ART IS A CELLULAR COMPOSITE IN THE BLOODSTREAM OF LIFE
Art and creative expression are part and parcel to survival in so many ways. I was riding on this train of thought earlier today.
Here’s that thought train written out for you in story form:
Last night, I fell asleep feeling lonely and slightly afraid. I had gone from staying with my mother in a warm, sunlit apartment in urban SoFla for a month to being by myself in a roomy, empty, rural home. I absolutely love my living situation up here, don’t get me wrong—it just gets lonely sometimes with this much space to myself and distance from my old and familiar life back down south. Coming back to NY this time around was a big transition.
Throughout the night, my house creaked. My printer randomly turned on, which it does sometimes. I tried reading for a bit to make sure I fell asleep in a good, not-creeped-out mental state. I put my book down and shut my eyes once the magical act of reading a story quelled my soul and transported me into a bright, magical world.
The next morning, I woke up. I felt a tinge of loneliness as I began to take a shower. I thought to myself, “how can I solve this loneliness?” And so I began stirring. I came up with thoughtful and creative solutions to ease my loneliness. I thought of the types of engaging, meaningful gatherings I could host in my house to make me feel more full. I reminded myself how much I have to look forward to in the very near future, as well as how I have a sweet network of loving friends and acquaintances.
As soon as I felt that spark of creative inspiration, seeing how I was instantaneously filled with visions that would then drive my next steps forward for the day, it dawned on me—creativity is essential for survival.
Creative thinking, imagination, inspiration, and visualization, in that instance, were key components in solving my loneliness. They fueled me with the energy needed to begin tasks that would set me on a life-affirming (as opposed to a life-draining) trajectory. It focused, energized, motivated, and uplifted my mind.
Creativity did all of this.
Creativity is a magical force. It blesses us with problem-solving juju. It’s vital to health, wellbeing, happiness, and survival.
Aside from this specific instance of how creativity serves my personal survival, creativity is woven throughout the fabric of human survival in quintessential ways.
Making food for example is both a means for survival and an outlet for creative self expression. In essence food is simple and basic, yet it can take on incredibly elaborate forms. Art is a vehicle that can uplift and express values and the unspoken undercurrents that make us all human through means for survival—like food.
Wedding cake is an example of something that is so primordial being taken and stretched toward elaborate, ceremonial, celebratory ends. It’s food, and yet it’s simultaneously a beautiful form of creative expression meant to elevate values that both reach beyond and enrich basic survival.
I think art is used to celebrate and express abundance. Creative expression is a lens through which people can fix their gazes and amplify that which fills their spirits with vitality, joy, and wellness.
Almost every culture on earth has unique ways that it honors and celebrates the turning of earth’s seasons—one of the most primordial factors of human survival. Whether through elaborate rituals, performative and expressive displays, indigenous foods, dances, songs, or stories, art acts as a powerful glue across tribes of people. Art elevates and enlivens a sense of shared values within a community. This is yet another example of how art and creative expression are integral parts of not only basic human survival, but spiritual vitality and happiness. Relationships are sustained on shared values, and creative expression is a tangible way for groups of people to express those values, enabling them to live in a united, cohesive way.
Art is absolutely everywhere—it is the blood of culture and life. Without art, there is no depth, no richness, no universal mode of communication. No bridge between the gaps of heaven and earth; between quantifiable and unquantifiable realms. Art is as immediately practical and necessary as it is a gateway towards God.
If you are sitting at home, look around you. Notice that the furniture around you—the pillows, the chairs, the woven tapestry rugs—are all designed to enhance and refine your quality of life in both aesthetic and practical ways.
How incredible is it that there are niche communities of people in this world who’ve dedicated their entire lives to learning mastery over the crafts required to construct your pillows, your chairs, and your woven tapestry rugs? That’s pretty incredible to me.
I’m not an art historian, but my observation and sense is that art is and always has been an integral part of survival. Regardless of whether the crafting of tools, meals, and resources used for survival is executed in lavish or minimalistic ways, creative expression is the vessel through which basic primordial survival can become something rich, meaningful, purposeful, and holy.
Creative expression elevates basic survival from primordial and physical to transcendent and joyful.
Creative expression has the divine power to funnel the collective gaze of humanity’s’ minds’ eye towards values that unite us all as one.
The act of creative expression is the turning of a singular vision into one that unites all of humanity through tangible ways of existing harmoniously on this earth.
Art is a cellular composite in the bloodstream of life.
We depend on art to survive and thrive.
If you resonate with these words and want to contribute to the purpose of using art for healing, click here to donate to the Resilient Child Fund, an amazing organization based in the Hudson Valley of NY that serves art therapy to traumatized children. Donating to this organization is a way you can show your support for making these healing therapies accessible for children where they are otherwise hard to come by.
