Why every human being is a born artist
The arts have a major purpose in the life of a human being. Art is a way of finding meaning, beauty and truth in life. It is a way to find out who you are, why you were born, and what you must do in this world. If you don’t allow the artist in you to breathe, you suffocate a channel through which great insights can find their way to you.
Your desire to create art and your curiosity about the meaning of life are so intricately linked that it is difficult to realize the value of one without the other. Let me explain further.
We come into this world, stay in it for a while, and then we leave. Between our entrance and our exit we journey through Earth, moving from experience to experience, some of them painful, others pleasurable, all the time wondering why it is we’re here. “What is the meaning of all this?” we ask ourselves.
I think the act of creating art is tied to our search for meaning. When you write a passage of prose, compose a song, paint a picture, or choreograph a dance, what you’re really doing is this: You’re using your imagination to turn your thoughts and feelings about a sensory experience you’ve had into a work of art.
Two things become clear when you look at that process.
One: You are producing an aesthetic object that people can use their own imagination to interact with and learn from.
Two: You are producing a lasting record of some aspect of life that has touched you.
It is this double function that makes art so important for the personal discovery of meaning.
But you don’t have to wait till you’ve arrived at some ultimate truth in order to create your masterpiece. You can start now. Art is action. Act now. Create one small work, then another, and another, and soon you would have built a rich body of work.
I’ve met people who want to live the meaningful and productive life of an artist but feel they lack the proper training, time or talent to do so. While it is useful to have an Arts degree or to be a full-time artist, the absence of those attainments and privileges need not discourage anyone from developing a personal regime for artistic practice. With just books, Internet access, a discerning mind, and a measure of ingenuity one can make considerable progress in a chosen area of artistic expression.
The presence of websites like YouTube, Soundcloud and Medium that promote the creativity and exchange of user-generated content has made it possible for people to learn and apply skills related to a range of art forms including fiction-writing, songwriting, painting and choreography. One can stage a play or a piece of movement theatre in one’s lawn, garage, bedroom or kitchen and upload a video of it for a global audience.
The Arts are no longer an exclusive club. No one can be kept out. But the aspirant must be willing to set aside a little time each day to dedicate himself or herself to the medium of expression he or she has chosen to master. With imagination, patience, perseverance and commitment, that artist is good to go!
