In his first piece, Flaum tells the story of the red wolf, that at one time had been dangerously close to total extinction. As a show of mercy and goodwill to replenish the dwindled number of canines the remaining wolves were taken and bred in captivity. Releasing them back into the wild though it was discovered that they had lost their ability to howl. Mumon, one of the wolves sought to find this howl the species had lost and went on a discovering journey that the howl was nothing something to be found in the forest and the wilds, but within himself. And though the howl returned to him and the natural instincts of his forefathers, his animalistic fearlessness ended up getting him killed.
What Flaum is trying to convey in this piece, I believe, is that there is a unique sense and underlying tone of creativity in everyone. The world can be very daunting sometimes and many artists and musicians may lose their faith in themselves and believe that they have lost that initial spark or zest that made their work beautiful, when in actuality if is just waiting to be used within them. I really believe the author is trying to explain and let people understand that no matter what there is always hope within yourself and that you always are able to obtain greatness if only you believe in yourself. Though we may suffer at times in our work and in our lives, as long as we stay hopeful and press on there is destiny for greatness. Pain and suffering is only temporary and if we take this pain and anguish and apply it to make ourselves better, there is no bounds that our creativity and perseverance cannot find.
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"To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong."
~ Joseph Chilton Pearce
There are several emotions that Flaum is trying to illicit in his story of Mumon the red wolf searching for his howl, a rather distinct fictitious piece that can be very well put into perspective in our lives. We can especially derive a very personal meaning from this work because as creative folk we are under great scrutiny as artists and musicians from every aspect in the world for it never ceases to those who aren’t creatively inclined to critique and openly criticize works from their own visionless point of view. Though more times than not these open views and critiques can be very helpful to the artist and even help to understand their own work better, there are times when they can be rather harsh and vicious which is where I think Flaum starts with his story of Mumon. I get the feeling that I can create a connection with Mumon to an artist or musician that has been ruthlessly critiqued or condemned for their work and has lost that particular spark or zest of creativity due to the reviews. In a sense the artist has lost their “howl” or calling and don’t realize that it is still within them, just smothered by their own self doubt and lack of hope in future works. Mumon searching for his howl is the same I’d see an artist renewing their belief and trying to again create a piece to combat the critique. And like Mumon in the story one cannot always do it alone, instead of relying solely on oneself to rekindle belief in their creativity, sometimes we need another source that can help us cultivate that inspiration again. So it becomes a natural cycle that one must suffer and overcome hardship to better oneself and build up our “howl.”
Flaum’s story made me recall one specific quote that I’ve used as an artist countless times in my life to help rekindle my belief in my work and creativity. Joseph Pearce said it best, “To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.” Throughout my young life I have used this quote as a means of guidelines for when I work on my artwork as a primary sense of encouragement. Growing up in my school there were very little to no help when it came to the arts. There were very few art classes that were offered and with all the other requirements to graduate with high honors it was difficult to even find enough class time to schedule them in. So I had to focus my artistic cravings solely by myself and it only served to be a very daunting task with the many critiques and criticisms I got when I always insisted that I wanted to make a career out of my passion. Though there were many times that I came to the realization that following this dream was going to be very difficult, I always did pursue it tirelessly.
This quote and Flaum’s story link perfectly together with this thought. There will always be opposition to your work whether you like it or not, no matter how much you love what you do, there will always be someone out there that will give you hell for doing what you do. But how you handle that situation is what really makes you the artist you are. Like Joseph says, there is no way for creativity to flourish if you always cower and live in fear of the criticism you’ll receive for your work. Also as Flaum shared, you don’t have to overcome it by yourself, as Mumon had help finding his howl from the deer.
One cannot let the world limit their creativity, but one cannot just ignore the world either for it may help them better themselves in the future.
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