The artist is distinguished from all other responsible
actors in society-the politicians, legislators, and
scientists by the fact that he is his own test tube,
his own laboratory, working according to very rigorous
rules, however unstated these may be, and cannot allow
any consideration to supersede his responsibility to
reveal all that he can possibly discover concerning
the mystery of the human being. Society must accept
some things as real; but he must always know that
visable realty hides a deeper one, and that all our
action and achivement rests on things unseen. A
society must assume that it is stable, but the artist
must know, and he must let us know, that there is
nothing stable under heaven. One cannot possibly build
a school, teach a child, or drive a car without taking
some things for granted. The artist cannot and must
not take anything for granted, but must drive to the
heart of every answer and expose the question the
answer hides.

James Baldwin, "The Creative Dilemma" (1962)