BRAD “Passion for Art IS Compassion”
I really
love the idea of Ahimsa. I think that, in a time when the situation between
religious factions is so incredibly volatile, the idea that "there is one
religion - the religion of love, of peace," must be accepted (Sivananda). In the last few years, it has genuinely
concerned me that religions are preaching against other religions. It sounds
naive, but it's true that if people tried to understand ideas and each other,
instead of automatically declaring themselves "against" them, that
the world could be a much better place.
I don't think one even has to go as far as being "compassionate" for
someone. I think that the act of accepting people's differences is a huge step
in the right direction. We must understand that, in the end, we're all in the
same boat. Doing something for the greater good trumps
personal accomplishment any day. And, with me at least, music, or art in
general, is a prime example of this theory.
In our (Western) society, there is a huge emphasis put on personal advance and
gain. Everything is a race or a contest. But, an artist is a different story.
The artist struggles to create a piece that he or she will probably never be
able to enjoy. They work so hard to make something that others can enjoy. This
"art comes to you proposing frankly to give nothing but the highest
quality to your moments as they pass" (Pater).
The true artist isn't creating work for money or for fame,
he is trying to make your life better. He is trying to share the beauty or despair,
the anger or joy, the feelings that we all have, that remind us that we are
connected.
Both compassion and art have a way of helping others and showing us how much we
have in common. We are all a part of the Universe, and these two passions work
for the greater good.
RACHEL “Ahimsa”
I do think that love (not tolerance, but love)
is vital and right, but the total eradication of pain does not make sense.
Think about V for Vendetta. I just saw it, so it is fresh on my mind and seems
to apply. V pushes the protagonist (named Eevee?) to
her extreme limits, inflicting much pain on her (mentally and physically) but
she comes out stronger because of it.
Sometimes
we have to do horrible painful things to the ones we love most.
It seems like the article from Bliss Divine labels ahimsa as pretty much
anything positive: “Ahimsa is true sacrifice. Ahimsa is forgiveness. Ahimsa is Sakti (power). Ahimsa is true strength.” It may be these
things, but I feel that some link must be explained between the themes.
To me, ahimsa is indistinguishable from what I
was taught in traditional religion Sunday school. The ten commandments’
interpretation was quite similar to the following statement when my teachers
broadened or re-translated several of the phrases: “The vow of Ahimsa is broken
even by showing contempt towards another man, by entertaining unreasonable
dislike for or prejudice towards anybody, by frowning at another man, by hating
another man, by abusing another man, by speaking ill of others, by backbiting
or vilifying, by harbouring thoughts of hatred, by
uttering lies, or by ruining another man in any way whatsoever.” (The commandment Do not murder was explained as any action taken
against another man… even a negative thought about him.)
The explanation of how to avoid falling into evil seems more fulfilling than
that which I received in church. “try to control the
physical body and speech first…If you succeed in this by practice for some
months, the negative thoughts of revenge, having no scope for manifesting
outside, will die by themselves.” The discussion of eye for an eye is out of
context – I always believed that if a man takes your eye, he will lose
something of equal value to him, but it is not your place to seek vengance. A supreme force will
even things out in the end.
Hatred can be harbored for the good of humanity. Also, hatred and love are not
mutually exclusive.
Ahimsa seems so good at first because it is a way of living, a doctrine. It
seems accepting of anyone whoever or however they are. Anyone is given the
chance to develop ahimsa and become strong. However, this concept seems to me
how Christianity was intended to be. Religion of any type leaves a bad taste in
many people’s mouths, and it may do so rightfully. It has been twisted and made
negative by the loud and obnoxious people. Ahimsa leaves no room for compassion
because it leaves no room for suffering (if it could ever be achieved).
In terms of art, I do believe that artists feel passion more strongly than most
members of society and thus feel and overwhelming deisre
to express this passion. However, often I feel artists, despite their liberal
reputation and supposed open-mindedness, are quite
narrow. They seem to have already abandoned hope and will rarely entertain new
ideas brought from outsiders. I feel that artists themselves lack compassion
generally, and thus any semblance of compassion seen in their work is false or
feigned and not a true expression. That might seem harsh, but it has been my
experience thus far with people I've met who consider themselves artists or at
least artistic.
