I suppose we all have our own ways of looking at life. In general,
each and every one of us look at virtually everything from a different perspective.
When I was a child, I had a really difficult time working out whether other people
could see what I saw in the same way. You know... this question... "Is the orange coloured cow on this page really "orange"... or, does the person next to me see something purple...is what I call purple..maybe.. orange to him..?? Do you see what i mean. This whole thing about what we are taught versus what we percieve...well, it used to drive me bonkers.
I used to lose a lot of sleep at night over this kind of 'worry' (well, for lack of a better word... ha ha...perhaps I'll find the right word for tomorrow's "word of the day"). Anyway, I vividly remember contemplating the idea of "perception". When I was little, it simply seemed to make sense. Somehow, I thought that since we all look different, we all must 'feel' different as well... and since we all have somewhat 'different' opinions... then, therefore... we all must 'see' life (and therefore even colors and sounds..) well... differently...
If you don't understand me..or if you think I'm on some sort of drug... here it is put simply:
Ok, just .. Imagine: example: I hold up a blue card with a smuf on it... the couleur you see is in my mind iswhat you call 'orange'... however, we both call it "blue".. even though we both see a different color... what we both agree is... that the smurf..is.. well "blue".
In fact, this isn't very far from what we all encounter from day to day. I honestly believe that we all see life from completely different perspectives. If this is the case.. then, in our journey to be 'serious' and 'adult-like'... somehow, I've come to the conclusion that a good many of us try to take life a wee bit, well, too seriously....
(yes, this is a ramble...so, feel free to click elsewhere if you are bored...)
In general, this is why art & music are considered "relative" or simply why all art and musical taste very simply "subjective".....
Which leads me to one final point... since art and music are very "subjective".. and have less definition than "black & white" or "blue & orange."... sometimes I wonder why there is so much debate about these "artistic endeavours..." which makes me, in turn, wonder why "people".. sometimes... take art & music so "seriously".... since art and music are expository and meant to be 'enjoyed and deliberated" rather than "confused or denigrated.".......
what do you think?
I can quite understand the theme of subjective perception, do others see blue as I do or do they see red and think it is blue ? I once ran this past a scientific and very artistic friend of mine for his opinion. He agreed with the perception opinion but added that we must also accept that there is a true non-perceptive aspect to this ie. he colour is light at a certain apsect of the spectrum which relies on the angle and medium through which it travels and that can be regardless of any human observation. In the same that how we hear music can differ from person to person but until the vibrations in the air travel into the ear the music has it's own natural identity regardless of our aural perceptions. We are like a lens through which we lok at an experience. Depending on the emotional and psychological shape of our being the experience can sound and look very different. Some music and art can sound/look happy or sad depending on our mood, though the music or art itself does not change. How wonderful are the creative arts, and how wonderful can be our perception of them.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the space John