Julia Cameron had some weird and kind of icky things to say about money this week that I struggled to be down with. Money is absolutely a barrier to entry to making art: supplies cost money, education costs money, and there is always an opportunity cost to the time you spend with yourself. Some people simply have access to more of it, and that is represented in who has the opportunity to build careers in the arts. You can’t just manifest your way out of these realities.
If I read the chapter more generously though, I allow space for this to be a broader meditation on questioning the limits we put on ourselves. What we feel we’re entitled to, and when, and why. There are the material requirements for making art, but there is also a spiritual requirement, a level of openness that can be challenging to access when you’re in survival mode. Some of the people I admire the most have a gameness to them that keeps them open to figuring out interesting and new solutions to problems. This is sometimes an economic necessity, but not always!
I am pleased to have made it halfway through this process. It feels like this winter will never end, and I just keep reminding myself that in six more weeks, it will definitely feel like spring.
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