Emotion

Emotion is a powerful tool (just like science). But, just like the scientific mindset, it is only too easy for the slave to become the master. It's only too easy for our emotions to overtake us.

Emotion is most powerful as a way of knowing. For instance, admiration for the qualities in others can tell us what qualities are desirable and that we should strive to cultivate in ourselves. Even negative emotions, like guilt, or mortification, are useful in telling us when we have done wrong and can guide us to do better.

But all of us already know this.

It's how to deal with emotion, how to harness its power without being overpowered, that many of us seem to have problems with.

The way I see it, emotion is but a bearer of information. What you do with the information is entirely up to you. As a master of your emotion, you must decide and choose your course of action. Should you let your passion inspire you to do something wonderful? Or will letting your actions be dictated by emotion make you do something dreadful?

A concrete, and simple instance of how to be a master to your emotion lies in the emotion of revulsion. When we see something that is revulsive to us, we learn to look away. This is good. We don't want to be harmed by what we are seeing. However, sometimes we cannot let the emotion dictate that action in response. We must desensitise ourselves from it, for instance, when we must dissect frogs, to reap the maximum reward for that poor frog's life (I call this a love-conquers-all syndrome, where you're letting the love of the frog overtake your disgust).

Having said that though, it is only too easy to let your emotion run away with you. Indeed it's perfectly understandable. When you do this, it's important not to let emotions continue to dominate. Do not be overcome by guilt, or wallow in it longer than you have to. The guilt is important in stopping the other emotions, for instance anger, jealousy, or misplaced love. Beyond that though, wallowing in guilt and allowing yourself to be depressed by it, is pointless.

This mastery of emotion is what will allow temperamental artists to lead a balanced life. It is this that will allow them to play with their emotions in their art.

Perhaps this might mean a limit in the depth of the emotion and art in the works of such artists. But I think that's a sacrifice that I am personally willing to make.

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muse

–verb (used without object)

1. to think or meditate in silence, as on some subject.

2. Archaic. to gaze meditatively or wonderingly.

–verb (used with object)

3. to meditate on.

4. to comment thoughtfully or ruminate upon.

[Origin: 1300–50; ME musen to mutter, gaze meditatively on, be astonished <>

—Synonyms 1. cogitate, ruminate, think; dream. 1, 3. ponder, contemplate, deliberate.

–noun

1. Classical Mythology. a. any of a number of sister goddesses, originally given as Aoede (song), Melete (meditation), and Mneme (memory), but latterly and more commonly as the nine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne who presided over various arts: Calliope (epic poetry), Clio (history), Erato (lyric poetry), Euterpe (music), Melpomene (tragedy), Polyhymnia (religious music), Terpsichore (dance), Thalia (comedy), and Urania (astronomy); identified by the Romans with the Camenae. b. any goddess presiding over a particular art.

2. (sometimes lowercase) the goddess or the power regarded as inspiring a poet, artist, thinker, or the like.

3. (lowercase) the genius or powers characteristic of a poet.

v. intr. To be absorbed in one's thoughts; engage in meditation.

v. tr. To consider or say thoughtfully: mused that it might take longer to drive than walk.

n. A state of meditation.

bemuse

1. To cause to be bewildered; confuse. To daze.
2. To cause to be engrossed in thought.

amuse

1. to hold the attention of (someone) pleasantly; entertain or divert in an enjoyable or cheerful manner: She amused the guests with witty conversation.
2. to cause mirth, laughter, or the like, in: The comedian amused the audience with a steady stream of jokes.
3. to cause (time, leisure, etc.) to pass agreeably.
4. Archaic. to keep in expectation by flattery, pretenses, etc.
5. Obsolete. a. to engross; absorb. b. to puzzle; distract.
6. Archaic. To delude or deceive.

Friendships

Lately there's been a new topic of discussion that's been raging the blogosphere as I know it: Friendship. This is my take.

If we viewed the world in greyscale, there are many different shades of black and white. Once you view the world in full colour, these shades of black and white turn to actual hues, like turquoise, red, or yellow. Yet there are some which are so intensely black or white, that even after you upgrade to Technicolour, they will remain all black or all white. This is a story of Black and White, of darkness, and of light.

