{"id":3188,"date":"2013-08-30T17:41:48","date_gmt":"2013-08-30T21:41:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/mindfulnessmatters\/?p=3188"},"modified":"2013-08-30T17:41:48","modified_gmt":"2013-08-30T21:41:48","slug":"what-is-art-why-do-we-need-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2013\/08\/what-is-art-why-do-we-need-it.html","title":{"rendered":"What is Art? Why Do We Need it?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"2013-08-28-12.19.33\"<\/a>What is art and why is it important? Why do we need art?<\/p>\n

I’ve been contemplating this question after my recent post about What’s Wrong with the World<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Life is something of a mystery. We don’t know how we got here. We don’t know if there is a “why” to why we are here, yet we are here. We struggle to find meaning.<\/p>\n

No one can tell us exactly what life is about. Science can give us facts and this helps. But the view of the world that Newton had gave way to Einstein’s view and Einstein’s view will give way to another.<\/p>\n

Mystery still abounds.<\/p>\n

I recently spent the day at the Shelburne Museum getting a guided tour of the new Pizzagali Center for Art and Education<\/a> and the highlights from the collection of Electra Havemayer Webb. We also saw the Wyeth Vertigo exhibit featureing three generations of Wyeths: N.C., Andrew, and Jamie.<\/p>\n

Andrew Wyeth’s is the most famous work and the most breathtaking. The painstaking detail. The stark palette. The ominous compositions. I felt something. I shudder of emotion. For an instant, I\u00a0knew<\/em>\u00a0I was human. The artist made art. Great art, at least for me. But of course, I am not the only one who feels this way about Andrew Wyeth’s work.<\/p>\n

The purpose of art is to make us experience something: a feeling, an insight, a sense of connection to something greater than ourselves–that mystery that we are.<\/p>\n

Kurt Vonnegut said, “We are trapped in the amber of the moment. There is no why.” This could be another purpose of art: to fixate us in the amber of the moment. The questioning mind ceases for a moment and there is only experience.<\/p>\n

This is why we need art and why the world would be impoverished without art and artists of all kinds.<\/p>\n

We are all artists, of a sort, or have the opportunity to be like artists. We can look at the world with an eye of translation, transformation, and truth-seeking. How do make sense of our experiences? How do we take in the beauty that is around us and represent it to ourselves and others? How do we grow ourselves as human beings?<\/p>\n

These are the questions that we can engage every day as we move through the world, trying to do good, be good, and figure out how to be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is art and why is it important? Why do we need art? I’ve been contemplating this question after my recent post about What’s Wrong with the World. Life is something of a mystery. We don’t know how we got here. We don’t know if there is a “why” to why we are here, yet…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":268,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,8,14,10],"tags":[727,25,728,348,726],"class_list":["post-3188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media","category-mindful-living","category-recommended","category-spider-mind-world-of-interconnections","tag-andrew-wyeth","tag-art","tag-artists","tag-beauty","tag-shelburne-museum"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat is Art? 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Dr. Kozak's ability to translate ancient healing traditions into pragmatic applications suitable for modern lifestyles through the use of metaphors have made him a strong voice in healthcare and business. Beginning with a journey to India in the 80\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where he took the Bodhisattva vows from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Arnie Dr. Kozak began his lifelong practice in mindfulness meditation. Intent on finding a way to bring the practical healing attributes of mindfulness he began incorporating these techniques in his private practice. In 2002 Dr. Kozak created Exquisite Mind in Burlington, Vermont as a vehicle that could expand his wisdom to larger audiences beyond individual psychotherapy to professionals and corporations, health care providers, public groups and, most recently with Exquisite Mind Golf, amateur and professional golfers. His award-winning new book, Wild Chickens and Petty Tyrants: 108 Metaphors for Mindfulness (Wisdom Publications, 2009) is a thoughtful, funny, and inspiring translation of mindfulness practice through the inventive use of metaphor applicable to our daily lives. In addition to his work with Exquisite Mind, Arnie Kozak, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist\u00e2\u20ac\u201dDoctorate has been a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Vermont and is a Clinical Instructor in Psychiatry and Medicine, University of Vermont College of Medicine. He has studied and practiced clinical psychology, meditation, and yoga for more than 25 years. He has studied with several meditation masters, including S. N. Goenka, Larry Rosenberg, Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. After receiving his bachelors degree with honors from Tufts University, he was awarded a Presidential Fellowship to get his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University at Buffalo. He completed his training as a Psychological Fellow at the Harvard Medical School. Prior to founding the Exquisite Mind in 2002, Arnie worked ten years in the private sector for the PKC Corporation consulting on mental health content for this revolutionary software company.","sameAs":["http:\/\/exquisitemind.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/author\/akozak"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/268"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3188"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3192,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3188\/revisions\/3192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}