The Artistry of Art

The four absorptions of perception and proficiency

Understanding

The layer of intellectual perception, which is assembled from cognitive processes of analyzing, logic and memory. The need to think of every action forces lack of spontaneity and is characterized by perceptional fixations and conditioned reactions, which were acquired during life and were polished into “professional knowledge” in the terms of college and/or the initial acquiring of professional experience.

Knowledge

Profound understanding, hence the enhancement and transformation of the intellectual perception into an instinct. It is characterized by technical or creative spontaneity, but one which cannot exceed the boundaries of understanding.

Insight

Knowledge accompanied with intuition, which allows momentary glances into the infinite pertaining to the source and origin of the phenomenon or field or your practice, hence genius. The intuition allows for exceeding beyond the intellectual patterns of definitions and conditioned reactions, meaning beyond understanding or knowledge. This is the wisdom of profession, sheer proficiency, the Artistry of Art.
For example, Einstein was much more than a mathematician. He had a mathematical insight; he experienced the universe through mathematical formulas. Einstein was an artist of mathematics.

Wisdom

The knowing of knowledge, hence the knowing of the source and origins of all phenomenons regardless, meaning the knowing of God, meaning knowing thyself. Wisdom allows for the absorption of the entire depth of the universe and beyond, it is the intelligence of Creation itself and it is absolute, since only from the absolute can one recognize the entirety of relativity. Wisdom is sanctity.
As a derivative it is of course, wisdom is the deepest most profound and comprehensive level of absorption of any subject matter. It is being one with all.

Strike a pose: The “artist”

Preface

Not long ago I was surfing the Internet and came across a certain website. It was some form of a virtual coffee shop or a virtual social network for people of the common interest field or the profession of art. And so, al those register to that website and have debates and announce news and show their works, etc. now, since I do not come from the academic world of art and I have not had Salon conversations regarding art, or mingle with other artists or, in short, to live this particular world including all its social elements and their derivatives, I felt the need to poke a little into the contemporary consensus, to peck the present “In”, to appraise my worth through the reflection of the mirror of reality as it is perceived and defined in the minds of the young generation of the artists of present times.
And so, while I was surfing the website to seek approval for me being so uniquely special, I wan into a certain artist who posted a portrait painting which he created, along with the declaration that this work won some prestigious competition for portrait paintings in the US. Alongside there was a photograph of the artist and this is where my criticism starts.

Unnatural composition

A certain sight was revealed to me and which to me was no less than repugnant. An “artist” standing in his studio, or so it seemed, alongside a base with a stretched cloth over it. The “artist” was meticulously covered with the utmost pretentious fancy clothing, which were recognizable even to those with the shortest available span of inner truth. He also punctiliously arranged these clothing to the best tradition of the tediously unnatural nonchalant: the French Barret in the 19.2 degrees angle to the forehead and slightly covering it as well as a part of the ear, the cashmere scarf wrapped round his neck with precise sloppiness, the fashionable sweater dropped casually on his back and it’s sleeves neatly tied and laid upon his chest, yeah… and the paintbrush in his hand. Great. How very “artistic” of him.

“Vagina.”

Remember the scene from “The Big Lebowski”, when the Dude arrives for the first time to Maude Lebowski’s residence? I would guess that the whole thing where she paints by splashing paint upon a tilted canvas lying on the floor, while she is hanged and rolling from the ceiling buck naked, along with that remarkably stupid mumbled music in the background, was actually a parody about “artists” and their shallow and meaningless “statement”, which is no more significant and no less hypocritical than the feminist over-emphasized and exaggeratedly confident utterance of the word “Vagina”. Yes, these kinds of artists are indeed certain sorts of pussies.
Must artists really be so vainly extravagant and extrovert? To me, it turns the phrase “an artistic type” into a wretched curse. Who knows, perhaps that was its purpose to begin with, to express contempt.

The question of Image

Indeed, it is only natural that a craftsman which shoots an image photo of himself would do it alongside the product or in the workshop which mostly represent his profession, in his natural habitat. OK, acceptable, but there is a limit to that. And what am I saying here exactly? Well, beyond my personal revulsion of such vanity, I am here to say a number of things, beginning with that there is a difference between an image and a vapid and fake pretension. I ask myself if this “artist” really paints like that in his studio – standing there, dressed like a hypocrite fagot, applying paint on his stupid cloth with an eyeliner? Is this how you really paint? Have you ever seen Picasso in his studio?
How could it be that a person who is untruthful to that extent, who is so attached and bound to his image as an artist can really be an artist? How can a fake human be an artist? And perhaps it would be more correct to ask if a fake human can even be human at all. Well, he cannot, he is an empty shell of himself, he is the peeled skin of his true content, he is a nutshell of imagery over humane substance, and that shell constantly changes in accordance with the circumstances of here or there, now or later, in front of him or in front of her, just as the chameleon changes it’s skin color.