ERIC “Ahimsa for Everyone”
As I was doing revisions for
people’s passions paper, I thought to myself, “Wow! We really are Plan II
students!” Everyone pretty much was passionate about helping others (being
compassionate) and passionate about art. To me, what makes Plan II students so
interesting and unique is that such students truly love life and want to make
some sort of positive impact on the world. I’d venture to say that if you were
to survey students from other majors, you wouldn’t get the same response. So,
why are people so passionate about compassion and can such passion be mixed
with a passion for art.
For me, I haven’t really been too
interested in the arts. Sure, I can appreciate a great painting, but my passion
for art is not equivalent to my passion for helping others. Visiting the
Blanton Museum of Art in Bump’s class and writing about the paintings was a new
experience for me and definitely allowed me better understand the meaning
behind the art and the artist. However, I do know that compassion is a great
quality to have.
What makes Plan II students so
unique from other UT students is their passion for life. Life-loving people are
always so inspiring to be around, and I think that everyone should try to live
by Ahimsa. I guess I never realized it before but when I’m around people who
are happy and do good deeds, it makes me want to be nice to people and help
others out. Simply holding the door open for the next person or taking the time
to say hello to the cashier at JCL are acts of kindness that people often
forget. I think that Ahimsa teaches us to be humane and treat others humanely.
Instead of “using harsh words to beggars, servants, or inferiors,” we can help
make peoples days a little brighter by saying hello and being amiable (Sivananda).
Society has so many distractions
that try to push us off our desired path. In life, “… experience seems to bury
us under a flood of external objects, pressing up us with a sharp and
importunate reality, calling us out of ourselves in a though forms of action” (Pater). What we have to decide is what we really want to do
with our life. We can take our experiences and practice Himsa,
or we can choose to do good and be compassionate. I
feel that my calling is to exercise compassion in whatever career I end up
choosing, but for others it might include mixing in art. Because I am not that
passionate about art, I cannot conclude that art and compassion mix well for
me, but for others, that might be the case. Whatever the result, we should
remember Ahimsa and harvest the “power of Ahimsa [which is] greater than the
power of intellect” (Sivananda).
CHETNA “Ahimsa is Love”
Although
ahimsa is “The doctrine of non-violence or non-killing,” (OED) I believe that
the true meaning of ahimsa is “universal love.
It is pure
love,” and in love, truth can be discovered (Sivananda,
“Ahimsa”). Ahimsa directly preaches non-violence, and yet what is non- violence?Love for oneself and for
all people and creatures in the world. The opposite of love is hate. But what
causes hate? Essentially, fear drives hate. So, absence of fear is love, right?
Anytime I would be anxious and negative, my mom would always tell me to chant
the mantra, “absence of fear, presence of faith.” To me, this absence of fear
and subsequence presence of faith is a way to become more compassionate.
According to OED, compassion is “Suffering together with another, participation
in suffering; fellow-feeling, sympathy” (OED). When one gains faith in
themselves and the world, they are able to eradicate any fears that hold them
back, allow love to replace those fears, and become completely selfless—the
very essence of ahimsa. Ahimsa is just losing fear, gaining love, and
proffering one’s entire self to the world, with no hesitations.
The
technical definition of art, according to OED, is “Anything wherein skill may
be attained or displayed,” not necessarily just painting and drawing (OED).
So,
technically, art can be manifested in virtually any profession or act, as long
as it is done with passion that drives the skill. Consider how practically
every profession’s primary goal is to cater to, or help, people: doctors heal
people, lawyers defend people, chefs feed people, engineers build for people,
authors write for people, reporters inform people, entertainers—singers,
musicians, comedians, etc.—entertain people. Theoretically, anyone who works
for the greater good of mankind is being compassionate in some form or another
(some more so than others) and in their compassion, they display a skill,or art. Maybe compassion and
art are more compatible than I had originally thought.Displaying
a skill may be done for selfish reasons, but if you’re doing something, it can
usually be appreciated by someone else or can be used to somehow help
another. Regardless of the reasons for doing it, if you’re helping another in
any way, you’re being compassionate, even if the goal is not necessarily
to help, but “art for its own sake” (Pater,
“Conclusion).
