As we appreciate excellence in the details of a creative work we can be discouraged until we realize that we ourselves are part of that excellent work. Not a random ordering but a precise and resolute placement as a gem in a ringlike array.

An excellent piece of work either brings out the best in us or sometimes the worst! Artists are notorious for wishing their own works to be appreciated and adored over the works of competitors. I would know 🙂 Some would go to great lengths to draw attention to their own works at the cost of others. 

It is the nature of excellence to convict us of our insufficiencies without making us feel inferior. Mediocrity focuses on our limitations and makes us see others in turn as inferior to ourselves. 

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Excellence recognizes the inherent creative worth in others. Mediocrity prevents us from valuing the contribution of others. 

When others do not value your contribution, it is hard to resist taking on their perspective. Mediocrity within us yearns for us to measure our worth in terms of the worst possible descriptions of ourselves by others. It raises for us standards that are not true measurements of our unique creative worth. Mediocrity imposes alien creative criteria. Beware of mediocrity. 

Excellence on the other hand convicts us of our limitations but at the same time inspires us to confidence in something greater and beyond ourselves—faith to take risks and trust the outcome, avoiding prejudging ourselves but giving our best self to the situation, finding that place where we are encouraged to give our very best, and in an ultimate sense, yielding to the hand of the Creator. The evidence of excellence is creative contentment–it is what it is. I am who I am. So be it.

The question is do I tend to inspire excellence in others or mediocrity?