The art of character camouflage

An untruthful person is an unreliable person, since he is not attentive to his real content and is therefore not expressing it. you can count on it, that whatever it is that he shows you when standing in front of you, he shows not because it’s him but rather because it you. To someone else he will show something different because it might be more suitable. So if you cannot trust this person as a human being, how can you trust him as an artist?
Art is a form of communication and at least in this modern age it mostly reflects the mental contents of the artist, his thoughts, emotions, opinions, messages and his criticism – his nature, and if it is so imperative to the “artist” to so neatly arrange his own composition only to appear or to be perceived as an artist, then there is a problem here.

The Artist

The question of proficiency

And then I take this question to a broader context, pertaining to proficiency in general. What kind of a craftsman are you if you are not a truthful person? Can an unaware and untruthful person be a craftsman of quality? I think not. A proficient craftsman is someone who has an insight to the field he practices regardless of what it is, be it a milkman, a chemist, an electronics engineer or a builder. In any profession there are those who are artists and those who are plain craftsmen or tradesmen, since they don’t have insight to the filed of their practice, meaning their caliber and capacity of perception in their field are low and superficial and only from there might derive different technical abilities and proficiencies.

Differentiating qualities

A bad doctor treats the symptoms according to dry medical charts and tables which he memorized, without knowing the type of disease or its cause. A good doctor is one who follows the symptoms to their root in order to identify the disease, and then gives medicine accordingly, out of actively conscious involvement to his choice. The artist-doctor recognizes the root and cause of the disease, and once the cause is revealed the solution is naturally and spontaneously derived from it – he is a master in the world of medicine.
Saying that cancer is the abnormally fast reproduction of bodily cells and that the cure for that is chemotherapy is a symptomatic treatment which identifies the disease and defines a name to it and nothing more, but once it will be realized why this fast reproduction occurs, then the true cure for all cancerous diseases will be readily realized as well.
Similarly, a bad driver knows how to drive and a good driver also knows well the routes of his course, but an artist-driver is of an excellent sense of direction, navigational intuition, insight to automotive mechanics from which derives a complete technical control of the vehicle itself – he is a master in the world of driving.

Differentiating wisdom

What is actually an electrical engineer and can a simple electrician be “better at electricity” than that engineer? Can there be a good electrician who never studied electricity in the formal manner? I think so, because if one approaches a certain occupation out of a deep experience of being, then that same depth  of spiritual awareness which he experiences as a human being and that from which all his insights, understandings, perceptions and outlooks upon life are derived, then that is the same depth and broadness from which derive his intellectual and technical insights. His depth of spiritual awareness or what you might call self-awareness, his depth as a human being can be naturally implemented upon all aspects of life. A truly wise person is not proficient and knowledgeable in one field only, but he is always an erudite person, and I do not mean a jack of all trades whom is of the superficial attitude of “let’s learn a little of anything that I can make a lot of quick money from”. An erudite person is one who by virtue of being deeply and acutely self-aware derives similar awareness to the universe as a whole, from which in turn derive the understanding, knowledge and insight to all aspects of life, corporeal and spiritual as one.

For example, absolute hearing does not pertain to a certain symphony of Beethoven only, as well as not only to all symphonies by Beethoven, or all symphonies in general and also not only to classical music or even not only to music in general, but rather to the entire universe of sound, absolutely. So also in the case of absolute sense of vision or sense of taste, etc.

Finalizing flow chart

So, along the path towards the absolute there are numerous stages and stations through which you ascend on your spiritual process, and in direct proportion to the extent of the concentration and purification of your mind you experience a gradually greater and deeper all-encompassing insight and glances into the eternal wisdom of God.
And that is why I say that lack of spiritual awareness is superficiality and that a superficial person is a superficial craftsman. I say that a superficial human is a superficial artist. Superficial artists create superficial art, and that cannot be worth as much as it does in this day and age… examples are abundant.

The essence

If so, beyond all those formulas and numbers, what IS electricity? What is its intrinsic essence? What is the inherent essence of art?
Generally speaking, the essence is the seed, the extract, the inherent code and order that guides the contents, the corporeal expression of the abstract, the relative derivative of the absolute. From it grows this or that trunk which stems such and such branches, which stem so many different leaves – there can be infinite infinities of diverse expressions to the same essence. We can never investigate them all, not even in an infinite stretch of time, but knowing the essence will give birth to the all-encompassing insight and along with it will emerge the spontaneous expertise pertaining to each of the trunks, every one of the branches and all strings of any leaf.

