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A Lesson from Gothic Cathedrals · The Daily Writer

• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: Hey my friend, welcome to today's episode of the Daily Writer Podcast.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: When I became a college professor in 2004, one of the courses that I was assigned was Introduction to the Arts, and it was a basic survey course covering visual art, architecture, music, theater, and film from a Christian philosophical viewpoint.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: And the area that I knew the least about was architecture.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: I had always been fascinated by it, but I had never studied it in depth until I started teaching that course.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: And over the years, as I have learned more about architecture, it's become actually one of my favorite topics.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: I'm especially drawn to Gothic cathedrals.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: Those medieval works of art represent one of the pinnacles of human ingenuity and creativity.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: The designers, laborers, and craftsmen worked for decades, and in some cases they worked for centuries to complete those massive projects.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: My personal favorite is the Chart Cathedral in France.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Built from 1194 to 1260, it's one of the oldest Gothic cathedrals.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Chart is famous for several iconic features, including its beautiful stained glass windows, a medieval labyrinth, and a purported relic of the Virgin Mary's tunic.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: Now, for just a minute, consider the mindset of the artists and craftsmen who built those Gothic cathedrals.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: They worked to build something they knew would outlive them, not only by decades, but by centuries.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: And that's a pretty stark contrast to today's creative world where we don't normally think in terms of centuries or decades or even years.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: We think in terms of weeks and days and hours and sometimes moments.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: Today, most of our creative work is designed for quick consumption.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: We share social media posts that we hope people will like in the 30 minutes after they are updated.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: We write blog posts that we hope will go viral in the days after they're published.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: We hope that our book or album gets traction in the weeks and months after it's released.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: And we hope that our podcast or video gets downloaded thousands or if we're lucky, even millions of times.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not saying those things are bad.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: I engage in all those mediums and more.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: But is there a way to balance the need for relevance and timeliness with a more long-term perspective on our creative work?
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the real question is this will your creative work outlive you?
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we don't really create for today, we create for decades from today.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: So let us create, let us work, and let us write with excellence, with high standards, and with a view to impact not just people today, but many, many years from now, just as the Gothic cathedrals are impacting us today, many, many hundreds of years after they were constructed.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: Here's today's question How do you think your writing might impact people decades into the future?
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much for listening to today's episode.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: For more, you can visit us at dailywriterlife.com.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks, and I'll see you tomorrow.