that one elementary truth

Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. – W. H. Murray

This quote has lived above my desk for a long time now, because it reminds me of a truth that I desperately need to be reminded of. You see, I love to live in the land of possibility. Ideas. Dreams.

The thing I don’t like to do is make those things actually happen.  I tend to see making any decision as a loss of all those other choices.  Constricting my options.

But this wonderful quote reminds me, again and again, that committing to something begins a whole other process, one that flourishes and grows in it’s own right. While something lives in my head, it has only the options found there to choose from; when art, written or spoken or danced or designed, is actually started – then “all sorts of things occur…”

I hand a half-formed script across the desk to a dear friend and she tells she knows it’s not there yet but then tells me a story that I can’t get out of my head – the script changes, becomes more real…

I call a dancer to choreograph – and through my stumbling explanation of what I would like to see she somehow creates something more beautiful than I could imagine…

I ask an actor to play a role and she brings to it her own humor or rawness or strength, and suddenly the words on the page have a power they didn’t before…

It happens, all the time, over and over, all these glimpses of beauty passed from one to another.  In and through the creativity of artists I know face to face, and ones whom I’ve never met but whose books I’ve treasured or music I’ve loved.  Things come together and birth something new. Something unforeseen.

But usually only once I’ve begun.

So – commit already.  And then wonder at all that happens…