14. The Closed Ear
IF I listened attentively to the things that others say my work would lose character. To pay attention to criticism is to pursue the process of laboured refinement which reduces all to the commonplace. Critics with much knowledge are people with retrospective minds; they cannot be of use to the born painter whose work is creative. Knowledge is related to things already accomplished; but the vast unexplored fields open to creative genius are beyond the range of all critical analysis. The painter, morethan any other, lives a life of spiritual change.
Look at the sky! The luminaries return, return, return! To the scientist they move with regularity and precision; but to the romanticist they shed new light every moment. The astronomer knows the facts: the poetfeels the truth!