If You Need Proof

Once a Greek philosopher came and said to one of the Jewish sages: "We philosophers believe that the world is eternal and always was as it is; you Jews believe that the world was created. But you can prove it?"


"Yes, I can," the sage answered. "Come back tomorrow."

Criterion of Personal Success

My cousin came for a visit from America. We talked a lot together, and one thing in particular I remember from everything she said: After she landed a higher-paying job, her self-respect went up quite a bit.

I got the message, and it's not a new one. Certainly, money (or lack of it) directs a lot of events, people and priorities. But is that the only way to measure personal success in this life? And if not money – then what?
After thinking about it for a long time, I worked out an answer (though again, it's not a new one). Ready for my revelation? It's actually an equation.
The measure of someone's success is the percentage of days lived happily, compared to the days they have lived.
So no matter what it is that gives you happiness – money, creativity, love shared with someone, family life, spiritual fulfillment, or public recognition – your personal success is being measured every day.
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Very Good Taste

"I've had very good taste since I was a child."


We were with a group of friends, and I looked more closely at the woman who said that. Let's call her Sara.
She's a successful scientific professional. In her spare time, Sara said, she creates matched sets out of ready-made findings.
It seemed they were all on display that day.
A bright blue blouse. On her neck, turquoise beads the same color as the blouse. A chain and a pendant filled with glittering-white marcasite stones – also on her neck. A bracelet with turquoise stones. And turquoise earrings, too. An enormous ring made of turquoise, and one more made of gold. Oh, and one more gold bracelet. And, last but not least, a garnet brooch on her jacket lapel.
They say there is no disputing about "taste". So I didn't argue... but I made a mental note for myself. Actually two notes:
1. "Every individual is an island" when it comes to the perception of what is fitting, harmonious or beautiful. Even if a person is absolutely convinced of "good taste", it takes more than that to convince me.
2. It's not always true that "seeing is believing"; sometimes it's "disbelieving". After all, if someone had simply told me that Sara "has good taste", I would have accepted it as an established fact.

Immortal Art

An ancient  art of  fire enamel, if described in simple way, is a mass of glass put on metal and then fired numerous times at a very hot temperature. This truly elite, rare technique provides a unique combination of the precious jewelry materials usage with a freedom of oil painting. Each work is so unique that can not be repeated even by the author. fire enamel pieces are practically immortal - some of them, found at archaeological sites of ancient Egypt, haven't lost their brightness and are  untouched by time. In modern days, only very few artists had master this truly elite technique.
Enamel miniature created by Asya Ostrovsky
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WHY ART? or SOLVING THE BIG HEAD PROBLEM

Near as can be told, as long as we have been people in any true sense, we have filled our lives with things that have had no immediate or obvious survival benefit. If art in its myriad manifestations has been around so long, is universal and highly valued, it may be that there is some good reason for it. If so, what might that be?

I propose that art provides humans with an evolutionary advantage by allowing them to externalize and collectivize both the memory of the past as well as enabling us to plan for the future.

Individuals perish, and with them their memories. If, however, the individual experience is externalized and codified in art, the collective organism retains the information even though the individual expires. Language is communication in the present. Art is communication over time. When writing was invented, about 3,000 BC, symbolic language and art merged.
Even more significant than retaining the past, art concerns itself with the future. I propose that art is the next step in human cerebral evolution beyond Rapid Eye Movement (REM) dreaming in that it takes advantage of language in a way that dreams do not (I will discuss this at length below). Because it is an external (i.e., it takes place outside of the brain), collective event, art is not dependent upon the processing abilities of a single individual. It "networks" a large number of brains to address alternate future realities, thereby preparing the collective as well as the individual for events that have not yet occurred. Art is practice for the real thing.

Why Art? or, Solving the Big Head Problem" was published in abbreviated form in Communication Arts Magazine, January/February, 1996 (pages 24 - 29)
David Lance Goines
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