"You, aspiring artist, are not wise; and so long as you have no wisdom to see things as they are, your advance will be hindered, by no one else than yourself. You are your own enemy. Learn now why you are not wise: because you lament over what you are today, and think of what you could be tomorrow, but you don't believe in it.
"The truth of it is that you will never be as you imagine yourself to be. The image you have of perfection is but a deception to lure you onwards: as in dance, the Movement is the only thing which truly matters. The essence of excellence, is not to be found in your excellence of the moment which you have reached - is to be found in what you have not reached, in your awareness of it, and in your striving to attain it. Excellence, is as dancing: without Movement it dies of itself, because movement being its very substance, it can't live without Movement, no more than dance could live without Movement. And wouldn't dance cease to be dance without Movement? And wouldn't excellence cease to be excellence without Movement?
"Therefore look not to where you are on the road; but go forward, where the light of the rising Sun beckons on the horizon - and you will know to walk in the right direction. You are not wise, because you resent not being what you would so ardently desire to be. Foolish artist! Were you what you want to be, you would want to be something else. For aren't you here in the world to become something else than you already are, something better?
"And thus lament not of what you are, but be thankful that you are allowed day by day to become something better, without which, Movement would stop, and the Dance of Life would stop for you. Trust that it will never stop: and you will have uncovered the secret to progress, and to change, and to joy, with which, constantly learning, you will find happiness in disappointment with what you are, happiness even in suffering."
- The Living Dancer
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