We can all lead more inspiring lives by examining the lives of people who have made great achievements and led truly inspiring lives. The media and the public seem to have an endless thirst for the sordid, mucking around in the darker or stranger side of people’s lives, but spending little time exploring the depths of greatness.

Throughout history great artists have played a big role in shining a light on the current “scene,” as well as inspiring people to greater heights and elevating the collective consciousness.

Genius is a mystery. How is it that Mozart sat down to play the piano at age 3 and composed his first works at age 5? How did Bach compose so much music and so quickly that it has been calculated that, if a composer or arranger sat down to simply copy what Johann Sebastian Bach composed, he could not accomplish the feat in a lifetime?

There is a thin veil between “this side” and the “other side,” between one’s inner world and the spiritual world. It is the same veil that exists between life before death . . . and life after death. For most people that veil is quite thick. For others, the veil is so thin that they live on the slippery edge between the two worlds. Artists live on the edge. What is that edge? It’s a way of being in which the individual does not censor the creative spirit as it is moving. 

Michael Jackson barely censored the creative spirit at all. He was a true artistic genius. Let’s talk about what that means. He was born with incredible gifts, especially dancing, singing, and performing. Among professional dancers, Jackson was in his own class. As a performer, he gave 100% of himself at all times. The beauty and power of his dancing has to do with him allowing his tantric, sexual energy, as well as all other energies to be fully expressed. When you see a master dancing at a 100% level, and then see someone who is able to give 95%, you can identify that the extra 5% is a very rare event. The artistic genius is passionate and pours 100% of himself (his soul, mind, emotions, and energy) into his art. Every dance step or kick of his was a full expression of his energy, moving from the core of his being to his feet . . . and beyond.

Jackson gave the same 100% to his singing. What is amazing is that he really could not separate singing from dancing. Every entertainer/singer is taught how to move while singing. Michael Jackson’s dance movements were nearly inseparable from his singing. To this writer, there was the impression that, as the music came out of his mouth, dance steps were automatically linked to the singing. He threw himself into both singing and dancing at a 100% level. He had immense gifts, so when he threw himself 100% into his art, it was some very great art he was working with…or that was working with and through him. He was working with passion, with some very juicy, high energy creativity, and was not consumed by that fire.

During his interview with Oprah Winfrey many years ago, she asked him why he grabbed his crotch while performing. I don’t recall his exact words, but the gist was close to this. “I am so moved by whatever energy is coming through me that I “have” to go with that flow. When the bass is laying down a powerful, rhythmic line, I have an automatic response, and my hand grabs my crotch. That’s what the music is calling for.” Many times I heard people refer to Jackson as a “force of nature.” I could further analyze the need to grab crotch, but, I don’t want to confuse a discussion of Artistic Genius with Psycho-Spiritual Personality Analysis.

Where do you find your center when you allow influences from all over the place (inside and out) to penetrate your being, in the service of art? It’s a great task for an artist of Michael Jackson’s magnitude to “hold the center,” in the middle of his own whirlwind. While performing, Jackson probably was closest to feeling comfortable in the center of swirling, powerful energies, and probably felt the most normal, and the most real while performing. And that is because he grew up on stage, and had enormous innate abilities as an entertainer. He was able to find and stabilize his sense of self best while letting it all hang out (100%), and connecting his world with that of his audience. In that artistic, loving connectedness, he was most at home.

The creative juices of dance and song (words, melody, rhythm, and production) were all flowing freely through him. Jackson had great courage to let the inspiration move through him, and let the world see. Of course, no matter how gifted an artist is, hard work is always essential. The public sees a 2-hour concert. An artist might put in hundreds of hours preparing for a 2-hour concert. 

Balancing Jackson’s ability to move and be moved so profoundly was his little known incredible discipline. It has been a secret that for every CD or album he produced, which might have 12 songs on it, Jackson recorded up to 150 songs! He had 100 — 150 fully produced songs, out of which 12 would end up on a CD. Obviously, he held himself to an extremely high standard.