Why can’t we just be happy for each other?

Wutang famously produced a secret album, only one copy of which was ever produced.

The band toured it in museums, galleries and music festivals before it was sold to a wealthy fan. Now the record sits in a vault as a single sale collector item.

Apple’s streaming platform once presented a free copy of a certain rock album to everyone with an account, whether they wanted it or not. The record was preloaded on your phone the day it released.

Beck notably released his new album in sheet music form only. He claimed he wanted other musicians to interpret and perform the songs in their own style, and his website now hosts interpretations of the album submitted by fans and musicians around the world.

Banksy reportedly sold one of his graffiti paintings at an auction for over a million dollars. And moments after it was sold, the painting destroyed itself while onlookers watched. Apparently there was a secretly installed shredder in the frame of the painting.

Anytime one of these stories surfaces, it becomes part of a long history of outrageous and cunning ways artists have promoted their work. And the same questions are always debated.

Are they innovative, or merely narcissistic? Do they epitomize brilliant distribution strategies, or more hackneyed marketing stunts? Are the creators behind the campaigns earnest in their intuitions, or are they devious sell out cash grabbing blowhards?

Everyone from critics to audiences to fellow artists interpret and debate such events until they’re blue in the face.

But my opinion has always been much more nurturing, whether the work even speaks to me or not. Because if these creators are standing on a stage in front of the world, trying to entertain the world with their art, then god bless them.

The fact that they’re out there taking creative risks, putting their hearts on the line, trying to shake things up in a fickle culture that constantly threatens to drop them like a bad habit, that’s good enough for me.

Sometimes that’s more inspiring than the art itself.

When did we decide we had had to enjoy or even be familiar with an artist’s work to appreciate the fact that they’re making it? Why can’t we just be happy for each other?

Skills like craftsmanship, entrepreneurship, boldness, commitment, innovation, they’re medium and genre agnostic. They’re worthy of acknowledgment and appreciation regardless of arbitrary social constructs like quality and taste and popularity.

Rogers, the great humanistic psychologist, pioneered this concept of unconditional positive regard. It’s the basic acceptance and support of a person regardless of what they say or do. Originally, his theory was used for client patient relationships in therapy, but there’s no reason this concept can’t be ported over to the wider world.

We could do ourselves and each other a great service if we equated work’s sense of worth not with outcome and impact, but with intention and effort. Because at least those elements are under people’s control. They can be as pure as we want them to be.

Results, on the other hand, are basically a crap shoot. Nobody knows what’s going to work. Success is almost always lightning in a bottle.

Krishna was right when said in the holy scriptures, you have a right to your labor, but not to the fruits of your labor. How much fruit do we really need anyway?

It just gives you the runs.

Forget outcomes, focus on process, and you’ll be closer to fulfillment than you ever imagined.

Are you inspired by art, or the sovereignty people have over their art?