I was annoyed with how ‘phoine’ (fine) his body was. I mean literally agitated.

I reached for my convenient, “That’s so not fair.“

What’s not fair?

“That just because he has that body—the one of which society approves—he gets a lot more privilege than I do.”

Is that his fault?

“Well…no and yes- I mean just about as much as it is any one’s fault who enjoys a privilege (racial, gender, economic etc) that with that privilege often ends up frustrating and thwarting my efforts to mobilize opportunities to enjoy life as much as they do.”

So why are you annoyed with him again?

“well, (getting defensive with the voice), he enjoys the benefits of his privilege, and he doesn’t use that privilege of his desirability to liberate me.”

And you know this guy right? He has personally done this to you? Is that what you’re saying…

And now I know that the lesson is coming.And now that my argumentativeness has been disarmed, Spirit knows that I am ready to listen.

And I heard:

He has made art of his body. That’s what he’s done with his clay. He shaped it. Fashioned it. Formed it. Whether relatively easily compared to others or not, he has made art of his body. And you can make art of your body too. In fact you have. You used your canvas to make something that perhaps others consider more abstract than his, but now it seems you’re angry because his sculpture was placed on display in the gallery, but your piece of work IS not.

You can make art of your body too. You can shape it anyway you would like. Just don’t do that thing whereby when other people don’t like your drawing, you despise your own art. You can only be responsible for showing up, not as much control how they interpret your art though…while it may be despised and rejected, is not a matter for you to control, Cory.

But if you want to modify their perception of your art and if their rating and approval of your art is that important to you…if you want to shape your clay according to the dictates of the critics so you can go on display in the gallery too, you CAN, Cory.

So long as you know that if you shape your art for them, you will always be shaping your art for them…and their appetite is insatiable. You will gain the privilege. You will lose the liberty. Don’t hate his art because you’ll only be doing what they have done to you.