A Letter to Agnes DeMille by Martha Graham

A Letter to Agnes DeMille by Martha Graham

There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening
that is translated through you into action,
and because there is only one of you in all time,
this expression is unique.

If you block it,
it will never exist through any other medium
and be lost.
The world will not have it.
It is not your business to determine how good it is;
nor how valuable it is;
nor how it compares with other expressions.
It is your business to keep it yours, clearly and directly,
to keep the channel open.

You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work.
You have to keep open and aware directly
of the urges that motivate you.

Keep the channel open.
No artist is pleased.
There is no satisfaction whatever at any time.
There is only a queer, divine dissatisfaction;
a blessed unrest that keeps us marching
and makes us more alive than the others.

Hypocrisy

Sometimes I feel like a tool.
I have been trained and treated to act precisely like a machine, which executes according to the order, without the second thought.

Suddenly I want to pay respect those who aim considerable money,
because they simply dare to say it out loud.
Rather than disguise like thy are angels.

I no longer dislike those I hate.
And I start to loathe things I used to admire.

We are not any superior.

We are just a bunch of hypocrites and animals.

有時候覺得自己像工具。
一個指令，一個動作。
不能擁有自己的思考。

忽然覺得很看得起那些立志要賺大錢的人，至少他們勇敢的說出來；
而不是偽善地嘴巴說要拯救地球，實質上只想賺錢。

我不再討厭以前所不喜愛的了，
卻開始憎恨以前所憧憬的。

我們沒什麼了不起。

就只是一群偽善者罷了。