Unit 7

OBJECTIVE:

• Become familiar with ways in which spirituality influences artists
• Discuss the differences between spirituality and religion
• Examine spirituality as a generative force and a well spring for creativity

REFLECTION

The author of the assigned reading compared two things that I had never really noticed a difference between: seeing and looking. Grey says that looking, “is the normal self-contained state of ego,” while, “Seeing occurs when our attention is arrested by a person, object, or scene,” (Grey 71-72). This was fascinating to me, it made so much sense but I had never really put a definition to either of these words. I wish that this quote had been available during the unit 5 assignment where we observed people because I immediately thought back to that assignment after I read the reading for this assignment.

So often we just look at what is passing us by, we don’t really see it. The number of times I have overheard or had a conversation with someone that started with, “I think I saw you on campus the other day!” it could be our best friend or even a family member but we aren’t paying enough attention to our surroundings to see what or who is passing by us. I would say that seeing requires more effort but we benefit more from that than looking. I wonder how much we miss out on when we are simply looking at our surroundings? I know that it is not possible to be completely, 100 percent present and seeing at all times, for many reasons but I wonder how much we just let pass by us.

For me this assignment was very reflective because once I understood how Grey differentiated looking and seeing I started noticing when I was doing one or the other, or more importantly, one instead of the other. There was no reason for me looking instead of seeing other than I was distracted or preoccupied with something else. I did notice that most of the time it wasn’t anything physical that was causing me to look instead of see, it was usually something that I was thinking about that was holding my attention.

These were very subtle differences that separate those two words but they make a big difference, I think that the same can be applied to religion and faith. Faith is living out your religion and how you apply it to your own life, while religion is more black and white and can be considered the “rules” of faith. Like I said, the differences are subtle and most people don’t notice that there even is a difference but once you notice it then you look at the subject through new eyes.

FUTURE:

I have really tried to remind myself to see the world around me instead of just looking at it. This is difficult to do all the time but I think just being conscious of it and trying to see, especially when you are talking to someone, it’s about more than just what your eye picks up, it’s about the person too.

Grey, A. (2001). Art as Spiritual Practice. The Mission of Art (1st ed., pp. 205-233). Boston & London: Shambhala.