While the arts can’t stop the COVID-19 virus or the social unrest we see in the world today, they can provide clarity and give us insight into the choices we make when moving through the tensions of crisis and chaos. The arts invite everyone to think in new ways.
“Art is a wound turned into light.” ~ Georges Braque (1882-1963) French painter and sculptor
We often experience works of art as something that’s pleasing to our senses without a full understanding of the creative effort. Great art often shows us contradictions and crises, and we can learn a great deal from their resolutions. Through our understanding of art, we can gain a deeper understanding of how we might surmount our own challenges. In understanding extremes of contrast, we can see the beauty in art with themes that are not simply pleasing for their magnificent features or qualities.
Similarly, the tension of opposites fills our lives with the striving to move from one point to another. When we describe our emotional lives, we use words such as “happy,” “sad,” “angry,” “calm,” “quiet,” or “chaotic.” The contrast in good art often reaffirms opposites such as these; it can help us recognize and feel them as real and honest. Ultimately, a deeper understanding of how these bits of experience can fit together to create something new can provide you with ideas about how to resolve conflicts in your own life knowing that resolution is natural and achievable.
If you are open to the transformative nature of the artistic process and how to apply it to what you contribute to the world, you also know the feeling of creating something with intention. A difference between this artistic process and other forms of patterned, principle-based, process thinking is the involvement of all your senses in a deeply genuine personal goal. The outcome can take many different forms and serve many different purposes, from simple communication to the expression of profound insights or ideas to the world at large.
Several years ago, I attended a Boston Symphony Orchestra performance of Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem. It offers an excellent example of a work of art that brings great contrast within the structure of an eighty-five-minute piece of music. I realized—listening and later reflecting on the performance—that its power comes from the way Britten worked through and used the compositional elements in imaginative ways to express the tensions and contrasts of suffering and hope. In the end, the shock, pain, and revulsion of war brilliantly mix with the peace, comfort, and stillness of everlasting rest. The experience of opposite extremes of human emotion creates a special kind of lasting beauty, the mixture of elements creating a new wholeness of understanding. Even in our everyday lives, we don’t truly ever forget the hopelessness of anguish. Instead, we’re constantly renewed by its contrast with love and unity. When we step back and see things in context over time, we have greater awareness and understanding.
Beethoven offers a wonderful example of moving artfully through crises and chaos. He composed his Symphony No. 9 as his hearing loss became more and more pronounced. The opening of the Symphony seems to come out of nowhere, from near silence in the opening to a full expression of what many consider to be the joy of freedom and universal brotherhood with Schiller’s Ode to Joy. Beethoven appears to have created a work of art that not only freed him from his personal struggles, but one that also, amid the repressive political environment of Europe at the time, speaks to the joy of living together in peace and harmony.
“It’s not just a question of conquering a summit previously unknown, but of tracing, step by step, a new pathway to it.” ~ Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) Austrian composer and conductor
Imbalances in the world today are evidenced by the anxiety, fear, and state of chronic stress that many people experience every day. You can contribute a great deal to your own life, your work environments, and the lives of others by developing the strength to balance, bringing together contrasts within yourself and in every aspect of your experience. Your overall well-being is often influenced by the paths you choose during this evolution.
“Have a dialogue between the two opposing parts and you will find that they always start out fighting each other until we come to an appreciation of difference… a oneness and integration of the two opposing forces.” ~ Frederick Salomon Perls (1893-1970) German-born psychiatrist, psychoanalyst and psychotherapist.
The arts offer many lessons that can help you gain the knowledge you need to move more confidently in today’s competitive and uncertain environment. An openness to arts-based solutions will give you more control over your future.
Patricia Hoy
Are you interested in learning more about the creative process and the value of the arts? Check out my blogs at: https://artsawarenessexpressions.teachable.com/blo… and http://artsawareness.com/blog/