joe.. i often hear the expression : "i know what i like"....referring to the art, music, poetry, literature.... yes well that's ok..
what is the difference between understanding and appreciation?.. .yes you can appreciate but don't you want to understand...artists tell stories...it's all story telling...it's still about understanding... what are they telling you?... it's insane to use the word like.. .if you are having a conversation with some one you do not say i like that conversation..you are communicating..this is with all the arts as well... in fact it's all communication joe..even in science... eh?... surely.. .we only live one joe so to speak if you want to live on the surface of reality ..fine however there are layers and the layers make life ever so more interesting..digging deep.. .expressing deeply, feeling deeply, knowing deeply.. .superficiality has a place however it does not maketh for the renaissance man...you know that... digging deep deep into the earth to find the gold joe.. the gold of existence.. .brushing by a work of art as "oh i like that." ..jesus holy jesus who could possibly be satisfied with just that?.... a society butterfly, an art wanker, a red neck illiterate.. certainly not you joe. .if you know zen then you know there is a depth to all things...and digging for that gold is where it's at.. .merle Merle, Hey... who said it was about liking? ( 'tweren't your Cousin who did, Cousin). I say it's about... "Appreciation." But that's me. We each get to make these discernments; and I think it doesn't matter how we define art, or what it's about. The fact is, Art works on us. When it does. And even when it doesn't. (in Zen practice, too; but if you take Zen practice to awakening, and continue beyond that, it's the same discernment for All) Probably the artists were up to different things at different times, too, Merle. No consistent thread in any of those whack-o's! Just look at Picasso's career, for an "inkling". Jumping from one thing to another, following his interests, doing radically different things at different times, as his vision and emphases changed. What a jack-rabbit! And, good at what he did! And we all see and feel different things when we hear a string quartet, or a soloist. If it's "understanding", well, that seems a straight-jacket rule-based thing that you would reject, like you would reject a Nazi government, given a choice. ;-) Art is not Science. If my appreciation of poetry is dependent on "understanding", forget about it, as we say in New Jersey. And, "I quit". A channel opens: is that "understanding"? I don't think so. It is Appreciation. And, it is a mystery. For Joe! Just sharing, you see. Maybe I am northern-hemisphere-centric, but I don't know. My head points straight up into the sky, though, no matter where I stand. Yours? --Joe > Merle Lester <merlewiitpom@...> wrote: > > you have to embrace art to understand art..it's not about liking it's about >understanding!.... merle
