We had a discussion about this at one of our roundtable meetings. Someone suggested that we hit a “glass ceiling” if we stay with the “in-group” too long. Mark Twain said that people stop “seeking” when they find “their truth”. I’ll probably keep “seeking” the rest of my life. -Neo
I think that the person who made the statement about hitting a glass ceiling provided a valid illustration of one of life's biggest obstacles. I keep coming back, in my mind, to the idea that it is a matter of doing
work, in a sense. It is work to question things. It is work to challenge the thoughts and ideas that have come before us, or have shaped our thinking. I believe that for many the easier road is submission. This goes back to the initial reason for this thread...what it is that makes the 'Eastern' and 'Western' mind 'different'.
I went last night to the Canton Museum of Art, here in my hometown. On display was the work of Itchiku Kubota, a Japanese artist acclaimed for his work creating unbelievable kimonos (
http://www.kimonoexhibit.com/). We are very fortunate to have this exhibit as only one of two stops here in the US. Kubota's goal was to live to be 100 years old and complete a series of kimonos depicting the qualities of light of the four seasons. He died after completing Autumn and Winter, 30 kimonos in all. As I was standing back to take in the progression of images, which I have to say is stunning, I was taken back to a passage from
Myths To Live By.
Accordingly, what the glorious spectacle of Oriental art mainly offers are repetitions, over and over, of certain tried and true themes and motifs. And when these are compared with the galaxies of Renaissance and post-Renaissance Europe, what is perhaps most striking is the absence in the Oriental traditions of anything like significant portraiture. Consider the works of Rembrandt or Titian: the attention given in these to the representation of what we call character, personality, the uniqueness, at once physical and spiritual, of an individual presence. Such a concern for what is not enduring is utterly contrary to the informing spirit of Oriental art. Joseph Campbell, Myths To Live By, Page 105
What I find intriguing is both systems (Eastern and Western) seem to work, at least in terms of 'free expression'. From the Eastern perspective, the focus of the artist is on the mastering of a craft which has been handed down and learned in long apprenticeships. From a Western perspective, the focus tends to be more on the expression rather than the craftsmanship. Both systems work. If we train our mind (do the work) we can incorporate the messages of another system into our own world view and, perhaps, gain a bit more insight into life's mysteries. I think this is what Neo is often saying here...we have many tools available to us and each of us, as individuals, are touched by different ideas, art, literature, etc... and no
one path, is the "right path".
Many other folks just cannot be bothered with such ambiguous thinking. They seek the concrete...the ritual. What they seek is external guidance rather than internal clues. They need a dogmatic physical system to guide their spiritual existence. Some people do not need this...they may, perhaps, seek out all systems that have come before. They may like swimming in an ocean of various views and ideas. This does not mean that they are lost or aimless. I, for one, like the gray area. I enjoy straddling the teeter-totter and taking time to try to see what is happening on either side. For me, the
not knowing is more appealing than the alleged known facts presented in dogmatic belief systems.
Finally...one more quote from Joe in
Myths To Live By...
And of course, as everybody knows who has ever played at games, the ones that are the most fun -- to lose as well as to win -- are the ones that are the hardest, with the most complicated, even dangerous, tasks to accomplish. And so it is that artists are generally not content, either in the Orient or in the Occident, with doing merely simple things -- and much soon becomes simple for an artist that for the rest of us would be difficult. The artist seeks the challenge, the difficult thing to do; for his basic approach to life is not of work but of play. -Page 123
"He was a dreamer, a thinker, a speculative philosopher... or, as his wife would have it, an idiot." -Douglas Adams