[2022-08-25] The purpose of art
It's interesting that James Clear, author of Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones, would include a quote about breaking out of routines in his weekly newsletter. Clear quotes science fiction author Ursula K. Le Guin, who discusses "how art opens our eyes, ears, and souls to the real world":
The daily routine of most adults is so heavy and artificial that we are closed off to much of the world. We have to do this in order to get our work done. I think one purpose of art is to get us out of those routines.
When we hear music or poetry or stories, the world opens up again. We’re drawn in—or out—and the windows of our perception are cleansed, as William Blake said. The same thing can happen when we’re around young children or adults who have unlearned those habits of shutting the world out.
I found Le Guin's quote fascinating, particularly "the windows of our perception are cleansed." This statement reminded me of a friend—an avid reader and consumer of art—who learns about a country through its fiction. In response to a post in which I referenced the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, my friend wrote to me:
Unfortunately, we learn about many foreign countries when something bad happens in them. We see these countries through the lens of the miseries that are reported in the media, whether accurate or exaggerated. It’s good to know a country through its people (friends and colleagues), artists and cultural production.
I imagine that, as Le Guin says, stories give my friend a view into places he would not otherwise have an opportunity to see firsthand and offer him a deeper perspective than he might get from media reports. He explained to me:
One thing I would recommend to people who are interested about a particular international conflict is to read novels about the countries involved (I chose novels because they are accessible cultural products). In the 90’s, a war was raging among Colombian drug cartels. I discovered the Colombian novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez and read almost all of his novels to feed my interest for this country, although none of his novel is related to the terrible situation. When Canada started its military mission in Afghanistan, I thought that I would gain to learn about that country. Fortunately there were two novels about Afghanistan in that time by Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini: A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Kite Runner. I could say the same thing about Africa and the various novels that someone can read about this continent. One question I could ask a Ukrainian if I get [to] meet one would be: what good novels would you recommend about your country (that has nothing to do with the conflict.)?
I always remembered this exchange with my friend, intrigued by the idea that fiction can not only entertain but inform as well. I imagine that's particularly the case when the author draws heavily from the reality of the setting in which the story takes place. Fiction reflects not only the writer's imagination, but the writer's perception of their world. And when that perception differs from our own, there is an opportunity for "our perception to be cleansed," as Le Guin quotes William Blake.
The other element of Le Guin's quote that inspires me is the value of breaking out of our routines and opening up our worlds by listening to music, perusing poetry, reading stories, interacting with children, or engaging with adults who embrace art as a means of learning about other people, worlds and cultures. As someone who is quite comfortable with routine, I admit to spending less time engaging with art than perhaps others do. In the past, this has been in part because of the need to get my work done, as Le Guin concedes. But retirement affords me the time to choose from among many options. Without saying so, maybe Clear's point is that art can be a habit. Something to ponder.
