Aphorisms on an Artist's Duty

"Hark, thou who betwixt the edicts of mortals and contrary tenets of the divine are encircled. Turn thy ear to the world, and seek all manner of words carried upon the aether, that indiscriminate messenger who possesses nary a concern for whomever might listen. Indeed, the cosmic winds whisper indistinguishably of life and death, for such is the shared fate of existence. They speak of this world and others far beyond its confines, of all things cognisant and those which lifeless lie, of everything small and everything grand alike, both with the same momentousness. One merely need listen, as once more it shall be hereby emphasised; and thereafter the discerning listener ought to lay those precious whispers upon parchment in ink, upon stone with chisel, through music with ode or instrunment or composition, upon surface with paints of all the colours under the sun, in all forms of Art, those erroneously ommitted, those woefully forsaken, those which are yet to come, those greatly celebrated, those less appreciated, those beloved and despised, those praised and chastised, those unifying and divisive, those fleeting and eternal alike. Thus we humble offsprings of creation might once again behold with our hearts, even if for a fleeting moment, like lightning in the stormy skies."

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The aforementioned passage is an excerpt from a treatise regarding the nature, characteristics, and true purpose of art. The original piece of writing is estimated to have been written somewhere in the latter half of the Neyrvelë era. Some scholars attribute the entire essay to Neikèthlys Leockondereen, as part of his fragmented didactic works. Contrarywise, others have suggested that, though the ideas expressed in the text align with Leockondereen's viewpoints, the actual essay was inspired stylistically by his prose and ideologically by his ethos, and was written after his death by one of his students. Whatever the truth may be, the essay's original author remains unknown as of the latest era of Condrelmë.