EMILY “What the Heck is Ahimsa?”
As I sit
down to write this ODB, I ponder…why am I writing this? I already have my
A. Anyway, here I am, writing yet another Discussion Board post.
At first
when I received the e-mail from professor Bump I though...hummm…compassion,
this should not be hard, I just wrote a 9 page paper on the topic. Then,
I began to read other people’s responses. “What in the heck is Ahimsa?” I
said to myself. I thought this ODB was about compassion and art.
Then I realized that Ahimsa and compassion are,
in essence, the same thing. Ahimsa, like the modern-day term compassion,
is that “abstinence from causing any pain or harm whatsoever to any living creature,
either by thought, word, or deed.” (Course Website) Both “require a
harmless mind, mouth, and hand.” (Course Website)
Like Eric,
I do not fall in the apparent category our class has created of the “typical
Plan II student.” I do not love art; I appreciate art and have learned to
even more through this course, but it by no means one of my passions. I
have been to various art museums and find certain sculptures and paintings
beautiful, but in no means would I feel comfortable saying that “art is compassion.”
(Brad’s ODB)
None-the-less,
I am infatuated by this ancient idea of Ahimsa. Often, in my juvenile
mind, I tend to think of compassion as a modern term. For some reason I
think the word compassion has only evolved as society has become worse and
worse. As children have begun bringing guns to school and terrorism has
led to a modern day war… this is when compassion began to stand out.
Obviously I am wrong about my ideas. Violence, hate, and crime have all
existed for a long time. Likewise, so have the opposites: love, kindness,
compassion, and Ahimsa.
As the
article powerfully begins:
In the
regeneration and divinisation of man, the first step
is to eliminate his beastly nature. The predominant trait in beasts is cruelty.
Therefore, wise sages prescribe Ahimsa…Where there is Ahimsa,
there you will find love and selfless service. They all go together. (Course
Website)
When
reading these few sentences I was taken back by how powerful the ancient people
held the idea of Ahimsa. Maybe if people today would “prescribe”
compassion instead of issue the death sentence, we would find our nation to be
much more peaceful.
ASHLEY “Unified”
Upon reflection on these two themes of compassion and art, I seem to have come
to the conclusion that one must appreciate them as a unified element. To claim
to uphold one but not the other seems almost contradictory, for while one is
compassionate towards others, they are rejoicing in the divine art that each of
these subjects of compassion are there for a purpose, that each is beautiful in
its own unique way. Similarly, to truly appreciate art, one must be
compassionate to the ideals of the artist, to the human attempt at beauty and
expression.
In both cases where compassion or aesthetic appreciation is difficult, the only
real barrier is the limitations of the mind. Because “the whole scope of
observation is dwarfed into the narrow chamber of the individual mind,” (Pater) we view things through a preconceived stereotype of
what is beautiful or what is worthy of sympathy and love, “each mind keeping as
a solitary prisoner in its own dream of a world” (Pater).
We are blinded by misconceptions; for we, as humans, exhibit the basic need to
categorize and objectify the constant flux of sensory information are minds
deal with at each moment. Because we “hardly have time to make theories about
the things we see and touch,” (Pater) we
automatically rely on our basic stereotypical, bestial instincts.
By “never acquiescing in a facile orthodoxy,” (Pater) we can broaden our minds to accept pure love,
compassion, and appreciation of each precious moment of life. In the
words of Victor Hugo, “we are all under sentence of death but with a sort of
indefinite reprieve,” (Pater), and to achieve happiness
in this fleeting life we “attain peace by injuring no living creature” (Sivananda) and appreciate the beauty of life “frankly to
give nothing but the highest quality to your moments as they pass, and simply
for those moments’ sake” (Pater).
