Talent and Torment

Alas we see with the death of Robin Williams, whose most impressive work to me was "Dead Poets Society" and "Hook"; we see  that torment and talent go together, as if torment were the motivating factor. If this is true I would rather he was a happy man still alive who we had never heard of as he never had the motivation to go into the arts; and if my move to true happiness means that I never compose a note or write a creative word again then i will gladly embrace that.

I have been accused of selfishness for giving up the music profession in which I played  double bass over some thirty years.

My response is unprintable here, suffice to say I can only feel sorry for those whose lives are so empty that they need entertainment and so react when one like me decided it was not worth the effort, and who also suspects that such efforts may indeed be incompatible with real joy.

And by joy i do not mean the manic high that produced Beethoven's 9th, but something devoid of emotional violence, like my own delight as birdsong (so different from the ecstasies of music) and in the sunrise.
Keep your passion. I chose peace and real delight. And in Christ this is becoming a reality that is increasingly imminent.