The Mysterious Secret: Life is Fun.

"It's all there in front of you, But if you try too hard to see it, You'll only become Confused." (The Tao of Pooh)

This is the 12th installment in my series, The Art of Wisdom, a study of art from the world’s wisdom traditions.

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This year, I have written more than I have drawn. I enjoy writing—it allows me to explore concepts and refine my opinions and beliefs more deeply than drawing. Or at least differently. But I think, through all this writing, that I’ve gotten sucked into a bit of an intellectualizing mindset. I’ve made simple things complex, confused myself, and just given myself a massive headache.

And so, the revival of Might Could Draw Today comes at the perfect time for me. I need to step back, remember the core of what I do, and not make everything so dang complicated and big and Important.

Last week, I started reading The Tao of Pooh, which my MCDT co-host Nick told me to read like 2 years ago and I am just now getting around to. (A belated thanks, Nick!) And yes, the book is just what it sounds like: it explains Taoism through the world of Winnie the Pooh. And what-do-ya know, that book is telling me the same message: simplify.

As explained by Benjamin Hoff in The Tao of Pooh:

“So here we are, about to try to explain P’u, the Uncarved Block. In the classic Taoist manner, we won’t try too hard or explain too much, because that would only Confuse things, and because it would leave the impression that it was all only an intellectual idea that could be left on the intellectual level and ignored. Then you could say, ‘Well, this idea is all very nice, but what does it amount to?’ So instead, we will try to show what it amounts to, in various ways.”

That really spoke to me as an artist, as someone who has been exploring what art can do that thinking/talking cannot, and as someone who has been struggling for what feels like an eternity to finish my We Are Jellyfish book. Somehow during the book-making process, I started confusing myself, complicating the project, and making it all into a BIG DEAL. I was trying to force outcomes and doing a lot of thinking about and talking about and trying to make nice ideas amount to something more. I was trying to make the book on an intellectual level. And I was acting more like a scholar (or perhaps Rabbit or Owl from Winnie-the-Pooh) than an artist.

From the back cover of the 1983 edition of The Tao of Pooh, illustrations by Ernest H. Shepard

“Now, scholars can be very useful and necessary, in their own dull and unamusing way. They provide a lot of information. It's just that there is Something More, and that Something More is what life is really all about.” –Benjamin Hoff in The Tao of Pooh

I’m gonna be honest with you: I’ve grown bored of my jellyfish book. This month I found myself not wanting to work on it, confused about whether any of it is any good, and often just wanting to throw the whole thing in the trash. Burn it all in a bonfire!

I’m being rash. I won’t do that.

But this feeling must be trying to tell me something. Nobody makes a good book from a place of boredom and frustration. It’s hard to know, when making art, when you should push through and when you should just stop.

“The surest way to become Tense, Awkward, and Confused is to develop a mind that tries too hard—one that thinks too much.” –Benjamin Hoff in The Tao of Pooh

I think I am at a moment when I should stop. The Americanized personality in me immediately says: “No, no, no! You better use your willpower and discipline and be productive with your time! Try harder! Push! You’ve been working on this book for too long and you just need to power through and finish it!” [Please do read that last part in the 80’s/90’s Tekken video game voice.]

But y’all, I’ve been doing that, and it’s not working. So, instead of listening to the narrator of an ultra-violent video game, perhaps I should instead listen to a voice who seems more content with life: a lovable, cuddly bear.

“The essence of the principle of the Uncarved Block is that things in their original simplicity contain their own natural power, power that is easily spoiled and lost when that simplicity is changed.” –Benjamin Hoff in The Tao of Pooh

I think, what I need right now, is to write less and draw more. And specifically, to draw for the fun of it. Not to create a “good” book or communicate something “important” or present a subject in the “best” way. But instead, to draw just to draw. To draw pointless things that have no meaning, to draw for no specific reason, to draw things that I will draw and then never think about again… to draw without thinking at all!

In other words, I need to focus on my sketchbook practice, which has fallen out since I began working so much on my book. For now, I’m going to pause working on We Are Jellyfish and writing long essays. And I’m just going to draw.

“When you discard arrogance, complexity, and a few other things that get in the way, sooner or later you will discover that simple, childlike, and mysterious secret known to those of the Uncarved Block: Life is fun.” –Benjamin Hoff in The Tao of Pooh

Some things I’ve drawn this month for MCDT. This week is Snow Queens, come draw one!

So here I am, at the end of the year, trying to discard some of the things that get in the way of the creative spirit. Trying to turn off my Tekken voice, close my mouth, and listen to the bear who seems to know some things. Trying to refind myself creatively. To remember who I am as an artist, and how I create the art that feels like me. The art that wants to be made. The art that’s fun to make, and often makes itself, without much thinking and struggling from my Rabbit-brain.

For the next month or more, I’ll be focusing solely on drawing, mostly with MCDT prompts. I would very much love for you to join me and draw with us! New MCDT prompts are announced every Monday in the Chat. I’ll still share some sort of weekly-ish update through my Substack newsletter, but it will be less writing and talking and more drawing and showing!

Come draw with us and maybe you’ll rediscover yourself and your art as well. At the very least, we’ll be reminded of that simple and mysterious secret: life is fun.

“To know the Way,
We go the Way;
We do the Way
The way we do
The things we do.
It's all there in front of you,
But if you try too hard to see it,
You'll only become Confused.

I am me,
And you are you,
As you can see;
But when you do
The things that you can do,
You will find the Way,
And the Way will follow you.”
–Pooh, in The Tao of Pooh

Thanks for reading!

<3,
Christine