[qcrisp]

Quote Originally Posted by Mr. D.

Dear qcrisp,I don't see why you would think that acheiving freedom through discipline is a paradox. All activities involving the artts art intentional and when we apply our will to an activity we start forming something new in the world. The discipline is necessary to act as a servant of the will. Any act of creation call for disciplined intention, well-formulated vision and endurance. All of these qualities grow out of discipline and develop over time. If this is a paradox then it is one that follows the "rule" of paradox: all paradoxes follow a non-obvious form of logic. The key idea is intention. If someone doesn't have an aim or purpose than no discipline is necessary, nor wanted.Creative people, even ones like me who haven't been sucessful, find joy and fulfillment in the craft itself. The growth of the skills necessary to bring a vision to fruition cause benificial changes to ourselves and that makes the effort worthwhile. Rules, arbitray or otherwise help give substance to an otherwise nebulous existence.

Perhaps it isn't really much of a paradox. It might sound more paradoxical if I put it this way: Finding 'your own voice' as an artist means discovering what it most obvious for you. What is most obvious for you is often extremely difficult to find.