Hello, all my Strangers! 

I woke up this morning to a sunlit living room so bright it could have been summer. For a moment I was filled with such joy at the prospect that I forgot where I was, and instead imagined I was in a pine forest in Oregon, standing in a live-in shop of curiosities. Yesterday it was cold and gray and I went on a walk to talk with God. As I walked through my neighborhood on streets I hadn’t seen in a while, He showed me stories. 

I walked past a turtle statue half buried beneath leaves, a statue of a flying pig and a brightly painted garden gnome. There was an engraved tablet which bore a family name, but which looked like a headstone, the dirt raked around it like a burial plot. For a moment, all around me, there were bumper stickers, lawn decorations, and porch lights in different shades of amber, and every single one of them was a story. For a moment, I was connected to a foreign place, and I realized that everything around me said something, and that all of these people were saying something. There are stories all around me, and I realized that they were available for my use also; after all, now you know about the frog, the flying pig, the gnome and the grave. I know that they will enter the stories that I write and the things that I paint. 

When it comes to creation, the internet is oversaturated with information. Millions of videos, images, sound clips, and web pages, spread across dozens of social media platforms and hundreds of websites. With all of this ‘content’ being produced, the rallying cry of the community is that of originality. Every other hour, a scandal emerges surrounding art style, art theft, imitation, consent, and the effects of AI. Tropes are dissected and spat on in every genre of fiction and people cry for the dismantlement of any recognizable character types and arcs. 

In the midst of these ideas, a new question has emerged. Is it more important to be original or authentic?

According to Merriam-Webster, the first definition of original is, “of, relating to, or constituting an origin or beginning.” But I happen to like the first part of their second definition better:

 “not secondary, derivative, or imitative…” And still the third is, “independent and creative in thought or action.”

One definition of authentic according to the same dictionary is, “made or done the same way as an original.” The next relevant definition is “true to one’s own personality, spirit, or character.”

I think we’ve made a mistake in separating originality and authenticity. In ‘Steal Like an Artist,’ Austin Kleon tells creatives…to steal. Again, most of us consume media on an hourly basis. We know what we like; we have our favorite shows, artists, and accounts. Some of us have curated thousands of ideas on Pinterest. These things that we love are true to our own personality, spirit, and character. This fulfills the requirements of authenticity. But if we steal traits from the things we love, doesn’t that make us unoriginal? If we created forgeries, maybe, but in taking and combining ideas we love, we are independent, and creative in thought or action. There will never be anyone like you. Even if you actually did make forgeries, they would never be the same as the originals. Everything that makes you different would change the painting. (That said, please do not make forgeries.)

All this time, we assumed that originality begot authenticity, but I believe that we have it backwards; authenticity begets originality.

How can we expect to create something wholly new in an ancient world? There is nothing new under the sun. Original work happens when you are exactly who you are. So be authentic.

Be an original.

–Mabel