Week 6 2/9/20

Vision centers consciousness, and expands both.

Observe cultures that are unified by shared visions, in contrast with those that fail.

The Creative Act and Its Double

Discernment is always required in recognizing the difference between appearance and reality.

Individualist expression is essential to art, and demands a devotion to strenuous work.  As a social phenomena, individualist expression alone is highly superficial, facile, and usually inconsequential beyond its sociological and psychological implications.  It should not be conflated with art, as is often the case, but viewed as another matter altogether.

An artist's work speaks for the artist, and for itself.

Marrow, Nerve, Light

Ideas have consequences; causes produce effects.

The most dangerous conflicts are not always won through armed combat.

Black & White

Generally speaking, it is not difficult to take perspectives that allow enduring clarity and wide latitude of thought.

The so-called "black and white" viewpoint, denounced by its detractors as "narrow-minded" and "absolutist" is neither intellectually nugatory nor intolerant, rightly understood.  Fundamentally, an attitude that takes absolute ideals into account must acknowledge the dynamic nature of reality in order to be viable, and open to the increase of wisdom, that is to say, to expanding critical analysis and judgement.

Reality is no "sealed system", and its nature is a continuum of change.  One can speak and think with a great deal of certainty, while comprehending fully the fact that it is always possible to know more, and modify assessments accordingly.  Conversely, it is also necessary to understand that the dynamic in reasoning between poles, those "grey areas" between the black and white, is constantly shifting as well, making it clear that their ultimate disposition is in one direction or the other, reality being an ongoing affair not conforming to a static set of expectations.  One cannot simply expect reason, or the lack of it, to negate the truth of cause and effect.  Neither should one be subject to impermanent and biased whims simply to conform to social, political, academic, or artistic norms, regardless of the settings and circumstances in which they occur.

Simply put, it is a mistake, as Cicero stated, "to attempt to force others to believe as we do", and "to believe that success is made by crushing others".  It is possible, indeed, be right, regardless of any and all arguments to the contrary, no matter how cleverly or "passionately" they are proposed against objective evidence and experience.

Opposing Forces

Recognize the dominant forces in play throughout cultural settings.

These are forces of control, and particularly in terms of discourse, intellectual judgement, and the arts.  All such spurious "authorities" are media driven, and are owed no loyalty or subjection as mere appearances of reality, shallow and unjustifiable.

As such there is no rebellion beyond individual choice, as a matter of personal integrity.

Made once, it is the choice of liberation, and it is permanent.

View and Variation

Art expresses belief and judgement.

Certainly this means art represents a philosophical perspective, whether viewed as a representation of reality or as gesture alone. To interpret or to simply experience any work implies a philosophical choice.  Were it otherwise one would have no choice, other than to accede to, or impose, diktat.

What cannot be expressed directly can, and will, be evoked by other means.

The Uncanny and the Avant-Garde

Assemble elements both predictable and popular and there is nothing unexpected.

Now strip away, by degrees, these elements. That which was recognizable evolves toward the unknown, taking on an alien aspect while remaining somewhat within the realm of experience.

This is the aesthetic beauty of the unexpected, outside the bland, dull order of shock and offense.

Force and Limit

Engaged in the creative act, it is possible to maintain focus on the outcome.

Trace expression from aesthetic concept through emotional and intellectual evaluation, and what is significant is total effect.  All else reflects the cultural climate, regardless of the degree to which any personal, subjective, and objective forces combine in composition and execution of the work.

Reality, Gesture, Object, Effect

Balance reason and the intuitive.

The creative act expresses synthesis of idea and media; it is in flux until it is complete.

Substance, Shadow, Consciousness

So-called "dark" visions and expressions are but infantile, morbid extravagances.

To place greater value on technology than upon the ultimate potential of the human mind is an affront to humanity itself. Such a false perspective is one of infinitely greater hazard to freedom, culture, and society than any demoralized view of the human condition can possibly be.

Cross Talk

Clearly, perceptivity stands in opposition to nihilistic insensibility.

Yet the latter perspective always takes contemporary precedence by dint of incessant clamor, appeals to ignorance, and mob mentality. The sleep of reason yields monsters; their attempted expressions are nugatory, and absurd.

That which will be must conform to reality, and reality will not be coerced.  Contrived eccentricities create neither power nor individuality, and the quest to make them do so has rendered them common, pointless, vapid, and impotent.

Ends and Approaches

Reach for those things that do not yet exist.

Expression reflects learning and experience as well as perceptivity and vision.

Art, Social and Personal

Media directs the attention towards external impressions, and interprets them for various purposes.

Yet, given its superficiality, imagery for mass consumption cannot rival direct experience, and does so only in proportion to weakness of intellect and will.  One may well consider all the implications.

Now, When, Where, Why

Consider those times and places that represent humanity's greatest cultural achievements.

Objectively, the elevation of culture, even at the most base levels, evolves in conditions that promote and defend the freedom of the individual and the merits of reason and work.  Without these, there is only the stasis of collective morbidity, held fast by the tyranny of small minds.

Wax, Wane

Attainment of intellectual expression is a goal and focus of art.  It is noble, and desirable.

This is because of lasting impact, the shaping of future events, and what might be called the transmission of cultural progress through evolving ideas.

As a perspective this is easily lost upon society, and the momentum of reason difficult to gain.

Now and Everywhere

Ars longa, vita brevis.

Hippocrates continues the observation, finding "opportunity fleeting, experiment dangerous, judgment difficult".

So the arts demand action, and the delineation and representation of experience,  There is no time for considerations regarding gain and loss.  There is only the time that remains.

Withheld, Obscured

Consider those things not revealed.

It may be necessary to renew the idea of  "secret societies", as they were known in the past, simply to continue to convey concepts of realism and objectivity to those capable of making such judgments.

The artist must trust perceptivity.  For the artist, the eye, and for the composer, the ear, must reveal insights that may be expressed.  This is especially critical in a culture which declines to the state in which one may call day, night, and night, day, only to be celebrated for claiming such "belief".

Promoveo, promovi, promotum.

Sound and Appearances

Listening implies expectations, usually emotional and often motivated by impulse.

But there are other ways to listen, just as there are other ways to compose with sound.

Begin with reason; explore the contemplative and subtle, the objective atmospheres, as opposed to the common inventions of subjective imagination.

In and Out of the Abstract

Inevitably, the arc of history appears to end in the corruption of the present moment.

But this is no more than the nature of the present moment.  What is not now apparent continues the arc into the future, even as it exists, within reach, yet in obscurity.

Creative Impulse

Nothing is conceived of nothing.

Reality, culture and the evidence of the senses provide the raw materials necessary to engage and come to terms with life's mystery.  Grasped, manipulated, and combined, they emerge out of consciousness in new forms to the extent the mind and imagination allow.  This is the synthesis of idea and vision out of which emerges expression of every type, whether in the arts or the sciences.

All else is simply information, leading to nothing, in and of itself.  And nothing happens without imagination, inventiveness, innovation, and individuality.