The definition of “art” that I am going to use from the dictionary is “human works of beauty”. Obviously beauty is a slightly amorphous term that depends completely on one’s perception. I’m fine with this limitation because art is not quantifiable. That is the point. Art is simply meant to move the soul in some way. Love is another one of those unquantifiable things that we as human spend a great deal of time on. By putting these two unquantifiable terms together, it might seem that I am talking about a whole lot of nothing. Quite the opposite, I’m talking about something that can define a life.
Although the world has shown many of its uglier sides over the past few years, the truth of the matter is that the human race has a knack, propensity or even a yearning to love deeply. The problem is that we are methodical creatures who want to have a formula to create that desired thing. Since love is something that we only seem to be able to identify when we feel it, the processes often leave us empty. On those same lines, art is something that we know when see/experience it. We can put work out into the world that does not qualify as art. Both phenomena seem to be linked in some way to a leap. A forgetting of the self. A release of the process or control. Recognizing on some level that we are standing in our own way of that thing that we desire. The problem is that we fear that it won’t happen without us or even worse, it will happen without us.
The art of loving something requires that you let yourself be given up to chance. It is probably the hardest thing to do because sometimes, you’re going to lose. The cosmic forces that seem to control the world do not let anyone bat 1.000! We need to remember that all creative endeavors are messy. Love and art both fall into that category of creative. Much like birth, they take a certain amount of labor that seems to yield no results to bring the new into the world. Eventually it all ends up worth it but you’re not going to get there without the labor, the leap and the willingness to chance the loss.
Love is on the horizon but you need to believe it before you see it.
Pete
Huryk Unlimited 