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Week 7 . Four Questions.

How do you define “spirituality”?

Personally, I think spirituality is used to determine person’s ability. And it is not an innate thing. You may have spirituality when you suddenly got into the spirit of things. Also, I think spirituality has another meaning. It’s refers to mystery. Moreover, spirituality may control people’s thoughts; just like the human beliefs. We can’t really know what is the spirituality; every one got different answers on it. Maybe when can feel it at church, forest, temple or somewhere.

Does spirituality differ from religion?

For me, I think spirituality is differing from religion. For example, in Asia, there are lots of people believe in Buddha. In their life, ahimsa, nonviolence are the basic principles. When you doing a good thing, you will get the good return, but if do not do so, you will get the bad results. And the Buddhists call this karma. On the other, Islam has the different principles. Muslim never eats pork, they think pork is very dirty, but they eat other meat, like chicken, beef, etc. Thus, spirituality is various in different religions.

How do you define “creativity”?

In generally, I think creativity means you create something unique, the unique ideas, innovation or invention. It’s one of human’s ability. It could be exists in anywhere. For example, Newton discovered the law of gravity. Designer shows their collections in fashion’s week. Artists draw a painting. Mom’s cooks a special dinner. Those are involving creativity. Creativity does not have a fixed form, but we would like to define it as a unique thing or unique thoughts, which means unprecedented.

What is the source of creativity?

The source of creativity is from our life or from our experiences. But every one got different sources. I saw a music TV program before; the singer called Leehong, he always went to forest to find his inspiration. For him, the sounds are the source of creativity. He records birds’ sounds, stream sounds, etc. For me, I do not the exactly source of my creativity. Sometimes, I got creativity from TV or the Internet, but some times I got creativity from outdoor. So I think the source of creativity is also variety.

Week 7 Creative Spirituality

In general, artists create artwork via particular aesthetic experience. As Grey states, “ First artists see their subject, which inspires them to create. Then there are the technical aspects of seeing, such as an accurate analysis of the formal relationships that the artist wishes to express. Next comes a critical translation phase, where the art-making hand dialogues with the seeing mind. This dialogue can be a halting argument filled with traps and pitfalls or a harmonious song that flows form the soul of the artist” (72) by looking this idea, we can deduce that, artists always observe subject, and then put their understanding or feeling into the subject, finally, the artwork is created with artists minds and souls. Furthermore, Grey mentions, “ There is a vast difference between looking and seeing- a difference which is fundamental to the artist’s experience”(72). For me, I think artists experience is the basis of the creation subject in the aesthetic experience. Only accumulated a large amount of life materials, artists can give out the unique feeling on their artwork. Artists experience is often accompanied by strong emotional activities, so it is an indispensable part of art creation. For example, designers are shows their collections during the fashion week. Sometimes, we can deduce designers’ minds, souls, and personalities via their collection. Most designers put their life experience, feelings, and minds into collections. Additional, I think artist experience always includes artist’s value, personalities, and their attitudes on subjects. Also, as Grey said, “ Every artist has his or her unique process of inspiration” (80). We do not which moment their inspiration comes out, maybe a second or maybe few days, or even longer. And we always did not understand how artists seeing, their thoughts are unique, and different than us. Sometimes when we saw an artwork, we may it is bad, but artists may think is good, or maybe we think the work is prefect, but artists think the work is terrible.

 

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