepts I had to push through. No one’s a fan of filler, and one thing I’ve learned about Cameron is that she’ll bleed a metaphor dry. With that in mind, this essay truly surprised me.
To be an artist is to recognise the particular. To appreciate the peculiar. To allow a sense of play in your relationship to accepted standards.
— Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way, p.181
The essay reads like an extended affirmation; a first-person surrendering; an acceptance of all that it means to be an artist. It was beautiful and wormed its way into my brain in a way previous essays have not. This week instead of sharing an extended reflection, I’d like to share my favourite affirmations from this essay.
Soak them up. Utter them aloud. Breathe them into the spindly fibres of your muscles, the metallic torrent of your blood. Dare to accept: I am an artist.
I am an artist. As an artist, I may need a different mix of stability and flow than other people…I must experiment with what works for me.
I have to free myself from determining my value and the value of my work by my work’s market value.
I must learn that as an artist my credibility lies with me.
I need to create what wants to be created.
Sometimes I will write badly, draw badly, paint badly, perform badly. I have a right to do that to get to the other side.
Creativity is its own reward.
As an artist, my self-respect comes from doing the work.
There is a connection between self-nurturing and self-respect.
Creativity is oxygen for our souls.
To kill your dreams because they are irresponsible is to be irresponsible to yourself.
The stringent requirement of a sustained creative life is the humility to start again, to begin anew.
As we welcome in the new year, it feels fitting to remind ourselves of these artistic truths. To hug them close to our cores. Maybe this year, all you do is find the courage to begin anew. I’ll meet you there, in that crooked space between <3
Chapter 11 Check-In:
This week I’d love to know which of the affirmations spoke to you most (artist or “not”!) or if there is one you’d like to share with me :)
Yours in artistic autonomy,
Caitlin ❧
This one feels particularly pertinent for me as I’m trying new mediums: Sometimes I will write badly, draw badly, paint badly, perform badly. I have a right to do that to get to the other side.
Thank you for sharing! 😌
loved these affirmations