Also, when I said that an artist should “safeguard” their talent, as a nun safeguards her chastity, I did not mean that they should not use it (for that is what talent exists for, to be used), but rather that they should build around it, through their conduct, and the way they orient themselves to life, a kind of wall or shield, so that the energy of which their talent is composed is there when they need it, and does not become degraded by an attitude that treats reality too casually, and with nonchalance.