Artistry

There are definitive downsides to being an artist or an intellectual. Being an artist means you feel things more deeply than others, or rather you have made a conscious choice to deal in the aesthetic of feeling. This viewed in the realm of modernism may seem anachronistic, but feeling a particular event used to be the building block of art. Human beings have the remarkable ability to toggle between the two separate and different sides of their brains. One is affective, a word that means dealing with emotional interpretation, and one is cognitive. Certainly it is plausible to create in depth understanding of a subject with only cognitive study. To create an artistic rendering of that understanding is different. That could be considered talent, this spiritual affectation that belies easy definition. The human soul that utilizes the affective side of the brain is a large synthesizer that is affected by experiences. This is what allows us to become educated by making mistakes and learning from their consequences. To say the least after years of service the soul can become plagued or taxed, and that could be mental illness. It stands to reason after years of abuse or negative synthesis, the mechanism that controls response can become loose causing short circuits. It is a daunting process to change your soul when it becomes diseased, but in the journey of life it can become necessary. Jody Foster recently starred in a movie where she witnessed a heinous crime walking with her boyfriend. It was tragic and as tragedy does demanded her bereavement process. While often times this process accompanies a death in the family, it too can be triggered by other losses in one’s life. It could be said growth or wisdom can come from completing and understanding the bereavement process. In her situation the bereavement process along with her unchanging environment were strong enough to cause her mental duress. It is easily understood, because the soul is a fragile vessel and needs nurturing. Needless to say America does not provide the type of kid gloves necessary to survive easily when this happens. Our Capitalist socio-economic system is rigid and unchanging as our lives become. When our existence in it becomes soiled thus it is not easily cleansed. To cleanse our souls sometimes we need to shed our skins and start anew, and that means changing ourselves. As Jody did in this movie, she simply changed and became a different person. This might be the easiest way to jump start a weeping soul, which comically is reinforced by the notion that electro-shock therapy actually helps an ailing mind. There can reach a point when the human soul can take no more. On a much smaller scale crying can relieve some of this tension, but after years of negative reinforcement releasing water through the eyes may not be enough anymore. Artists have chosen a difficult vocation, because it requires that one harbor and store a lifetime of affective experiences. There can be a time when those experiences become anachronistic. In a nutshell the passing of enough times renders the experiences out of date or not relevant to the current time period. Modernization could be considered this sometimes difficult process of attempting to purge your soul of expired emotional data. After all one cannot continue to carry garbage forever. The trucks of our souls simply are not large enough.