I think this week’s discussion is pretty interesting. I learned a lot after reading essay “Art as Spiritual Practice” by Grey. Just like he talked in his essay, the way people see something is very important, and it could be even more important than the object itself. Grey mentioned the differences between “look” and “see”, which I think is pretty good to distinguish different level of seeing art. He said that “in the deepest art, a condition of the soul is revealed, one’s heart is opened, and spiritual insight is transmitted to the eye of contemplation (p.82).” Even though eyes are what we use to look at things, we should use our heart, or in other words, to see it by really think about it. This makes me think of when I do people watch discussion, I basically just watch people using my eyes, and then make a quick guess or impression. If I want to watch them using my heart, just few minutes are absolutely not enough. But if I did, I will know that person more deeply, and maybe change my first impression.
There are lots of times that Grey mentioned using eyes to see the world. To see their works, there are three elements to be considered for beauty, which are wholeness, harmony and radiance (Grey). I think I can understand why he was addressing these three elements, and I can see how they are going deeper and deeper. For example, when I see a painting, the first thing I will notice is the basic theme and topic it shows. This is how I “look” at it. And after that, if I think about the motion behind the basic while I look at it, I am in the second level. For the third level, I would think it’s a two-dimension connection, which means I would not only feeling something from this art, but also give some feelings to it. For me, I think the highest level is a little bit hard to achieve because I always limit myself in basic ideas that the painting shows, and I rarely to think about it from another perspective. However, after this week’s reading and studying, I can notice how important to see an art instead of just look at it, and I believe I will try my best to see the world using my heart later on.
Hi Rice, I enjoy reading our post. You are totally right that a glance just give us a quick guess or impression. We need extra deep thinking if we want to grasp the essence of author. When you mentioned the three elements, I am thinking we can learn more about art works based on our seeing. As gaining more experience, the more possibility creative spirituality appears.As the result, the communication between the art work and us arises silently.