I

How do I judge an entire soul of a human being based on one photo? What is it exactly that I base upon this arrogance of alleged knowledge? Well, let’s start by saying that I could be wrong. Perhaps this was a moment in time when this artist was captured in the iniquity of superficiality, perhaps this was a period of his life when his center evaded him and he found himself shaken by and drifted upon the whirling turbulence of self-image.

I myself am not free from pretension and care greatly about my image in the eyes of others, only I define and base that image in the minds of others using different means than those of that certain artist whom I saw in the Internet. So, in my personal opinion, depending on your external appearance – on whether you have or don’t have a beard, on whether you have or don’t have dreadlocks or a French Barret cap on your head in a certain angle, or a scarf or grotesquely fashionable glasses, or this or that post-intellectual pseudo-artistic look – in order to build your image as an artist, is ludicrous and the fact that one devotes so much of energy to that, indeed makes him superficial, there is no doubt about it. But this does not mean that I am not superficial as well, in my own particular mannerist way. However, there are levels of superficiality…

The order of consensus

Direction implies depth

It seems to me that most people approach themselves from the outside and inwards. And what does that mean? At some point in their lives, when their self-awareness awakens, they start to look around and to build, mold and suit their self-image according to the impositions of their relevant consensus. Any anomaly from that consensus immediately receives a counter-reaction and if you are not a centered person you instantly straighten up accordingly.

The rules of language

Thus you start learning the language – the language of consensus. Over the years you enhance your knowledge of the language, fixate into the impositions of its principles and become a subordinate member of the order of consensus – this is how you think, this is how you will communicate with your boss and treat your employees, this is how you will find your spouse and raise your kids – this is how you will perceive yourself, and according to that judge and criticize yourself – according to the rules of the consensus. What is acceptable to think and what is not, what is acceptable to do and how, and if it is not “appropriate” to have sexual thoughts about your mother, then you will suppress the fact that you so have them.

Obviously you will not be able to stop thinking them because you don’t have any choice, but you will not allow it room within your mind, you will not recognize it as a part of who you are, but rather invest tremendous amount of energies into diverting your attention from it and repressing it. Out of this repression hypocrisy will take birth, and if you will hear of someone else who has sexual thoughts about his mother you will criticize him, you will scorn him, you will patronize him and you will kill him. And why? Because you know that it exists within you and you can’t stand it. If you can’t stand yourself than how can you have empathy towards someone with the same weakness?

Closet-souls

We approach ourselves through the social eyes, through the consciousness of the consensus. Almost automatically we wear upon ourselves some sort of fabricated image, a pseudo-individual false identity, because we don’t have any real idea of who we are. We choose a certain identity out of the fixed supply which is offered by the identity-wardrobe of the consensus. We choose one which, in our opinion, will help us attain as quickly as possible all that which we desire in our lives: money, status and sex.
And here the question is asked: what exactly is the difference between one who is truly unique and one that only wears a mask of uniqueness?

The inner truth

A bundle of past

At the basic level of things, each and every one of us is an infinite soul. He already rolls for eternity in time, wearing numerous forms and shapes. He has accumulated a unique sum of infinite experiences, memories and impressions and shaped accordingly into a mental and physical mass which is completely and absolutely extraordinary. The finger print is a fraction of this expression of the infinite uniqueness of each and every conscious being. But how may of us are truly aware of that?

Uniqueness is awareness

So, what is the difference between pretension and uniqueness? A unique individual is one who investigated himself, purified at least to a certain extent the burden of self-image – the recognition of himself as it is reflected in the eyes of society, shaped by society – imprinted by the consensus. I mean, really, think about it: how special can you be, if you’re just like everybody else? Hmmm? So you’ll put on this perfume and feel very good about yourself and say to yourself: “Oh, I smell very good now, I smell Giorgio Armani”, but Giorgio Armani is a brand which is fitted to everyone and about an hour from now you will meet someone on the train who smells exactly like you, and for the avoidance of any doubt, millions of individuals around the world smell exactly like you right now, they smell “Giorgio Armani” – that’s why he’s so fucking rich. This is not your natural scent – this is not your distinction.

Flat-out

And this is a typical example to the entire world of brand names, which are all attempts to flatten and characterize all people to the same simple pattern; “This is a Nike-person, Nike is this and costs like that, the value of a Nike-person is therefore this”, “This is a Ralf Lauren-person, Ralf Lauren costs like that and reflects this, therefore this person is this and that”, etc. every person who lacks awareness and therefore lacks a center and who uses this or that brand name, actually takes upon himself the identity of the designer and owner of this particular brand name, the identity which he wanted to inflict (yes, exactly) upon you.
The Romans simply conquered the entire world known to them and forced all people to convert to Christianity and learn the Roman language, while as today they inject Coca-Cola advertisements into your subconscious during movies and glue these filthy phony laughs to all Sitcoms, because they no longer trust you to know for yourself when and how to laugh, should their lousy humor really amuse you.

