Art

With this label's close association with my Bounded, Beta & Phi Illusions, and Earworms labels, explaining them separately deemed a waste of my valuable time. I consider each of them art forms (even though I have chosen to use "Art" as a metonym for painting, drawing, sculpting, or other expressive forms to aid categorization.)

• Bounded - Posts concerning writing
• Beta & Phi Illusions - Posts concerning film (I know this label might sound pretentious, but I just could not use the label "movies")
• Earworms - Posts concerning music
• Art - Posts concerning any other artistic medium

My working definition of "art" is as follows:

Anything holding a predetermined form and remaining in said form while expressing thought concerning the human condition

Now this does not define what I believe qualifies as "good" art or "valuable" art  or "thoughtful" art because these definitions are relative and subjective; but I do believe "art" in any form is a necessity to achieve higher-level thinking.

The best way to increase one's knowledge, intelligence, wisdom, and chances of finding the keys to unlock moments of personal happiness is through experience; however, is it possible to experience everything in life? Simply stated: No.

So how does one, who cannot be in two places or three places or (insert number) of places at once, increase knowledge, intelligence, wisdom, and chances of finding the keys to unlock moments of personal happiness? Once again, the answer is simple: Stories.

Stories--fictional or non-fictional--about people and their successes or failures, their struggles, their social interactions, their various occupations, their cultures, their native lands, or any other imaginable aspect of the human condition are the blueprints for increasing knowledge, intelligence, wisdom, and finding moments of personal happiness, stories written and created by--brace yourself--other people just like yourselves (albeit, a little more aware than average people); people who should be considered the masters of life, people who are not given enough credit about their contributions to society, people who are often overlooked or discounted simply because the popular perception is they have only chosen to write, film, sing, or draw about life rather than experience the majority it has to offer. Malarkey, I tell you! Story tellers, whether they choose pen and paper, a video camera, a musical instrument, or a blank canvas are the masters--the experts--on being human, on living, on dying, on finding moments of happiness...we, as a society or as a world, rarely take the time to recognize this concept or even attempt to understand it.

If these story tellers are so knowledgeable, intelligent, wise, and hold the keys to moments of personal happiness, how is it possible that they are so ignored by the majority of the world's population? Why are they not hoisted above crowds, revered as saviors, or showered with gratitude while alive or discussed, honored, or even remembered after their deaths? The culprits: Socialization and genderization (coupled with a lazy, arrogant, or entitled attitude--an attitude which believes conscious learning is not required after the last bell of high school or the final college credit is logged.)

Think about this first metaphoric example (no matter what culture or race you associate with):

Suppose as an infant we were born as a small ball of clay, and as we grew and aged, through private contact and interactions, others left behind some of their clay (private socialization and genderization), molding itself to our original ball of clay. Consider how when we enter the public realm, more and more clay (public socialization and genderization) is added to our original ball of clay by random contact and interaction, by public expectations, and so on...by adolescence, we are no longer a small ball of clay, but a massive block, protectively securing the influences we have acquired through the years, suffocating our original ball of clay: adulthood consists of gaining a job, a mate, a house, having children; women think and behave one way, men think and behave another way (simple examples to illustrate my point for argument sake, but socialization and genderization are much more complicated concepts.) So our happiness becomes reaching predetermined stages in life, supplied and formed by generally and publicly accepted ideas about life. The provided education we receive does aid in chipping away some of the added clay, molding or smoothing it to shapes more comfortable for our personalities, but it will never be able to return us to our original small ball of clay...unless...unless we reach beyond the provided education (education actually provided to maintain the acquired socializations and genderizations), unless we continue to question, continue to feed our curiosities, continue to search for answers more suitable to our own natures, more closely related to our original balls of clay...reading, viewing, listening, and pondering stories beyond what is required of us through our provided education is the only way to truly begin to chip away at our blocks of clay, to rediscover our original balls of clay...now...is it even possible to chip away every bit of clay added? Most likely not; but at least if you decide to keep a piece, form it, or smooth it down, it was your decision.

Now think about this second metaphoric example (and yes, no matter what culture or race you associate with):

Picture a car mechanic; A car mechanic's job is to fix cars, and in order to fix cars, the mechanic needs tools. The mechanic is provided with a tool box (socialization and genderization.) The mechanic studies the provided tool box, picking up a hammer. After learning how the hammer works, this mechanic is now equipped to solve a few problems arising from a troubled car. But soon, a problem arises that a hammer cannot fix, so the mechanic returns to the provide tool box and retrieves a wrench. After learning how the wrench works, this mechanic is now equipped to solve more problems arising from a troubled car (this example could go on and on, so I hope you can see the picture I'm painting here....) So, just as a mechanic uses tools (socialization and genderization) to solve general car problems and possibly a few tools more than originally provided, humans use words to think; however, for humans to think on higher-levels than the words learned through provided education (the provided tool box), humans need to continue to add more words (tools); without more complicated and complex words, words describing more complicated and complex emotions and thoughts, we cannot think on higher-levels, levels surpassing the potential of the provided tool box. But just knowing more words is not enough, we need to know how to use them to our benefit, just like a mechanic learning how to use new tools to fix cars (because if the mechanic never learned how to use a new tool it would be utterly useless)...reading, viewing, listening, and pondering stories provide the chances to obtain these new words and the frameworks to learn how to effectively use the new words we acquire. The mechanic with the most tools, the most knowledge and intelligence on how to use said tools, and the most experience of applying these tools will be the most successful and happiest mechanic in the garage. Now, some mechanics will own natural skill using some tools, while others will struggle using the same tools even with more practice, but at least the struggling mechanics chose to learn about other tools, which will still make them more successful and happy than mechanics who only choose to use the tools from the box originally provided them.

Stories are important...listen to the experts:

Find your original ball of clay.

Be the best mechanic in the garage.