Vicarious Pearl

VICARIOUS RELATIONSHIPS AND HOW THEY CAN ENRICH THE SPIRIT AND REDUCE STRESS

Art is the expression of the spirit moving through people who created the art examples include a composer creating music a painter creating a portrait and similarly with many of the forms of art created by the human spirit. Art leaves an imprint of its creation in the outer world which can be vicariously experienced and valued by others.

This also applies to the creation of art in the moment by a group of people whether it be ballet dancers, an orchestra, a choir and even a sports team as it works together in a way which is just beyond mechanistic corporation but also involves a sort of a sense of co-creation. Art is an expression of the human spirit. Examples of Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture come to mind and the image of my wife sitting looking at the Taj Mahal and tears streaming down her face. These vicarious experiences can help people enrich the spirit and reduce stress.

The key to gaining the potential value from a vicarious connection with an art form created by others in the past or in the present lies within the observer. Is the observer just seeing the outer physical form or is the observer listening and connecting at an inner level to the spiritual force that has or is creating the art.

Some forms of art come naturally to those who are performing the art others the harvest of the grist in the mill of learning and a dedication to their form of art. The choir has practiced singing in harmony and feeling the connection with the of the singers as they perform. It is important to have an awareness that those who are creating the art in the moment have a symbiotic relationship with those who are sensing and precariously experiencing they are being shared. It is a symbiotic relationship.

As one considers the potential value of learning how to enrich one's own spirit by connecting with the artistic creation of others I believe it's important to ask the question on how we learn to do this and also to ask how this is this learning is implicit in the way we educate our children. My experience in gaining my qualifications as an engineer in teaching engineering at University is how much of our education tends to focus on the mental analytical side of knowledge and not on the artistic form of learning by creating. In grade school the emphasis is on reading writing and arithmetic and the scores been achieved and not upon the enrichment from music and art which is difficult to quantify and measure. I do remember times in my education which now I recognize as important to learning how to fall how to live and enrich life, a music teacher who had us listen and experience Beethoven's fifth Symphony and as an apprentice spending half a day practicing art. I believe it's important for us young or old to recognize that gaining the ability to enrich our spirits and reduce the stress requires us to learn how to experience the artist expression of the human spirit by others.

Another dimension of art is the art that exists in nature. I can see in my mind's eye a picture of Yosemite National Park in spring and sense it's wonders and beauty. I know the enrichment of my spirit I feel when I walk in a park and achieve a sense of presence in my being that enables me to connect the wonder of nature around me.

Why do people go to art galleries and museums, stream to the countryside of the weekend all listen with others to a symphony. There is an opportunity to enrich one's spirit and reduce one's stress by connecting to and experiencing the creative energy that produced or produces art in its many forms. The nurturing potential of art is available to everyone and provides each of us with an opportunity to draw on it to enrich our spirit and reduce stress of everyday life.

Thoughts implicit in this bobtail

1.      Whether art is created in the present or in the past it provides an opportunity for the observer to connect to the creative energy that is or has produced the art and connect in a way that enriches the observers spirit and reduces stress.

2.      Each person has the opportunity is to identify the form of art that provides them with the best opportunity to connect to the creative spirit of the artist.

3.      Harvesting the benefit from experiencing the creative spirit of the artist depends upon the ability of the observer to connected at another level to that creative energy. The challenge is to move beyond the physical form even when observing it and feel the connection to the creative spirit that produced it.

4.      Western culture is challenged to provide educational opportunities at all ages that foster the ability to experience and personally create art. One opportunity to help learn this is to learn by doing. Identify an art form that speaks to your spirit and practice yourself the ability to create art and to share it with others.

5.      Nature creates art in many forms and provides us with the opportunity to experience it. There is a difference between chalk and cheese just as there is a difference between being in nature and experiencing being in nature and really knowing the difference.