BDSM

And why should you take that upon yourself? An unaware person is a slave – that is why. We take is upon ourselves because we are slaves. But when one is consciously self-aware and he plainly likes or dislikes this or that brand name, it is another story altogether. And this is exactly where the distinction is made between self-identity and the false image of self-identity, between uniqueness and a vapid pretension of one.
When you are a slave to the conventions of society, you consolidate into the perception of who you are, into your self-identity through the and according to what is acceptable and accustomed, through what is “right” in the eyes of society and given those limitations you try to form some sort of uniqueness for yourself. But you cannot create uniqueness from within boundaries, because the creator of the boundaries is the only one who sees the entire frame and dictates the rules and codes of conduct – you have no choice but to become molded.

Bottom line

You may waste hours in front of the mirror dolling yourself up, throwing on the best brand names with the hope of being the most special in that pub or bar or club, you may labor your entire life in the attempt of not being an “ordinary painter” or an “ordinary artist”, so that your works are the most unique in that gallery or museum, but as long as you approach yourself from the outside and inwards instead of motioning from the inside out, you haven’t got a chance in the world – they are all like you and you are altogether like the rest of them.
Your identity as an artist is your identity as a human being. In the lack of true self identity you are not a human, not to mention an artist. And when your self identity as a human and as a result of that, as an artist has consolidated enough and you have reached a certain station in your spiritual process, then you will find out for yourself, that in the most naturally spontaneous way you have become ripe enough to bear fruit.

We all have to find our true uniqueness in order to shed it and discover the ultimate equilibrium of identity, where we are all truly and deeply the same, where we are all united as God.

The art of living

Attentiveness

Who am I now, just this moment, every moment? What do I really think? What do I really feel? Who am I in this situation – everyone sitting next to me, drinking, smoking, laughing – who am I now? Do I really want to drink? Do I really want to smoke? Do I really want to laugh? And if so, then why? What is right for me? What is my truth, my true experience? What are my real thoughts, my real emotions? What is the true content of my mind at this moment? What are the true sensations on my body? Who am I now?
When you do this long enough the self image starts to erode and more of the true content of your mind – an infinite mass of a totally unique content which was formed in the course of numerous life cycles and eternity of time –
starts to erupt and express itself. It will not necessarily be nice or pleasant, it will not necessarily be catchy and acceptable, but it will certainly be who you really are.

Expanding uniqueness

This is uniqueness, this is self-identity, this is center – it is always who you really are and is never ever, not even for a moment in time, derived from an external opinion or criticism, from acceptable conventions or social conditioning of once and now, here or there. Your true uniqueness always derives from being yourself, and the more you persist in allowing yourself to be, the more it will strengthen and you will increasingly grow in becoming yourself. Along the way you will find which are the things that are not really important to you in who you are and how you look, behave and communicate with yourself and with your surrounding, and you will therefore gradually shed them from you, as fear will diminish and faith will increase on the expense of the remaining space. You will be increasingly revolted by the burden of silent consent to the numerous behavioral, emotional and communicative nuances which are subconsciously coerced by the consensus, and will therefore start shedding all this from you, layer after layer, regardless of the reactions of society.

The value of deceit

To me, personally, it is no longer worth it. I rather be truly me and hated than a fake me and beloved. And perhaps I would have to give something up in return for the freedom of being myself, perhaps the niche of artists or of the art establishment, or of that of the gardeners or the consensus of gardening, or maybe of that of this current salon talk with four or five of my so-called friends, or that of succeeding in that small little world of the first date with some hot babe I would love to fuck, or that of me with myself when I’m dying to pick at my nose and smear the secretion underneath the table, but feel that it’s “inappropriate behavior”.
It’s not worth it for me to lie, to suppress who I am, to be someone else just to please – not now and not ever. After all, the true report is presented only to God, hence only to myself. And even if I’ll profit some good sex out of having lied, of having behaved acceptably, of having been funny, witty, intelligent or whatever it is that I think she had expected me to have been, so what?
How much energy we invest into trying to please others and be revered, but we always return home empty, miserable, sad and exhausted of having not been us. No fortune in the world is worth not being me, not even for a moment in time.

The art of dying

We will all die. Rich or poor, famous or not famous, successful or unsuccessful – death awaits us all and it is identical and impartial. Death is the best consultant, so says Don Juan, the old shaman of Carlos Castaneda. Spiritual awareness and the memory of our upcoming deaths dwarf all phenomenons down to the right proportions and beget the insight as to the correctness of our deeds and their true quality.

Had I known that I was about to die in a moment, what would I have done now?