On Passion

Did you know that the etymology of the word “passion” comes from the Latin origin “pati”, which means “suffer”?

With this new understanding, we can begin to view the word passion in a new light and start to graft new shoots onto an ancient wisdom.

The elusive void that artist often call “melancholia” can birth a new brand of intelligence. Once we unearth these very old parables and decipher their true meanings, we can finally transcend the limiting beliefs. Transcendence never negates what has come before; it always finds a way to integrate its true value while at the same time adding new dimensions and insights to the original form it also, by the way, deletes all the stuff that is unnecessary. To be an artist is to be consumed by this need to create, which ultimately manifests in us a strong desire to express this unknown stirring of emotions.

To unveil this fundamental truth, we have to reach back into our memories and observe the world through the lenses of childhood. As children, we overindulge ourselves to fulfill these bottomless cravings to satisfy our hunger – Beginning with nourishment; the suckling of our mother’s milk, the blending of sweetness and warmth that become powerful longings as we grow up. Do we ever recreate the perfect experience? No. Therefore we seek to serve and satisfy this urgency that is always burning within our bodies. It tangles up all of our senses and leaves us confused about where it is all rooted. It’s the untamed sacred fire gone wild – It destroys and consumes you until you cultivate the small flame.

We try to clone this sacred experience hundreds of ways just to relive these moments, to bring the intangible into the material, yet we are always dissatisfied with the results. As children, we simply go back on that swing. Unfortunately, as adults, much of it is synthesized through the food we ingest – something that is deeply linked to our survival as a species: The fear of lacking. Once our primal fears are reawakened, they make us hoard any substances to avoid decay, which turns out, precipitate decay. These seedling fears are deeply embedded in our genes and are always metamorphosing themselves through addictions we carry into adulthood – Addictions that are cloaked under the veil of passion. Being attentive to the cause – the realization that the madness of many artists is rooted in consumption becomes your only salvation. Some, ridden by sadness, even create their best work under these addictions, which inevitably also contribute to their demise. This is where the story of the insanely passionate human begins; right at the gate of suffering.

And so we start to remember these strange words: sacrifice and suffering. We realize how these two words govern the world of passion. To bring about transformation, you can now graft new shoots on these old roots. You have to embrace your suffering (your passion) in order to use it to serve the good. Hence, you have to sacrifice passion to end the suffering. We wonder why humans are forever spinning inside that hamster wheel, and there, buried in old deformed religious texts and words, truth is revealed to us.

Tash’s Salt.

(Article written for Theatre art life)