making stuff, faith
Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better. --Andre Gide
This quote reminds me of me and Erik's feelings about art, how we value intuitive as opposed to analytical, how the artist needs to get out of the way. There's a buddhist idea of Big Mind that reminds me of the collective unconciousness. Your intuition knows more than you do, so let the intuition speak, which requires bravery because you experince having less control.
That can happen with playfulness. Some people think what's playful is unimportant, but I think what's childlike and seemingly light can actually be deep, but without all the trappings and solemnity that are often shorthand for "this is important." Just because something's serious doesn't mean it's good.
But I'm getting off track. This quote also shows my feelings about god, which are so often god-as-metaphor. When I say god, I usually don't know what I mean, but god can always be an idea: the best part of you, or an intelligence that can seem to move through you, or an actual force or being "out there" that you can call upon for help. I talk about god all the time though by some people's definitions, I might be an atheist! Though I don't want to be an atheist: I want to believe.
There's an ad campaign right now on Sacramento billboards for some church (Methodist?) with a picture of a dandelion gone to seed, half blown, and it says, "If you can wish, you can believe," or something along those lines, and it always makes me think. Can faith really be so simple as that? I get cynical and think what they really mean to say is, "If you can wish, you can come give us your money." Are they making religion too easy in order to recruit the skeptical like me, for their own financial benefit?
I think the ad is trying to make us remember when we were little. Some childhood proto-religion like if you pray hard enough, you really will get a red bike for your birthday, and of course, you don't get the red bike.
Well, I've entered territory more thorny than I intended for a fourth of July morning. I wish independence to everyone. To the degree that you enjoy.
This quote reminds me of me and Erik's feelings about art, how we value intuitive as opposed to analytical, how the artist needs to get out of the way. There's a buddhist idea of Big Mind that reminds me of the collective unconciousness. Your intuition knows more than you do, so let the intuition speak, which requires bravery because you experince having less control.
That can happen with playfulness. Some people think what's playful is unimportant, but I think what's childlike and seemingly light can actually be deep, but without all the trappings and solemnity that are often shorthand for "this is important." Just because something's serious doesn't mean it's good.
But I'm getting off track. This quote also shows my feelings about god, which are so often god-as-metaphor. When I say god, I usually don't know what I mean, but god can always be an idea: the best part of you, or an intelligence that can seem to move through you, or an actual force or being "out there" that you can call upon for help. I talk about god all the time though by some people's definitions, I might be an atheist! Though I don't want to be an atheist: I want to believe.
There's an ad campaign right now on Sacramento billboards for some church (Methodist?) with a picture of a dandelion gone to seed, half blown, and it says, "If you can wish, you can believe," or something along those lines, and it always makes me think. Can faith really be so simple as that? I get cynical and think what they really mean to say is, "If you can wish, you can come give us your money." Are they making religion too easy in order to recruit the skeptical like me, for their own financial benefit?
I think the ad is trying to make us remember when we were little. Some childhood proto-religion like if you pray hard enough, you really will get a red bike for your birthday, and of course, you don't get the red bike.
Well, I've entered territory more thorny than I intended for a fourth of July morning. I wish independence to everyone. To the degree that you enjoy.
posted by Laura-Marie @ 9:33 AM
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