Super Art Freak Saves the World! Erm....right?

It seems like this world just gets crazier and crazier, right? Corruption, violence, poverty, disease, political shenanigans, animal and child abuse- the list goes on and on. I've had a personal moratorium on news for several months now. No newspapers, TV news, radio reports. It's something I need to do from time to time as it seems my psychic boundaries get so permeable that I have no decent shield against the horror of it all. If I let it come in indiscriminately, it overwhelms and shuts me down completely. I hear the highlights, no worries. It's not like I'm living in a cacoon of denial. I just won't open up for the whole shebang, every detail. There are times when begin fully informed is useful as part of acts of power, redemption, creativity, cycling mass pain, etc and there are times when it's absolutely counter productive to anything...well, productive.

It's always especially challenging to be present in a world gone mad, when we as individuals are working to be less defensive, brittle, protected. Some of us are working to open more fully, to be more permeable. One aspect of this as I see it, is that one source of humanity's current madness is our inability to face the difficult stuff in ourselves, our lives (and I'm speaking general here). To the degree we're unable or unwilling to meet, feel and love the things that make us uncomfortable about ourselves and our lives (self-abandonment is rampant), to this degree are we able, even eager to abandon, abuse and cause harm to others. In this sense, inner work is a radical, powerful act that ripples out from us to our families, friends, communities, the world. This I've known for some time. 

In terms of activism, I've done my share of marching, petitioning, voting, letter writing, donations of time, money and talent. One thing that's been a strong consistent desire in my adult life is being of service. That started shifting years ago when I got sick. I just didn't have the energy to show up out in the world like I used to. My path took me inward, closer to home (which was one of the gifts of illness, as it turned out. I'm not sure what else could've gotten my attention in the same way) and, inevitably probably, to creative work, which has been a part of my life always. 

(artwork: Picasso Wonder Woman by Mike Esparza)

This is the struggle now: Does making art serve the world? In particular, art that isn't explicitly revolutionary in any obvious sense. I know I'm not alone in having a pretty insistent inner critic that tells me, "Art is self-indulgent, ridiculous, and pointless. How can you waste time making silly things when so many are suffering, when things are falling apart around you? And beside, you're crap at it *sneer*". Why do we do it? Besides those of us that just have to and because it's sometimes actually fun, occasionally even satisfying. What's the point when Rome is burning around us? How is this process being in service? 

What do you think and feel about it? Does it help anything, anywhere? Is art essential for a healthy world culture? I've read what some of the "experts" have to say. I want to hear from you. What do you know about it? Do you wonder about this and  how do you answer that critic that says it's just another symptom of being spoiled, to spend time telling stories, painting, singing, sculpting, dancing....? How can we justify it in the face of so much social dis-ease? 

What do you know?  Even if you don't have answers, per se, is this something you can relate to and how do you work through it? If you do. 

Excuse me, I have a critic to gag while I get some work done....