PRIANKA “Compassion vs Passion for Art”
I was
pleasantly surprised to find that the article about compassion was about
Ahimsa, the very first symbol that I ever placed in Second Life. I placed this
object in SL because I felt that it represented my goal in life: to find Truth
and Universal Love. Like Sivananda says, “to realize
the Truth [you] must practice Ahimsa.” As a Hindu, I have learned much about
Ahimsa. In the context of my own life, Ahimsa is a lifelong goal, a way of
life. Ahimsa is not a marker to be achieved; there is no achieving Ahimsa and
then passing it by. It is the vehicle traveled in throughout life. In some of
my classmates’ posts they seemed to see contrasts between compassion and
Ahimsa. For example, Rachel mentions that compassion can’t be achieved without
suffering. However, I feel that this misconstrues the meaning of Ahimsa. Ahimsa
does not mean that suffering will never occur. Disease and natural disasters
are just a few of the sources that can cause suffering that can’t be governed by
man. Ahimsa merely says that man should prevent suffering of others by HIS own
actions. And thus, my eliminating hurtfulness from one’s heart, it is replaced
with compassion. Compassion is the foundation of humanity. In today’s
dog-eat-dog world, compassion had been replaced by competition and greed as the
foundation of humanity. Take for example our own World Literature class. We all
pine for whatever few extra points we can get so that we can have the most
points. There is little cooperation, which we have recently been striving for.
Instead of competition and greed, which are feeding grounds for malicious
thoughts and actions, compassion should be the basis of our interactions with
others. If this becomes the case, our advancement as a human population will be
immeasurable because of cooperation- two minds are better than one.
Unfortunately, I do realize that this is extremely idealistic and naïve to want
everyone to play nice and sit under rainbows. So instead of believing in Ahimsa
for humanity as a whole, it must start on the individual level. I must foster a
“harmless mind, mouth and hand” (Sivananda). And
hopefully, this will have a positive effect on those around me, causing them to
change their own mind, mouth and hand.
So how does
compassion relate to passion for art? Or are they antitheses of one another?
I feel that
having compassion for other is the same as having passion for art with the
difference that your emotions are targeted differently in each. Both give a
“quickened sense of life,” as they make our lives more complete and worthwhile
(Pater). In compassion, you are compassionate towards
others; you feel bad or good for others. In this way you have passion for them.
In the same way, an artist is compassionate, although their emotions are targeted
towards non-living things. An artist who creates an oil-painting has a passion
for the way he sees the world, and is able to portray that perspective
concretely. He is compassionate for his art in that he cares about it. He
ultimately wants to see it bring happiness or sadness or whatever emotion it is
supposed to evoke in others. In this way, having compassion for people or for
art is simply defined as caring about someone or something. Having the
interest, patience, and devotion to worry about how someone or something will
turn out and (hopefully) wishing them or it all the best. This is being a
compassionate person, whether in dealing with people or art. Having no ill will
towards either will then allow you achieve Ahimsa.
LIZ “Shared Ecstasy”
Pater suugests that "It is with this movement, with the
passage and dissolution of impressions, images, sensations, that
analysis leaves off --that continual vanishing away, that strange,
perpetual, weaving and unweaving of ourselves" (Pater).
Similarly, the teachings of Ahimsa say that "The power of Ahimsa is
greater than the power of the intellect" (Sri Swami Sivananda).
It seems that both art and compassion are described and defined as something
apart from logic and intellect, but also as something greater than analytical
thought. The ability of the follower of Ahimsa to treat all people as equals,
offending none, is similar to the ability of art to treat all viewers as
equals.
When an
artist creates a beautiful painting or photo or what have you, often he or she
is trying to convey a certain emotion, or to portray something as beautiful.
There is no sign that says "only a certain race may see this
painting" or "only certain people will understand". The art is
there to appeal to everyone, to please everyone.
I think
that artists get a sense of "ecstasy" (Pater) from creating, the same as those practicing Ahimsa,
for "The power of Ahimsa is infinitely more wonderful and subtler than
electricity or magnetism" (Sri Swami Sivananda).
Artists can show compassion in their art, and people can find an art in
practicing Ahimsa, as my classmates have said. I agree that "[t]o burn
always with this hard, gem-like flame, to maintain this ecstasy, is
success in life" (Pater). To be successful in
life, all you have to do is find the activity that gives you the sense of
"Bliss Divine" (Sri Swami Sivananda).