Stories of Light

As a Mormon artist, I believe that our work is influenced by as much as we are diligent in who we are as individual believers of our faith, as well as how we may practice it. There are many who may think that we are limited in our capacities as artists in a secular world to solely doing works of a religious or purely secular nature; however, there remain many who have been able to achieve both, due to their own balances and belief systems that naturally come forth in their works.

We often express who we are in our work without intending to do so; we might include a phrase from scripture or other works that have influenced us greatly, or even quote an atheist who shares a point of view that we do. The point is, no matter what we do, our beliefs will be revealed. And, in a more biblical sense, “by their fruits ye shall know them.” Our works often speak volumes more about us. We are then left to determine and distinguish our jobs from our art. I think that, too often we see writers who especially leave their views out in the open intentionally, then end up coming off preachy with their pedantically didactic morals. Life is complicated, hence why our own belief systems will come out naturally, and don’t need to be forced to make an influence. We can do good by just being who we are, striving to become who we should be, and then living our lives and constantly creating in an attempt to achieve those goals.

As a result of this natural excretion of our own morals, so, too do others in their own works. Hence, we can find good works where there are good things to be found or people with solid belief systems – everyone is different, but we all strive to achieve in order to succeed. It is for this very reason that the most sincere generally rise to the top: Dostoyevsky wrote about his experiences without memoirs, as did Dickens and others, through their most compelling works, because they were true to themselves and sincere to their readers. We may work for money, but we are still to not lose ourselves in doing so and to continue to strive for truth and conscience in what we may find ourselves doing.