I have a theory about why some people create art. When you're happy and things are going well, there's no need for any external purpose for your life because l

I have a theory about why some people create art. When you're happy and things are going well, there's no need for any external purpose for your life because living and experiencing it are their own purpose. When things are going badly and you aren't happy, then you tend to start looking for ways to justify your existence, like maybe your life kind of sucks but it still has some higher-level meaning because you can still make something beautiful or that makes other people's lives better. I think a lot of good art came about in this way, and I think it's usually good for the creator of the art as well as the rest of us who are enjoying the things they created. Helping people directly rather than through art is another thing that a person might do, but that's harder, especially when you're going through hard times yourself. Of course it is quite possible to be prevented from creating art by depression, in which case other ways of dealing with it (such as seeking professional help) may be in order.