A troubling thought had been plaguing my mind as of late. It has occurred to me as I read through history, that the most creative minds are those that have gone through some sort of trouble/disturbance/grief or a mind that has sunk into some sort of depravity.
What are we to say then about this? What does it say about our definition of good music or good art, if these things are coming from depraved or twisted minds and hearts? What is it about our thinking, our hearts and our desires, that the fuel that feeds an "excellent", creative spirit (as we would define it) is evil?
We must ask the question, what is underlying and motivating someone to create any form of art. And even deeper, does that motivation have any bearing on our appreciation of that art? A tormented soul may create some extremely passionate music. But may it be the case that "enjoyment" of that art is somewhat perverse.
I really don't have an answer for this, but the idea is starting to bother me.
Saturday, September 12, 2015
Passions and motivations
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Or what does it say about our definition of evil or depravity?
ReplyDeleteThat's a good question. To recognize a thing, one must go on to define that thing, otherwise it is meaningless. But one must also have some sort of objective ground upon which to base that definition. As an Orthodox Christian, I would define something as evil or depraved based upon what the Church (i.e., apostolic tradition/Scripture) says is evil or depraved. We must really work hard to make our definitions as objective as possible instead of subjectively basing them upon our preferences or inclinations.
ReplyDeleteI don't really know what to say in terms of an evil or depraved mind, since that, like you said, depends on your frame of reference. Also, I realize that there is some level of depravity that is universally recognized as such, and I don't know if the level of evil (since this varies based on your definition of evil) affects the amount of creativity of an individual. I do think, however, that the observation that an abnormal mind produces great art gives us a possible look into the way the mind functions. A happy, healthy mind has no need to create, because it is content the way it is. An unhappy or irregular mind recognizes that something is missing, and tries to compensate by producing art. If the mind recognizes that there is an internal deficit of some sort, is it possibly trying to strive for perfection or beauty externally in order to bring itself closer to wholesomeness? I don't know if that is actually the case, but it seems like a logical explanation to me.
ReplyDeleteThat is a really good point. Could it be that a "happy, healthy mind" would create simply so as to be creative? Could it also be that a depraved mind would create so as to be perverse and contrary? At this point we are speculating on motives. I would think that we could find no black and white answer, for the answers will differ with different people. Which brings us back to my original question, "How and why are we responding to the art that people create?" and we might also want to consider, "Does the motivation of the artist change the value of the art that is created?"
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