What can we ask of our self?

“Inquiring within” seems to be an intelligent thing to do on a regular basis. Knowledge is not all extrinsic – not after all of these years anyway. Quieting the mind and stopping the chatter is quite pleasant.

My husband and I were talking about this yesterday. I can study art intellectually for years on end and continue to learn much. But in the final measure, when a work of art is presented, it isn’t what I have learned intellectually that takes my breath away with its beauty. But it’s not just an emotional response either. I don’t know if there is a word for it.

Just a suggestion for viewing currently running on On Demand: *Rivers and Tides (on Encore) – a video about Scottish nature artist Andy Goldsworthy and his work. His approach is just a little different. Well worth viewing. He’s enormously creative!

I think that understanding is a creation of meaning that represents a rare coming together of the intellectual and emotional comprehension of a matter. Carl Sagan said “Understanding is a kind of ecastasy.”

Could ‘understanding’ be the word for your " it isn’t what I have learned intellectually that takes my breath away with its beauty. But it’s not just an emotional response either. I don’t know if there is a word for it."
Bloch observed “the artist chooses the media and the goal of every artist is to become fluent enough with the media to transcend it. At some point you pass from playing the piano to playing music.”

Let me ask the other members of this forum: is there any way someone who is in stage one (I being a community college student) can answer this question in a mature fashion?

I have different reactions to the OP. On the one hand, I do not believe in “phases of life” in the sense that some do. If you do not reach self-actualization until age 40, that means that if I catch AIDS right now, I will never reach my “development phase”. So if I get that news tommorrow, should I continue with my formal education? Hardly! I should jump to “phase three” right away!

I also believe that what is valued in terms of intellect is not always correct. For example, there is the belief that if you have knowledge of something, you somehow own it. I read Camus’ The Stranger at fourteen. But does that make it “mine”? No. Does it mean I am better? Maybe. I sure enjoyed it. But the point is that learning in and of itself has no value. Learning does not always make you “better”. It is up to you to decide what makes you better.

For example, I recently read Richard Heinberg’s Power Down. Whereas before, I had an upbeat, optimistic view of the world, I now understand that the quality of life that all users of this forum enjoy will come crashing down along with the world’s supply of fossil fuels. Do I have more knowledge? Yes. But am I happier? No. It makes me think that my interest in music, in art, in literature, is irrelivent, and that I should get a job fast so that I can start stashing food reserves and starting an apple orchard to feed myself once mass chaos ensues.

I feel, however, that I may not a proper perspective on life to respond to ideas such as this.

Frantz

Life is a puzzlement!