Boasting

3

Boasting.


There are many places where artists can show their creations to the world. On such social media, other artists will make comment about the artwork that is there to be seen. Positive compliments encourage artists to continue making art.

 Lao Tzu warns against being too free with compliments because there is the danger of the positive aspects of making compliments becoming lost in a shower of empty words. Praise, if it is to be encouraging and positive, has to be seen to have been made sincerely.

 We must also guard against seeking praise if we do so because it makes us feel good. Such praise can flaunt us, and we can lose all sense of reality. Praise should be given and praise only when truly deserved. 

 Care must also be taken that the giving of praise does not become the action of a boastful person. Many in the world of art frequently see honest given comments as winning and losing. 

 In giving praise or making comment on the work of a fellow artist the sage warns that we always do so in a humble manner. We must not flaunt ourselves because such an attitude will in the end only attract negative feelings and actions upon yourself.

 Boasting will not attract any real friends.  It will set you up on a pedestal, however, making you a clearer target for creative destroying words. 

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