Art is the stuff we, humans, make that seems to separate us from all other known species. Art is also the stuff we make which seems to have no bearing on everyday physical life and no reason to exist. This stuff, art, I believe is the invisible world made visible. As strange as this may sound, I think it is an accurate description of reality, albeit a very basic one. It is, however, a solid starting point in describing what art is and how it works.
This art stuff – music, dancing, painting, rituals – is as necessary to us as food, water, and air. It is our connection to the invisible – a reality we are a part of just as much as the tangible world we touch every second, and I would argue even more so.
For the last several centuries the human worldview has been changing towards materialism – an understanding that the measurable parts of reality – distance, forces, temperature, molecules and atoms – is the only stuff that exists. Other things considered just as real in the distant past – supernatural beings, gods, spirit – are just a fantasy, a made-up world. Today, with developments in theoretical physics, biology and other sciences, with AI and the digital revolution, with the use of certain recreational drugs, this materialist worldview is beginning to loose hold. It is becoming self-evident that more reality exists beyond what we call physical matter.
The last few centuries have also separated the arts from the sciences, which is somewhat the result of a materialist worldview, while at the same time a contributor to it. It has relegated the arts into a world of so-called imagination, self-expression and symbolism, separating it from the real world. Except what we consider the real world today has become meaningless. We try to hold on to self-expression and emotions, yet that doesn’t seem to satisfy. As I ponder my reality, I keep coming back to the same thought – the arts must be reintegrated into life in a real tangible way, as an active part of reality. It will bring us back into relationship with the invisible and fill the void of meaninglessness.
Art and the Invisible 