3 . Art Builds Understanding

Despite the long history of scholarship on experiences of art, researchers have yet to capture and understand the most meaningful aspects of such experiences, including the thoughts and insights we gain when we visit a museum, the sense of encounter after seeing a meaningful work of art, or the changed thinking after experiences with art. These powerful encounters can be inspiring, uplifting, and contribute to well-being and flourishing.

    1     It contributes to facilitating a better understanding of ourselves, the human condition, and moral and spiritual concepts. The question is how that happens — what are the attributes of meaningful experiences of art?

According to the mirror model of art developed by Pablo P. L. Tinio, aesthetic reception corresponds to artistic creation in a mirror-reversed fashion. Artists aim to express ideas and messages about the human condition or the world at large.     2     This results in the build-up of layers of materials — from initial studies and sketches to the final, refined piece. A viewer’s initial interaction with an artwork starts where the artist has left off. Their interaction first involves the processing surface features, such as color, texture, and the finishing touches applied by the artist during the final stages of the creative process.     3    

In addition, art making and art viewing are connected by creative thinking. Research in a lab at Yale University shows that an educational program that uses art appreciation activities builds creative thinking skills. It showed that the more time visitors spent engaging with art and the more they reflected on it, the greater the correspondence with the artists’ intentions and ideas.     4    

Correspondence in feeling and thinking suggests a transfer — between creator and viewer — of ideas, concepts, and emotions contained in the works of art. Art has the potential to communicate across space and time.     5     What it takes for this to happen is active engagement with art in contexts that facilitate this engagement, especially museums.

I had run away from home after finishing high school. My parents had insisted I go to college, but I was tired of school. I hated it. I was determined not to go. And, besides, my father was too strict. I had too many chores to do around the farm. I haled the work!

There had been a quarrel between my father and me. I threw some things into a bag and left angrily, as my father shouted after me, “If you leave, don’t come back!” My mother cried openly, and I had seen those tears during a hundred sleepless nights.

Then it was time to write a letter to my father.

It’s been more than a year now. I’ve traveled east to west. I’ve had dozens of jobs. None of them amounted to very much. Always the same questions: “How much education have you got?” It seems they always want college men for the good jobs.

Dad, you and Mother were right about everything. I know now that the work on the farm didn’t hurt me, and I’m convinced I need college. I’m also convinced that both of you loved me.

Dad, I’ve learned a lesson. I want to come home. I know you said if I left, I couldn’t come back, but I’m praying you’ll change your mind. I want to come home and be a part of the family again.

Give my love to Mother and the girls.

As I folded the letter and put it into an envelope, I felt a refreshing relief. It was as if a heavy load had been lifted from my shoulders. And I had to be on my way home.

I started down the desolate road—the long road home. Fortunately, a car picked me up, and it was good to have someone to talk with. The driver was a salesman and very pleasant.

“Where you going, boy?” he asked good-naturedly.

There was a long silence before I said, “Home.”

“Been away from home long?”

I smiled, a little self-conscious, and said, “One year, one month and two days.”

Having heard my story, he expressed his support for my final decision and told me something surprising.

Finally, I arrived home when. it was completely dark.

Key elements of a great film

Nowadays films play an important role in our life. And every great film must involve many key elements. Opinions about them vary among people. Below are my ideas about key elements of a great film.

Of course, there are many other elements leading to a great film. Anyway an outstanding film must come from its inner shining elements. What about your idea?

9 . When you look ahead at the year to come, I hope you focus on all the positives even if the negatives exist, because positive thinking can help you get where you want to go.

Positive thinking is not the same as optimism. Being optimistic means believing that everything is going to work out great. But positive thinking is more than that. It’s a mindset or a way of looking at the world and what you do.     1    

To think positively, first of all, we need to look at problems, mistakes and failures as normal. Imagine you bomb a big job interview. A negative thinker will be upset by the fact that he didn’t get the job.     2     He will analyze what he did and figure out how to do it better next time. And he’ll also think about what he did well and try to repeat and improve on those successes. This means focusing on the big picture.

One trick to positive thinking is to imagine how you’ll think back to things that are happening now.     3     There are bad things that happened last year that you can probably laugh about now. You understand what was a big deal and what was not. Try to do that in the present.

    4     A negative thinker will focus on the past, especially past failures. But the past cannot be changed. It’s done and dusted. The future, however, is yet to be written. And that’s where the positive thinker will focus his attention.

Positive thinking is a mental habit. It takes practice. Sometimes, we have to remind ourselves to focus on the future and on possibility.     5     But if you can do it, there are some great payoffs: greater confidence, a better chance of success, better health condition as well as a better quality of life.