My first thought upon seeing those words early this year at Taliesin West? Good for you, Frank.
I immediately wrote Wright's words in my journal. In my first several attempts using them as the centerpiece of a blog post, I didn't get far. Given Wright's notoriety, I had difficulty justifying any honest arrogance of mine, considering his massive legacy. Insecure thoughts hampered me every time I tried to frame a coherent post claiming his words as a viable credo. Then, each unfinished blog post pushed Wright's words further back into journal purgatory.
Such has been my multi-month seesaw. I recall those words, an internal dialogue begins, no resolution is forthcoming. That dialogue persists to this day. I've been called arrogant at least a few times. Have you? No one who knows me well would likely describe me as humble. How about you? Did I make a choice early in life - as Wright did - to land on the side of arrogance? I don't know. Did you make that choice? Is my continuing struggle perhaps connected to the two adjectives in Wright's formulation i.e., honest and hypocritical? Do you see yourself anywhere in Wright's words? Which would you prefer being called - honestly arrogant or hypocritically humble?
Finally, if you were to take a poll of people who know you well, on which side of Wright's formulation do you think the majority would place you?
This rings true for Frank Lloyd Wright but not for others in my opinion. It isn't a binary choice....
ReplyDeleteInes; Thanks for the comment. Binary choices - aka bi-polar constructs - are, almost by definition, problematic. Somehow that never stops me from musing on them, as is evident from this post.
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