Morality and creativity
July 31st, 2023
This is an interesting conundrum — the division between morality and ethics on one side and the spirit of creativity on the other. There are common ways of reaching the heavenly spheres, but once there, the divergence starts with respect to morality. There are pure souls, burning (or tormented) by belief, with the highest possible moral and ethical values and self-sacrifice and altruism that are not shown publicly and not used for commercial gain — we call them saints. Not in an official church-accepted and recognized way, but as a personal assessment of their untainted personality. But it would be too much to ask them to be creators and artists as well.
Looking from the opposite standpoint — does it matter if the personal life of an artist/creator doesn't measure up to high moral standards? Or even just regular morality? I understand that being moral exemplars is not their task and they won’t care for such pedestrian concerns while using their gift of creation. The art of creation is a miracle in and by itself — for example, we might admire the Pyramids and Gothic cathedrals and temples of the Far East and monuments of Mesoamerica as a work of (usually anonymous) genii all the while knowing that hundreds or thousands or more people died constructing them. And that the victims, in most cases, were forced to do this dangerous work. Do blood stains affect the perception of a particular work of art? Or how to approach the virtual cavalcade of assholery that is common (wait a minute — actually, I think quality might be required) for writers and poets and painters and especially musicians? How to reconcile beauty and gentleness (or powerfulness) and the ground-breaking imagination of works of art with abuse (of family or substance — and usually both), insecure pettiness, holding grudges, infidelity, violence, abandonment of family, or even outright rape or murder that was in character for so many artists? Is there a line that can't be crossed?
