Intelligent Energy as Artist

[Diana]

But while on the topic... given that you've followed the path of the artist for so long, how would you define art? I know that this is an ageless question with no universal answer. I'd just be interested in hearing yours.

The highest manifestation of art to me has opened the door to that which is beyond what seemingly is. It is the ability and desire to reach for beauty out of love for it.

Beyond the dedication to honor whatever medium is used by learning the fundamentals and technical skills and mastering them (a musician learns how to play an instrument; a writer learns sentence structure and grammar; an artist learns perspective and light/shadow; a construction worker learns how to properly use tools, and so on), there is the element of vision. That vision is the artist's gift—an open door to channel intelligent infinity if you will.

Many artists are technical. They practice copying a piece of music, a still life of fruit, etc., and the end result is near perfect technically. But there is no life in it if there is no vision beyond that which apparently is. A real artist will employ the magic of imagination, and that alone is not enough. Because if one doesn't honor one's art enough to master the fundamentals of the tools etc. one uses to express their art/vision, then it is self-expression only—perhaps with magic but it will miss the mark of the highest art which is based on a foundation of honor and dedication.

In martial arts, getting to black belt is simply mastering the technical basics. It is after that, when one moves up in degrees of black where the internal work is directed. Like the musician who has chosen an instrument, a martial artist's weapon becomes so intimate as to be another limb, and the technical aspects of wielding it become as second nature. It is then that the ultimate expression of the martial art turns from outward learning and to inward, and this is when it really becomes art. But there is no bypassing the learning of one's craft in order to get to those deeper levels of being one with it and opening the door to that which is beyond the physical.

Another example would be housecleaning. There are different ways to approach the task of cleaning the environment one lives in. One way is that it is a pain in the butt but it must be done. Another way is 1) to honor being the caretaker of that environment, and 2) envision the beauty of a clean and organized space from which creativity and love can flourish just as the musician imagines the song she is composing knowing how to get there because she has honored the process. And this process of honoring one's craft no matter what it is, coupled with the vision to see beyond what is (a messy house) to what it could be and how beautiful that is (a clean orderly environment) results in a manifestation of love that is enough for its own sake, but radiates out to others (people who hear the song, people who come to visit—the love is felt).

So, I am not sure I articulated what I feel art is. I see it as a scale I guess. On the low end is self-expression which there is nothing wrong with, and in fact, needed badly in a global culture that has rewarded left-brain processes in typical educational institutions. The high end of that scale is the synthesis of mastering the tools of art so well that no attention is needed to wield them and all the attention can be focused on channeling something from deep within or beyond that which is seen to exist here.