“I write to re-create myself.” ~ Anais Nin

These five words are spoken by Anais Nin in the Pacific Radio Archives recording of her voice and are now available for us to hear.

But I and any other writer or artist could have spoken those words. They are the underlying truth to why we pour ourselves into our art.

Anais has articulated beautifully the passion and drive that consumed her as a writer. There is much truth in what she says, not only for herself but indeed for many of us who cannot breathe unless we live “soul first.”

“One has to create a world in which one can live.” ~ Anais Nin

Our personal realities are not always what we would wish. As children of an imperfect but achingly inspiring world, we negotiate our struggles through our art. I know that this is true for me and for so many of my friends who write to stay alive.

While that may sound dramatic, I not only created my own world by first discovering literature, I also later found solace in the world that I created with my pen.

Listening to Anais, my heart beats faster. I feel incredibly blessed to be able to hear her voice; her words are like pages torn from my most private contemplations.

She understands. If I were to sit down to a coffee and pastry with her at a cafe in Paris, I would not have to explain myself or my obsession for writing. She already knows what it means to bleed internally with ideas that must be blotted onto paper.

We do not need to excuse our days spent before our cruel master—the typewriter, or easel or what have you. Not to anyone else. But I do think that it is important for us to understand ourselves, because in the end, if we do not honor who we are and why we are our art cannot come forth with integrity.

Now, after many years of writing, I am content with both my chosen and my inherent path in life. But many of us still field questions about the impracticality of art.

I have this to say: If we cannot be who we are, if we cannot create the world that we need in order to survive, if we do not birth ourselves each day with our art, we are not contributing to the world what the world craves to hear from us.

After all, only you can incarnate what was given to you as a gift.

But Anais says this better. Let’s listen to Ms. Nin as she reveals not only herself, but also the world of the constant artist.

“I am an excitable person who only understands life lyrically, musically, in whom feelings are much stronger as reason. I am so thirsty for the marvelous that only the marvelous has power over me. Anything I can not transform into something marvelous, I let go. Reality doesn’t impress me. I only believe in intoxication, in ecstasy, and when ordinary life shackles me, I escape, one way or another. No more walls.” ~ Anais Nin

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Relephant Read:

The Sensual & Erotic Anaïs Nin Quotes that Blow my Mind Every Time.

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Author: Monika Carless

Editor: Toby Israel

Image: Wiki Commons // Jared Stahl/Pixoto

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