I’ve been writing a lot lately about authoritarians: what you can expect from them, how contact with them harms you and wounds you, and what you can do to heal and recover from authoritarian wounding.
Artists, who are typically sensitive and who are typically aligned with humanist values (like, for one, the value of art!), can be especially wounded by an authoritarian parent, an authoritarian mate, an authoritarian at their day job, or by authoritarians in the art marketplace (and there are plenty of them there!).
Have you been harmed by an authoritarian? If you have been, and if you’d like to share your experiences with me and help me with my research, please take a look at my Authoritarian Wound Questionnaire. I’d appreciate your help—and writing about your experiences might prove healing. Take a look and see if responding might serve you!
Oh Eric! I so deeply appreciate your trains of thought!! YES! I have been doing the power-balance dance with many around me, and yes, it is so very painful to deal with these issues with family members and life-long friends that I love so much. It’s a delicate dance that is particularly difficult since for over 60 years patterns have been established and taken for granted. Most of my people are very confused and angry at the idea that ‘I count too’, and no I am Not their “pet weirdo.” I feel like the protagonist in that Awesome movie Labyrinth (with David Bowie) who keeps struggling to remember that golden line – “You have No power over me.” Thank you again, and I’m heading over to your questionnaire now. – Jacquelyn