Why Every Creator Must Develop The Courage To Be Ignored
People won’t care about your creative work: don’t take it personally
“To desire recognition of our acts…and to hunger for appreciation…is natural. But man never rises to the dignity of true living until he has the courage that dares to face ingratitude calmly, and to pursue his course unchanged when his good works meet with thanklessness or disdain.”
— “The Courage to Face Ingratitude”, From The Power of Truth; Individual Problems and Possibilities, 1902 By William George Jordan
Like many of you, I entertain creative pursuits. It’s both joyful and painful. There’s a great satisfaction in seeing something you build out of nothing take its place in the world. But there’s equal pain and frustration when no one notices.
Recently I’ve read many articles describing this as part of our new internet world with its quick attention spans, and overwhelming choices of material. Good creative work inevitably gets drowned out by the shadow cast by the herd of “content” surrounding it.
I admit, there’s truth in this.
But the idea of people not caring about other’s creativity as being new is ridiculous. The greater world has always ignored original and innovative work. We’re almost designed to as a species.
Our brains create a map of the world with stimulus taken in from our sensory organs. Therefore, we build reality around us through personal interpretation. Obviously, it’s inwardly focused.
What’s more, creators throughout history have complained about this in some form or another. Although their word choice is different.
The writer William George Jordan talked about this in the early 1900s, but he referred to it as “ingratitude” where our good works are ignored. While Saint Augustine referred to sin as “incurvatus in se,” or caved in on oneself, where you don’t notice others.
Even Dante Alighieri in The Divine Comedy creates his version of hell as a cold and narrowing place, where everything is focused inwardly and there’s no human warmth.
But just as we’re instinctually inwardly focused, we also have an overwhelming desire to create things for ourselves and the greater world to appreciate. This has always existed as well, as you’ll see.
Our Ancestors Had That Inner Creative Bug Too
About nine thousand years ago, the deserts in the Middle East and Asia were vibrant green areas where our Neolithic ancestors hunted animals. Human-made remainders from this time are still visible. They’re called “desert kites.”
They consist of walls used to direct animals towards pits where they’d be trapped. Some extend up to three miles long. Moreover, these early humans sketched them out on rocks before they built them. While you might call this “engineering,” and not creativity, they did more.
The oldest example of cave art is at least thirty-five thousand years old. It consists of handprints, abstract lines, and animal figures, which some might confuse with modern art today if it was in a museum. So, even our ancestors struggling to feed themselves took time to create.
Furthermore, even war didn’t stop them.
As the Athenians were besieged in their capital by Sparta during the Peloponnesian War, their greatest playwrights were still creating and putting on performances. In fact, Athens had competitions where they competed during this time.
Aristophanes put on comedies while Sophocles led performances of tragedies. When done, awards were divvied out by the state. All this took place as Athens fought in a twenty-seven-year war, which birthed a plague and the eventual end of the Athenian Empire.
It just goes to show you the power of the creative bug within us. And William George Jordan has some timeless advice for handling the pain of creative efforts going unrecognized in his work “The Courage to Face Ingratitude.”
Developing The Courage To Be Ignored
First, don’t stop creating. That inner instinct to create is powerful since it’s been with us forever. Even if no one ever sees or hears anything you produce, you still have that wonderful satisfaction of bringing something into the world.
This is a buffer and therapy for all the crap life can heap on to you. But it goes beyond this. You have a duty as a human to create, and this doesn’t require approval or applause. Jordan sums it up beautifully:
“Man should not be an automatic…machine, cleverly contrived to release a given quantity of illumination under the stimulus of a nickel. He should be like the great sun itself which ever radiates light, warmth, life and power, because it cannot help doing so…But do not…spoil it all by going through life constantly collecting receipts, as vouchers, to stick on the file of our self-approval.”
He also explains if you’re weakened in efforts to create or do good by the “ingratitude of others,” it’s like “serving God on a salary basis.” You only perform in the expectation of dividends.
He also cautions on seeing your art, good works, or creative projects as meaningless because no one takes the time to notice. He says:
“No good act performed in the world ever dies. Science tells us that no atom of matter can ever be destroyed, that no force once started ever ends; it merely passes through a multiplicity of ever-changing phases….We may not know it, we may never hear a word of gratitude or of recognition, but it will all come back to us in some form as naturally, as perfectly, as inevitably, as echo answers to sound.”
One could imagine those great contests between Greek playwrights back in the day. We know of Aristophanes, Sophocles, and a few others, but what about the rest? Many had to compete. But the greater bulk of them didn’t get the attention like the winners.
However, they did get to experience the joy of that creative bug.
It’s just human nature that pushed the crowd to focus on things which aligned to the world in their mind as they saw it. We will be ignored, it’s inevitable. So, we must develop the courage to be ignored while we continue to create.
Also, don’t forget, both you and I have been part of that crowd itself which has ignored the creative work of others too. In fact, I know I’ve done it personally.
You Will Ignore Others As You Are Ignored Yourself
Ten years ago or so, a friend sent me a link for a blog she created. I didn’t look at it right away. In fact, several links she posted on Facebook got scrolled over in my feed.
Finally I checked in. Her blog had many posts by now. The few I looked at involved her pouring her heart out as she went through a transition in her life and struggled with it. But the writing was clunky and hard to read.
Now, here’s where I become the bastard. My eyes just breezed through the few posts which my fingers randomly clicked, rushing to get to the end. Then, I likely moved on to something stupid — like cat videos or mowing my lawn.
At the time, her creative effort didn’t reach out to me, because my writing journey didn’t begin. So, it didn’t speak to me the same way.
Call it what you want — ingratitude or incurvatus in se — but my sensory organs focused on me and my interests, not the creativity of my friend. I’m willing to bet you’ve done the same thing as well.
Keep this in mind. The modern world does have many more choices than the ancient one, but people ignoring creativity is nothing new. It’s always been done. Moreover, you’ve done it yourself.
So, your excuse for not creating because no one notices is hollow. Don’t serve your creative muse on a salary basis or wait for dividends. Creators must develop the courage to be ignored.
-Originally posted on Medium 9/27/23