Week 23 6/11/17

Subjective emotion is not reality, as the wretched, apparently, would require others to believe.

Examples are so plentiful as to be ubiquitous, and are found in every contemporary arena. There is no greater evil in expression, artistic or otherwise, than that which uses the truth to bear false witness.

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Something Missing

Among many things, culture reflects the common aspirations of a social group.

Without cohesion, there is only decay, and no government of any value can provide this.  It is found in the vision of the artist, in authentic expression, and in the traditions and rituals of community.

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Implications

Cultural variables directly impact perspective and expression in varying degrees.

It is worth noting that some cultural groups are interested in a broad spectrum of experience, while others are conditioned to respond to extremely limited sets of expectations.

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Grotesques

There is no individuality within collective strictures, nor can there be.

Yet this does not apply to appearances, as these are by nature insignificant in contrast to conformity of collective thought, expression, and action.  A spurious, superficial "sense of personal identity" is conferred by acceptance of infantile extravagances. Countenance and bearing are of little moment to those who define social and cultural agendas, provided absolute conformity to ideology remains fully intact. Consequently, the apparently extreme, distorted, and abnormal become commonplace, and the slavish adherent to illiberal groupthink is as easily identifiable as a traitor to humanity as the nameless, faceless apparatchik.

The independent thinker, artist, warrior, and self-reliant individual, on the other hand, defies both illegitimate authority and mundane expectations. The very existence of free culture demands this.

If You Look Closely

Consider a social and cultural environment that is actively hostile to the arts.

Suppression of individual freedom is the outcome of collective tyranny and its concomitant control of expression that reduces every work to a form of propaganda.

It is a monumental challenge to stand against a tide of surrender.

Edge of Perception

Know the concrete and the abstract of the phenomena of appearances.

Awareness of the cultural environment is the difference between freedom of action and acting according to the influences of forces neither recognized nor understood.

Metaphysical Approach

A contemplative aesthetic elevates sense of being.

This is an objective like every other aesthetic purpose, and will not be denied those who seek it, whether artist or audience, unless and until a culture has totally lost the wherewithal to accept and embrace it.

Presence

Expression conveys the observer within reach of experience.

Culture may or may not make that expression accessible; the observer may or may not extend grasp. Nonetheless, it is impossible to reduce all aesthetic possibilities to a point at which the ignorant and illiterate can comprehend them. There are ideas and experiences that can never be transmitted in their entirety through choreographed dance moves.

Enough

The antithesis of the creative act is the dismissal of the reality of Time Past.

Beyond the benighted repudiation of cultural fundamentals, of much more profound moment is the elimination of cultural momentum, the negation of future possibility.

Observe contemporary cultural and social conditions.

Illusion and Cold Light

As an artist, one may not be devoted to the arts at the expense of life's necessities and long survive.

Yet neither may a consumer culture deny the value of the arts while appropriating the contributions of artists. A society that accepts and condones blatant thievery of intellectual property will ultimately incur the consequences of both brutish ignorance and unrestrained self-indulgence.

Regardless, the artist, poet, and composer will not be silenced, nor the dancer paralyzed.

Culture and the Environs

Go far.

From a distanced perspective it is clear the "culture" surrounding entire populations may reflect individual taste and interests yet be devoid of a single original impulse or expression.

This is vanity and complacency, indicative of a loss of vision, a failure of the spirit of reason and inquiry, and vapid self-indulgence.  One must go beyond, even into the uncanny and unknown.

Manner and the Thing Done

Observe, in the course of events, those things that are constant and those that are impermanent.

Custom and culture inform the arts, but the artist determines the extent to which their pressures influence the work of a lifetime.

Ears to Hear

In the popular imagination, entertainment and diversion laden with visuals increasingly obscures direct personal experience.

The "pop mind" is necessarily one that is formed and focused through collective ideas, imagery, and subjection to immediacy, an authoritarian mass conformity of attention. Clearly, such a burden upon consciousness degrades contemplative reflection and gives rise to a host of social issues caused by mental and emotional impediments to existential freedom.

Neither engagement nor disengagement is the way of the artist. It is the integrity of the creative work that is the essential element.

Proximity and Correlation

Whether subjected to sounds or immersed in them by choice, the effects are tangible.

If the superficial and sensational are believed desirable, the mind will gravitate toward such things, find them in abundance, and access them easily.  But this is the province of narrow perspective.

A forward-thinking frame of mind demands much more of experience, and will vigorously exert all the efforts necessary to realize the fullness of life on a larger scale.

In the arts, it is imperative to create that experience.

Control Environments

Every element of culture and society competes for collective attention.

Consider what is to be gained by dominating consciousness, emotion, and the cognitive processes. Still, one may choose a personal perspective, making those efforts necessary to reveal degrees of objective truth, rather than blindly accepting the given.

My views on art are shaped accordingly, with the atmospheric works I compose being conducive to contemplative surroundings and clarity of thought.

Grasp, It Cannot Be Held

The past breathes deeply of the future.

Regardless, the observer considers the limits of conformity that are everywhere apparent, manifestations of emotion over reason and nostalgia for appearances that never existed. 

Look and listen beyond the horizon, perceive and think forward, and thereby create tomorrows.

Subtext

Observe the ways in which the attention is directed to certain aspects of cultural reality, and away from others.

Through artifice, glamour and attitude are generated to fulfill needs and expectations of a consumer audience for atmosphere and a sense of connectivity and community.  Some would argue that this is an incomplete and unfulfilling arrangement, but that is not of moment here.  What is notable is that the context itself is often more interesting than the activity designed to engage the attention, for what it says about cultural conditions and the vision of those involved in producing or opposing them.

Postulate music that appeals to sound emotional temperament and invites reflection and creative reasoning.

Echoes Over Time

Music in contemporary life is virtually omnipresent. 

This has become possible over the last hundred and fifty years, during which time the process of recording sound evolved from initial concept to the high quality digital reproduction devices useful in everyday situations and easily available now.

In terms of recording sounds and music, this brings to mind the advent and development of the printing press. The technology is here, the medium everywhere, and culture and the human imagination define the future.

Higher

If the aims of music are more than the perpetuation of vanity and greed, the listener will know.

Art exists for reasons as old as human existence, and music, as an art form, invigorates the senses and the imagination.

It may be crass, exploitative, absurd, and pointless from time to time, but whatever its negative attributes, it can always be more than a sign of the times and a signal of despair and desperation. 

It can symbolize, through sound, our higher ideals and most uplifting desires.

It can, and does, illuminate past, present, and future.

Reality, Existence and Art

Chaos and order exist together.

Disordered thinking is manifested in daily living as impatience, emotional instability, clutter, hazard, and noise.  Chaos happens of itself; it is trifling, irrevalent, and easy to perpetuate. 

To create a perspective free of the pettiness of chaos is no small challenge, and requires effort and vision equal to the task.  Beyond the labor and choices involved, it is also an art.

Out of that art comes culture, and its strength.