You all know the phrase, "you are what you eat."
It's
100% true. The molecular properties of the foods you consume are
brought into your body, alter your own physical and psychological
makeup, and produce everything from growth to moods, disease to
genetics.
Now consider this phrase:
"you are what you art."
Art
has always been something that compels, confronts, confuses, and
creates new worlds. Cultures change because of art; politics are
overturned, and the world is changed forever.
The
artist has an incredible role within humanity. The truest artist has
always been on the forefront of creating culture - not simply reacting
to it.
Which brings me again, to the new phrase,
you are what you art.
Biologist James Zull writes,
"Neuroscience
tells us that the products of the mind--thought, emotions, artistic
creation--are the result of the interactions of the biological brain
with our senses and the physical world: in short, that thinking and
learning are the products of a biological process…This realization, that
learning actually alters the brain by changing the number and strength
of synapses, offers a powerful foundation for rethinking everything."
Art changes the mind, which changes the biology in one's brain and the physical world.
Consider
the following artist…the chef who refuses to use genetically modified
plants and animals to create a dish that is sustaining the biology of
the consumer, as much as he/she is sustaining the environment.
The
culinary artist is transforming how we think about food, how we consume
it, and even our most basic genetic and biological synapses.
Now
consider the poet or songwriter…he/she writes to provoke and change a
once held truth. Over time these ideas and hopes become reality.
There's an incredible amount of power in the words, chords, melodies,
and textures that the artist is creating; so much so, that our
biological synapses are modified and we become a different person (in
thought, reaction, and as society).
Are you creating beauty and tension and words and worlds that is worthy of biological change?
Consider your art in these terms.
Consider the power of what you create.
Because you truly are what you art.
Peace,
Ross
Christopher
