There's no promise it would have ended differently.  Never is.  But I remember in the story of de Chirico that he decided to quit doing the modern works he had been painting and decided to paint (go back to painting?) objects such as flower arrangements and landscapes aka "safe work".

If I find the source again, I will cite it.  Yet even if I have my facts wrong about de Chirico specifically, it is a story probably all of us share.  A philosophical conflict of whether we choose our motivations out of love or fear.*

This topic arose the other day as I heard someone talking to an artist and saying they (the artist) needed to do more mainstream work; more decorative, something that "SELLS" "better."  

It's advice often dolled out. I may end up caving to fear at some point again, but I remember works I've created that tried to fit in, tried to appease, tried to be a product of a language my heart wasn't speaking in that moment and they were terrible; perhaps technically competent, but...

Without soul.  

May we all find paths that allow our hearts to break wide open and remain in those spaces of unconditional love and beauty.

Blessings,
JR


*taken from a book from Nathaniel Branden.

More from N.B.: "If the basic meaning of "spiritual" is "pertaining to consciousness" (in contrast to "material", which means "pertaining to or constituted by matter"), then the battle of whether to choose to appease others or choose one's passion, is spiritual." (not verbatim)

**PHoto by Rainer Fleischmann
Taken during a photoshoot with colleague and friend, Bernhard Rauch. www.bernhardrauch.com