Artifact #5 – Creative Spirituality
Original Post
The things in which we observe with great detail shape who we are as people and how we see the world. As one walks down the street, the things that one puts most of their thought into is going to affect the things that they observe. In our culture today, as someone walks down the street they are probably looking down at their phone or blaring music into their ears making it nearly impossible for them to observe the world around them. People today are lookers rather than seers, as Grey would say in his chapter “Deeply Seeing” from the book Art as Spiritual Practice. Our inability to get out of our own heads, or most likely our phones, disallows us from truly seeing the world around us. Grey describes, “deeply seeing”, as a time when “our minds stop chattering and pays attention” allowing us to truly analyze and think about whatever is happening (72). Deeply seeing is not only crucial to embracing the world that surrounds us but also the world of art. As learned throughout this course and specifically in Tefler’s article, that “aesthetic reactions” are a huge part of interpreting and viewing art (9). Without deeply seeing something, one cannot have an aesthetic reaction and therefore they will have trouble understanding the arts.
Our ability to see “determines every aesthetic decision” because by actually seeing something rather than just looking, one uses more than just their eyes but also one’s “heart and mind” (Grey 72). For example, the pathway that leads to my house was redone the other day, unbeknownst to me, even though I had walked up and down it multiple times since the renovation. I was walking with my eyes open, as humans normally do, and therefore was definitely looking but I was in my own mind. The things my eyes perceived were not being seen but rather overlooked. In my opinion, it is the monotony of our every day lives that stop us from “deeply seeing” because we no longer think our attention can be “arrested by a person, object, or scene” in a way that pulls us back to reality (Grey 72). We no longer expect to be amazed by the things around us and therefore we have stopped trying to see things that seem unnecessary.
I would argue one point that the author makes and that is the idea of “egoic chatter” which is defined as an “isolated, self-absorbed state”, which the author believes stops us from deeply seeing (Grey 72). I believe there is a difference between being in your own head and being in a self-absorbed state. Being in a self-absorbed state is to me, is when a human is truly just thinking of himself or herself and nothing else. Being in your own head can involve a number of other things and people included. One could be thinking of friends, family, televisions, the list is endless, all of which could have nothing to do with them in a selfish manner. Therefore I believe it is not the fact that we are selfish humans who cannot stop thinking about ourselves enough to deeply see but rather it is as if we do not know what to look for.
Grey, A. (2001). Art as Spiritual Practice. The Mission of Art (1st ed., pp.205-233). Boston & London: Shambhala.
Telfer, E. (2002). Food as art. In Neill, A & Ridley, A (Eds.), Arguing About Art: Contemporary Philosphical Debates (2 ed., pp.9-27). New York: Routledge.
Objectives
- 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
I really enjoyed this assignment because I think it allows us to do something we do not normally do. We, as a society, are so enamored with everything, that we see nothing. We are always looking for the next best thing, which so many a times we miss what life is truly about. The article by Grey really made some astounding observations about how we perceive the world around us. First, the author is sure to make known the difference between what “kind of looking is necessary for survival” and “actually seeing” because many do not see a difference at first (Grey 71). Something I am guilty of myself.
There is so much that surrounds us that should amaze us that we have almost become numb to the everyday. This assignment helped pull myself out of that blindness. Rather than walking to class with my music in or staring at my phone, I choose to walk the streets with an awareness of not only what could harm me but also what amazes me.
Future
I hope that this lesson stays with me for the rest of my life. There will obviously be times when people, including myself, are so wrapped up in their own everyday life that they never truly see, but the majority of our time should be spent truly looking. I should notice new blossoming flowers in front my house that I walk by everyday because not only is that a sign of life itself, it is a sign of time changing. We are just one species amongst thousands of others. Just because our day may not be going well, the rest of the world is happening no matter what.