Hail to the King

I want to share something that turns me on.


That moment when you express the creative giant inside of you. Like a running back that bursts through the line of scrimmage and starts opening his stride, you see an opportunity for magic and you go for it. You break a few tackles, sharpen your focus and push desperately toward the end zone.

In the world of creativity, it’s the feeling you get when something is pushing you, something wants to move through you, and you feel it pulsing through your veins.

It’s now or never.

The moment arrives and you’re terrified. Terrified of the risk you must take. Terrified of what that will mean if you fail. Terrified of what that will mean if you succeed.

You’re terrified because you are in danger of losing yourself, maybe just for a moment, but it will feel like forever. You might lose all you’ve ever known, all you’ve ever counted on as real, to risk making something beautiful.

And why?

Why must we create beauty? Why have we been given this gift and why does it have to be so fucking scary? It doesn’t matter. All that matters is you know deep inside that it’s what you were born to do. It’s what makes life worth sticking around for.

You hear the crowd cheering as you step forward and attempt to do the very thing that they’ve come to see. They have come to see the human potential. They have come to see what’s possible — to hail to the king.

They’ve come to see you, and they are hungry to be astonished. They’re waiting for the moment when you transcend your little self and make people believe in the transformational power of art. Even the ones who don’t believe you can do it are just testing your resolve and yes, it takes resolve.

All of a sudden you let go. Your body bursts into flames, your mind opens and all eyes and hearts are focused on you. How could they not be? You are astonishment in action. You’ve done the very thing that makes life worth living. You’ve made it to the holy land. You’ve entered the hall of champions. You’ve bet it all on the belief that beauty can save the world, if only for an instant.

If only for an instant, you show people what’s possible.
If only for an instant, you astonish others.
If only for an instant, you become a king, a queen, or better yet, a Prince.

Michelangelo called it “Intelleto”
Miles Davis called it “The Space”
Mozart called it “Being with God”
Renaissance Italians called it “Grazia”

You used to wonder what they were talking about, but no longer.

You have joined the ranks of the masters, of the visionaries, of the creators, because in that moment you know exactly what they were talking about. You know that it never took talent, or conservatories, or permission.

All it took was the willingness to let go and fly away.


for Steve Chandler

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