These are gritty times. The economy is unstable. Racial tensions are stratospheric. Rebellion is global. Hunger abounds. The last thing we need right now is a bunch of dreamers dreaming up some new way to paint, sing, write or dance. What we need right now are soldiers of reality -- pragmatists willing to roll up their sleeves and solve concrete problems in concrete ways. Right?
Well yes, but.
Last night I was flipping through a catalog brimming with colorful photos of exquisite handmade jewelry, crystal sculptures, hand-hooked rugs and original oil paintings -- all stunning to behold. About halfway through, I thought -- why am I even looking at these things? They're beautiful, yes, but superfluous in a world where the environment is endangered; where food is contaminated. Where refugees everywhere are fighting for their lives and disease is rampant. Who cares about a $70 crystal blue Swarovski unicorn? (It's very cute.) I wasn't even considering the gold embellished mahogany sculptures of mama and baby panda at $2,500 each. (Also adorable, but I'd have to sell a lot more books.)
But then I thought, what about the people who create these magnificent works? Skilled artisans who no doubt labor for years over a single painting or decorative rug? If nobody buys this art, they'll starve. Artists deserve to eat, too. Don't they?
I went round and round with this thought throughout the day, lugging it to the grocery store and okay, yes, to the shoe sale at the mall. I wondered -- what's heavier on the scale of justice -- the love of art, music, literature? The need to create? Or the impoverished, suffering masses in need of food and shelter? Inspiration or desperation? It drove me a little crazy, because after all, what kind of world is so pragmatic it excludes creative pursuits? What would that kind of world do to the artists?
What would it do to the rest of us?
It brought to mind a book I'd read decades ago, entitled POWER VS FORCE by the late eminent scholar, David R Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D. -- a life-changing book about the evolution of human consciousness. Big ideas broken into palatable bite-size pieces. In it Hawkins maps degrees of consciousness and the behavior that corresponds to each level from a baseline of bare physical survival all the way to the ecstasy of enlightenment. It accounts for how different we all are; what each of us sees and how we see it. Through Hawkins' keen lens, we understand why some civilizations live in an endless cycle of war, while others live at the opera.
According to Hawkins, the lowest level in the human experience is the consciousness of Shame. Interestingly, this corresponds with the reported consciousness of our earliest ancestors, Adam and Eve, whose universal tale was spread by word-of-mouth in many ancient cultures before it was ever written in the Bible. Adam and Eve, banished from paradise, it is told, covered their nakedness with Shame. I think we can all agree that there was little room in their lives for poetic prose, experimental art or a Mozart concerto. Hawkins characterizes Shame with Humiliation, Elimination (murder/suicide), and a Despicable "God-view." In other words, a state of emotional self-loathing and spiritual impoverishment. Love and forgiveness can't survive in an ecosystem of Shame.
Neither can Art.
According to Hawkins, the natural course of evolution moves us from Shame to the level of Guilt, followed by Apathy. On our way up (believe it or not), we step on Fear, followed by Desire, Anger and Pride in that order, to arrive at Willingness, which is the gateway to light.
Willingness is a window, a safe landing, a place of reflection. When a person (or civilization) is Willing, s/he sheds despair and aggression to embrace possibility. "Maybe I'm okay. Maybe you're okay. Maybe there's more to life than Shame and Humiliation, Guilt and Condemnation." Willingness to listen to a new way of thinking and behavior is just the beginning, a portal to higher pursuits. The Renaissance was a fertile bed of Willingness -- willingness to seek knowledge, to learn and grow. Willingness is characterized by Optimism, Intention, and an Inspirational "God-view." After Willingness, we move up the ladder to Acceptance, Reason, Love, Joy, Peace, and at the pinnacle of consciousness -- Enlightenment.
But Willingness is the watershed. Willingness is where Art becomes possible.
When we arrive at Willingness, our hunger shifts from the body and mind to the Soul. This is the moment when Art in all its forms -- visual, performing, musical, and literary, are cultivated. Art feeds the Soul, reminding it that there is more to life than the obvious. There is also subtlety, perception, grace and joy. Not to mention Love.
"Art can die. What matters is that it should have sown seeds on the earth...
it must give birth to a world." -- Joan Miro
The great philosopher and psychiatrist, Carl Jung, drew parallels between art, human dignity and inspiration. Where one exists, he said, they all do. Without dignity and inspiration, we subsist on the lower levels of existence. Without art, without inspiration, we gorge on a toxic cocktail of Humiliation, Blame, Despair, Regret, Anxiety, Addiction, Hate and Scorn. (Now, there's a hangover.) Art reflects potential. Visionary art in all its forms shines a light on the next step of the ladder, giving us something to reach for. Without it, humanity is stuck in a zero sum struggle for survival. I'm not saying that a luminescent painting, whimsical lyrics, or even a crystal blue Swarovski unicorn will feed a hungry man.
Or am I?