Wrong Is The New Right

As people used to be wrong about the motion of the sun, so they are still wrong about the motion of the future. The future stands still, it is we who move in infinite space.

Rilke

For most of our lives, we’re expected to do things the ‘right way’. We have been taught the two polarities of right and wrong through the analytical mind. Painting through a process of honest inquiry allows you to experience what it means to feel right about something, an awareness that often gets lost when we are disconnected from the body and the creative spirit.

Creating without boundaries allows you not only the permission to do the wrong thing but also to experience the feeling of ‘rightness’ in something that you thought would be incorrect. Dropping the need for external validation, you can more closely experience the subtle voice that feels right to you.

For example, you might think the figure of a horse in your painting is far from how you imagined it to be. It may have started to look like a demon or even a monster. An emergence like this makes you feel the anger of not knowing how to paint things right. You don’t want a distorted or incorrect figure, especially when that was not your intention. There’s an immediate disappointment of having done something wrong, and it can bring with it feelings of failure and shame.

But when you look closely at your ‘wrong horse’, it wants to be there. Getting curious about this unique appearance, you begin to honor the movement of your brush more than your judgment. Your inquiry then shifts from the projection of ‘how you want something to be’ to the experience of ‘what wants to take form?’

What would you dare to do next that feels right – but might be wrong? 

By Zainab Zoeb