“I will seize Fate by the throat; it shall certainly not bend or crush me completely. Oh, it would be so lovely to live a thousand lives!”
—LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN, COMING TO TERMS WITH HIS HEARING LOSS, IN A LETTER TO A FRIEND
Do you have a favorite quote?
I have more than a few, and one has been this:
The enemy of art is the absence of limitations.
—attributed to producer, director, and actor Orson Welles
Now, I tend to think that attribution is correct.
Because if anyone has experienced up close how constraints inspire our creativity, it’s Orson Welles.
He’s the entertainment pioneer who, using only voices and sound effects over a radio receiver, induced hundreds of New Jerseyans to flee their homes to save themselves from a Martian invasion👽😯.
That true and historic event inspires me because it proves that having some kind of limitation in no way signals that the road ahead of us is the end of things.
What it may mean, and can mean for you, is a new beginning.
Either the start of something totally new, or the resumption of something you’ve done before in a new way.
Far from putting the kibosh on the following three creatives, the limitations placed each of them on a unique path to seeing and contributing to the world:
HENRI MATISSE – LIMITATIONS AS A SPRINGBOARD
For most of his career, French visual artist Henri Matisse expressed his vision of the world primarily through painting.
But in the latter half, he endured a long convalescence from major surgery.
Bedbound and supplied with scissors and paper, he set his mind on creating paper cut-outs.
His focus on the cut-outs as art rather than decoration brought something new to the art world.
Matisse often referred to these cut-out-centered years as his second life.
MAYA ANGELOU – LIMITATIONS AS AN INCUBATOR
At age eight, the future poet was rendered mute for nearly 5 years as a result of a traumatic incident.
Yet during this time of voicelessness, she developed an exceptional memory, a keen ability to observe and listen to the world around her, and a love for literature—particularly poetry.
And right after a caring teacher challenged her, saying, “You do not love poetry, not until you speak it,” she regained her voice.
The rest, as they say—to the delight of poetry lovers nearly everywhere—is history.
In closing, you may remember reading in last week’s Museletter that our third creative,
CLAUDE MONET,
suffered from cataracts and limitations that led to a hypnotically appealing way of seeing.
In the years before he had them removed, they significantly altered his color perception.
Nothing ever kept Monet from painting. So, for many years, he simply painted what he perceived.
The result was that his already atmospheric Water Lilies became steadily more fanciful and expressive.
And, hey, it could be that these three (or four, counting Beethoven) overcomers aren’t enough proof that we in Christ are truly more than conquerors.
If so, be sure to check out the most recent episode of the Flourish with Chronic Illness podcast.
It’s one where you can discover the creative solution an Olympic swimming champion used to overcome his ADHD.
And win 23 gold medals plus 5 silver and bronze medals.
The solution that came about because of Phelp’s ADHD.
What limitation are you facing right now that might be an invitation to find a new way forward?
