In a world that is increasingly focused on self-improvement and self-help, it is important to recognize the limitations of these approaches.
The mindfulness industrial complex, with its emphasis on self-surveillance and inward focus, can lead to an unhealthy obsession with the self and a hyper-articulation of one’s thoughts and feelings. This constant striving for self-optimization can result in burnout and exhaustion. Instead, we need to turn our attention outward and engage with the world in a more open-ended way.
One way to do this is through the practice of looking at and engaging with art. Just as John Keats observed and imagined the figures on the Grecian urn, we can learn to observe and question creative works, allowing them to inspire wonder and curiosity. This mode of engagement with art is not about seeking answers or explanations, but rather about sustaining the experience of wonder and exploring the effects of our imaginative engagement. By looking at art in this way, we can develop our own ideas and vocabularies, and engage with the work on a deeper level.
Art has the power to hold our attention, draw us away from ourselves, and keep us looking closely at something we don’t entirely understand. By learning to explore something unfamiliar and ambiguous, we develop a kind of muscle, or what Keats called “negative capability” – the ability to withstand doubt or uncertainty, remain open to the incomprehensible, and resist the urge to explain away what we don’t fully understand.
Engaging with art in this manner is not an escape from understanding, but rather a strategy for making understanding possible. By suspending our own preconceived notions and allowing the work to speak to us, we can build our capacity for uncertainty and ambiguity. This practice of looking can also help us develop critical empathy and see the world from other perspectives.
The effect that works of art can have on people is a subject of ongoing conversation in the art world. Rather than trying to instrumentalize or assign metaphorical meanings to art, we need to recognize that the work itself is in a constant state of becoming. Artists like John Baldessari challenge us to see familiar images in new, counterintuitive ways, pushing us to question and reinterpret what we think we know. Through these open-ended engagements with art, we can have transformative experiences and gain a deeper understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
In conclusion, the mindfulness industrial complex may not be able to provide the answers and understanding we seek.
Instead, we should turn our attention outward and engage with the world, particularly through the practice of looking at and engaging with art. By suspending our own preconceived notions and allowing art to speak to us, we can build our capacity for uncertainty and ambiguity. Through this practice, we can develop critical empathy, see the world from different perspectives, and have transformative experiences. It is through these open-ended engagements with art that we can find greater understanding and meaning in our lives.
– The mindfulness industrial complex, with its emphasis on self-surveillance and inward focus, may lead to burnout and exhaustion.
– Engaging with art in an open-ended manner can provide an alternative approach to self-help.
– By suspending our own preconceived notions and allowing art to speak to us, we can build our capacity for uncertainty and ambiguity.
– Engaging with art in this way can help us develop critical empathy and see the world from different perspectives.
– Art has the power to hold our attention, draw us away from ourselves, and keep us looking closely at something we don’t entirely understand.
Source Article: https://aeon.co/essays/it-is-art-not-apps-that-helps-us-with-our-complex-feelings