All along, White understood other Colours by shining its light on them. Some light was absorbed, but the rest was reflected back, revealing the hues in their resplendence. Since White is a combination of all hues, White took delight in the similarities it shared with these hues, in the colours that were reflected. What made it so beautiful to White was this: the longer White shone its light on these Colours, the more White discovered of them, the more hues were reflected back, and the closer the approach to White these Colours came.

Then Black came along. White tried to understand Black the same way it did with other Colours. It shone its light on Black. But Black being Black, reflected nothing back. It remained in the dark. White peered at Black long and deep, but could see nothing in the darkness except occasional cold glimmerings of light. White was never sure whether this light was the light that was reflected back from White, or from some internal source within Black, for Black, in its darkness, seemed to radiate an energy of its own, an aura of darkness.

Now, the chemistry between Black and White was different from the chemistry between White and other Colours. It was driven not by White's act, but by Black producing a reaction in White. White was piqued by the challenge Black presented. While White understood that it would never be able to understand Black the way it did with other Colours, White observed Black on its own terms, in its darkness, and thought that it had arrived at some form of understanding. No, the challenge Black presented was not merely the challenge to understand, but to influence. To establish some light in Black's darkness. It was a new struggle which energised and intrigued White. Of course, Black was darkness, and once light comes darkness goes. White knew this. White knew that despite all its effort, Black would still be Black. But White kept at it.

There were instants when White's light threatened to invade Black's darkness, and Black's darkness threatened to overtake White's light. These were instants when White's light completely flooded Black's darkness, and when Black's darkness completely engulfed White's light. But of course, White being White, it was almost immediate in its response to restablish its light, because White cannot be White without light. And Black of course, was likewise as quick to restablish its darkness, because Black cannot be Black without darkness. But sometimes in the struggle, there were lingering moments of balance and unity, and of great beauty. Snapshots of these moments would look like the yin-yang diagrams, a splotch of White in Black, and a splotch of Black in White, whichever way you developed the film (positive or negative).

All of us have a little bit of Black, and White in us. Most of us make friends the way White understands and delights other Colours. We appreciate similarities. But if we can respond to the differences in our friends the way White responded to Black, perhaps we can make the most of these differences. When coupled with appreciating similarities, friendships can be greatly deepened. And these kinds of friendships - which involve the embracing of the friend as a whole, their good, their bad, their similarities, and their differences - can be much more than just friendships for the sake for friendship, they can be empowering unions.

So what do I mean by empowering unions? I don't mean, as some might presume, the jump from platonic love to romantic, although it's true there's a change in intent. An empowering union is powered by the intent to work synergistically together to create something wonderful. But perhaps this isn't a change, but arises spontaneously as the result of being intent on knowing someone. Deeply.

Artistic temperament

I mentioned once that artists have to be very patient. Today while honing my craft at piano (read: last-minute practise), I think I figured out why artists are so temperamental.

You see, a lot of art is about the craft - the technique. Mastery of technique is very important in art if you want it to reach new levels. Through mastery of technique, new forms of expression are made available to you. You have a wider range of options from which to choose the most suitable means of expression, and be perhaps more purposeful in the way you express yourself through the art.

But central to art is expression. One transient definition of art (I say transient because art consistently escapes definition) I will employ here is that art is the expression of some aspect of life. We experience lives through our selves (which is why art is often the expression of self), and one of the most powerful ways which we can experience life is through emotion. This is why art is often an outpouring of emotion.

This brings us back to my reason why artists are very often temperamental, and inclined to being moody and passionate. Beyond a mastery of craft, they need a mastery of the art itself. Since art is often an expression of emotion. They need to play with their emotions. They need to gain in depth and breadth in their experience of emtion. That's why they almost need to be temperamental. It's almost pragmatic, even sensible in an artist to be overcome by their passion. They need to do it for the sake of their art.

So as an artist, is it possible to have the best of both worlds? A mastery of art, a diversity of emotional experience from which to draw inspiration from, and at the same time still lead a balanced life? 

I've found that the answer is yes. For me, it's a matter of allowing a stronger emotion to balance my life. Love. In a way it's a struggle between love of art and love of life and the need to separate the too. But when you let your love of life guide you, you will want to lead a healthy life, and keep you sensible. You can let your emotions, positive and negative, find a productive outlet in art, and have it end there.

[Edit: Note to self - from experience, no you can't.  This is just like so many other times, this was just wishful thinking on my part.]