The career of a musician can have very interesting motivations at times... Sometimes it’s a network game, sometimes it’s just being noticed, and sometimes it’s really just about making money. I find that I keep my sanity by writing, recording, improvisationally practicing, or even painting every day! I think it ultimately comes down to the agnostic or atheist search for the idea God - Love. Art is sharing not selling. Of course the wealthy have turned art into a huge commodity market – so be it. Regardless, a random idea is not random at all, it is the sharing to me of consciousness to consciousness- which is the deepest form of communication between human beings. Yes, it’s pretty much sex! Not only is creating art a form of therapy, but it’s a necessary expressive tool to feel whole as a human being. To break out of hierarchies and systems, and actually justify being alive. I think when we get afraid of making art we are afraid of exposing ourselves. We value the brand we’ve created in society, and how it’s perceived. The reason we are constantly so unfulfilled is because we feel we’re constantly serving another person or system. For those with religious beliefs, sometimes you transfer that serving into actually serving God. Great! But for the atheist, agnostic, or non-belief system person, art is the greatest pathway to anything mystical or transcendent. It is the most honest, human form of communication. Look closely at any beliefs system paradigm, and you see that the transcendent mystical experience always comes from music, chanting, stream of consciousness human expressive preaching, or even mythical critical thinking, i.e. the Bible. All are forms of artistic expression. And yes, while creating and communicating art can be terrifying, that fear and overcoming of that fear is our justification for being alive. I also like to take notice with the phrase “self-indulgent art.” What is it the opposite then? If I plan a great marketing product for mass appeal as art for my material gain and status, is that not more SELF-indulgent? Isn’t it less self indulgent to express yourself honestly and see how people respond and connect to it authentically? As a whole, society has lost the ability to decipher between a piece of art and a piece of entertainment. Both have their place. Both are very separate things. The question is, can you discern?