I have been listening to a Very Bad Wizards podcast episode on potential reasons for dreaming and there was a lot that resonated with me. While the episode itself and the podcast series in general is always worth a listen, one of the things that stuck out was the connection made between dreams and art, and how they might serve as a way for us to learn how to process, as well as relax our mind with activity. Ona analogy they used several times was that of the nutritional value of content - where while we seem satisfied by what we consume, in reality, it might not be providing what we actually need.
I have thought about this and this way for a very long time, where while we keep getting served easy to digest familiar, it doesn't provide us the mental challenge we actually crave, instead, it gives us a formulaic obvious. A lot of the shows follow this path, as does popular music, and while we feel like we enjoy it, we are never left satisfied for long, as there is nothing to really chew on. Most of the content today is what I equate to "empty carbs" that keep us eating, but do not provide us with anything else other than making us mentally fat.
A lot of people won't agree with me, but I suspect that if we were able to measure the average time in free-thought, contemplative or reflective thought, or consideration of meaning over a long period of time, we spend far less time doing it now, than we did even 15 years ago. I put a lot of this down to the change in technological behavior where we can effectively carry around a TV in our pocket, where we can consume anything. We no longer have to be bored, we no longer have to think about our surroundings, we no longer have to find something to think about or, wander through our thoughts to see what arrives - we are always entertained.
We often here "art and entertainment" spoken together, as if they are relatively the same, but in my opinion, they are quite distinct, where entertainment needn't have any component of art in it, as long as the mind is kept busy. Even if it is kept busy doing nothing. Art however is something that requires some reflection, some kind of internal dialogue that evaluates the whole, as well as individual components, with the internal often spilling into external discussion, where people are considering the meaning behind and perhaps, how it relates to their own life.
While listening, I thinking about the line where something becomes art and I don't think it is in the subject of the art itself, it is in the viewer. They say that art is subjective, but I think that it is more than that, where it is the activity of the consumer interacting because of the art where there is the line. For each, what gets interacted with will likely be different, as it might be the beauty of a painting, the lines of a customized car or the simplification of a complex equation, it doesn't matter. What does matter is the understanding of what the art in it is, which while the interpretation might differ depending on viewer, the appreciation given through the application of thought to work toward building a personal view brings in the exploration of the art.
This doesn't mean that creating confusion in the mind is considered art, unless that is the intention. however, the challenge for the viewer to have to work to both chew slowly and digest the work, is where the viewer will invest into turning the subject into art. And this is an investment, it takes time and mental energy, which are two things that are always going to be in limited supply. They are also things that we can't afford to really waste, which is why there has always been a premium put on the unnecessary. Is art unnecessary?
Not at all, which is likely why I think we dream, as it introduces this highly nutritious food for the imagination to chew upon over and over, spawning new thoughts and combinations of the familiar and mundane that we deal with daily. Dreaming is our natural art, where things are familiar, but never quite as they should be, where fantastical things like flying can happen, or things we have never done before get simulated, only to play out in much the same way later in life - like a first kiss.
This makes art an extension of our dream world, a representation of our imagination that we are able to share with others in a way that allows the audience to experience our internal experience and work to connect with it, interpret it and in so doing, make it their own.
Art is a meal, it is food for thought and we are what we eat.
So much of the world of content creation has been directed to making money, not making people think, to being familiar, not challenging understanding. We lap it up and eat it by the spoon full, but we are never satisfied and perhaps worse, left uninspired. Rather than our activity in the world changing based on what we have consumed, we flick the channel to the next piece of content to see if that will be the one that we fall in love with, while the last is from our thoughts, disposed of in history, not even leaving a mark on our memory.
I have always written far too much for the average person to read, yet read many do. Not only that, they take the time and energy to think and comment also. Many will turn away because of the too long, didn't read of it, but those who read will find something to connect with, something to chew upon, something that elicits a response of some kind, something that connects what they consume to their life. Is it art, or entertainment?
It will depend on the person consuming, as what is profound for one is base to another and goes over the head of the third. Yet, my intention is to weave a narrative where my beliefs are intertwined through metaphor and analogy, where there is reality and fact, but it is not quite as expected, not quite as it should be. Where there is beauty and hope, hidden among the horror and despair and when everything is going well, a reminder that life can change in an instant.
I doesn't matter the topic, the aim is always the same, to engage with the mind and body, to extract the energy required for thought and put it to use, so the reader can finish the chapter for the day and feel that their time was well spent, that they are better off for having tasted what they chewed, before moving on with their life.
What is art to you?
