The Purpose of Art

Only art is even remotely comparable to life, which is infinitely complex. It used to be said that art holds up a mirror to nature, but today art and life are often combined, as in performance art. My current cell phone tag line is "Art is a piece of consciousness made perceptible," because i do think consciousness is what underlies both matter and energy and is also how art is created.

By the way, by "art" i mean any and all art forms, including the visual arts, music, dance, anything written, etc. If you think of art as a piece of consciousness, then you can appreciate any attempt at creating it without being too judgmental. You have to open your mind to what is presented, just as you try to do with people, which is not to say you have to like every work of art or person you encounter.

Any work of art gives one the opportunity to contemplate some aspect of consciousness, which is so fleeting, like a stream rushing by, like life itself. And this contemplation is soothing, like meditation, as it is fixed on something external, hopefully beautiful, outside oneself, yet also being internalized, raising one's consciousness.

Yes, i said "beautiful," but that's a subject for another day. This is just Day 1 of what may become a daily project, like the set of poems i wrote every day, beginning in 2004. Here i will indulge myself in some prose writing for a change, with the option to insert a poem now and then, if the spirit moves me. Or recount a dream. Or a real life experience. I can even include photos or videos, and i do like the fact that i can publish it instantly, hoping other people will find it meaningful. 

But is this blog itself art? I don't think so. Yes, it's a "piece of consciousness," but somehow i also know it's not art. So that definition must be incomplete. And maybe i should just forget trying to define it anyway!