Formative Energy

Art Goblin

Nothing is as specific as an image for conveying a feeling. But since language is the currency of everyday communication some languages try harder to offer words where the importance and intensity of the feeling warrants it. The Spanish language is rich with words for emotion, and the one I love best is ‘duende’. I discovered it by accident online and when I inquired of my niece’s partner to see what it meant for sure I was surprised when the answer was goblin. When I googled it the first definition was goblins, associated with folklore. According to The Oxford Dictionary of Languages used by google it also means “a quality of passion or inspiration”. Google’s AI describes duende in art as “a mysterious force that arises from the depths of the artist's soul, compelling them to create, and deeply affecting the viewer.” To think that it took me until my seventies to find the word for what I have so often had the privilege to experience. The examples used by AI mostly regarded music and the powerful effect of live performers on their audience. I’ve heard many students speak reverentially about a concert they attended and the spiritual connection they felt to the musicians and the crowd. The capacity of art to meet such deep layers in our humanity has an integrating effect. Better than any language, art has the subtlety to show more closely the endless variations of melancholy or any other deep feeling. Think of all the ways that people are devastated, from the personal to ecological. One word for such a range of tragedies. For people to develop their emotional awareness we need more ways to see how we feel. The word “duende” and the goblin that represents it also connects to magic. That seals my affection for this word and concept. My lifelong pursuit of illusion is the trickster in me that wants to prod at conceptual certainties. My inner goblin is the part within that has one foot in the collective unconscious, the spiritual realm where inspiration finds its source. The use of an imagined entity, my duende, is a way to refer to something real that can’t be verbally expressed any other way. As representative of the spiritual realm, it’s the resonance music and art offer connecting to the multidimensional life force that mystifies and fascinates. Finding personal connections to the larger consciousness may require more goblins to be conduit for the positive qualities they reinforce. Orwell knew that the ability to think for oneself depended on having the language to describe it. Rather than allowing labels to lessen what it means to be human we need to find the words and images that show how much bigger the picture.