Advancing the dream: Use your passion to be what you dream to be

If it doesn't wake you up and get you out of bed then discover something that does.

Did you watch "Advancing the Dream" with Al Sharpton on MSNBC from the Apollo Theatre in Harlem Friday night? Magic Johnson, Tyler Perry, and Stevie Wonder talked about being motivated by their passion to be their dream. http://www.nbcnews.com/id/45755884/vp/52943520/#52943520

Doodling September 5, 2013

Copyright © 2013 By Hilding Lindquist • All rights reserved

Musings on the project ...

Please note:
This is a draft paper used to organize and manage planning for this project
and needs to be edited further before formal publication other than on this website. -HGL

Author's note: And the following is written to congeal my thoughts on art as I move forward on my next "science as art"—a la da Vinci—program.

Let's define art as the "doing" of art, and artwork as the product of art. Art, then, is a function of our mind as an integrated and inseparable brain/body experienced activity. We not only "do" it, but we are aware of doing it and focused on doing it. Artwork is the result.

Artwork can be ephemeral like music and dance, residing only in the moment of performance even though the score is permanent. It can be temporary like The Gates in Central Park. Or it can be permanent relative to human existence like the Acropolis of Athens or Guernica.

The cycle of art is done/performed/executed in the present with our consciousness focused on our personal engagement in the creation of the artwork out of our own mind. Copying is not art, though it can be the "training/education" of the mind to engage in art.

Art comes out of our sense of possibility that arose from our exploration of our world that was motivated by our curiosity. Art is our attempt to create the objective embodiment of discovered possibility, a work of art, or artwork. Our artwork becomes an extension of our self, and draws attention to our self, which when positive—our goal as social creatures is positive attention, heightening our status—does, indeed, raise our status, an objective built into our DNA.

The approach is to foster the exploration of our world around us based on our personal curiosity.

We–human beings–are naturally curious creatures. Curiosity is in our DNA. We can observe the cycle of curiosity leading to discovery leading to display or distribution which, when positive, leads to status enhancing recognition.

We experience a sense of satisfying accomplishment from whatever we have done to earn status enhancing recognition.

The artist is the individual who creates something that comes out of his or her own sense of what is [important] to him or her, something he or she feels good about in itself, something that produces a sense of personal satisfaction–joy, the release of endorphins–from having done it. This may or may not be motivated by seeking status enhancing recognition.

The fact of the matter is that the individual cannot create something of paradigm shifting import without first being an artist.

Assisting the individual pursue the role of artist vis a vis the good of the society is the purpose of education. One of the most important aspects in this is to teach the child the nature of the artist state of mind: integrated and inseparable brain/body experienced activity with conscious awareness of and focus on doing/performing it.

Remember, more than any other sport, basketball is a form of dance and can be used to teach the principal nature of art, especially the need for learning (the techniques) and practice.

Boredom is a signal that our mind needs a deeper challenge. One of the important aspects of art is that we need never be bored unless we are not being allowed to explore a world rich enough to excite our curiosity, to take it to the next level.

http://www.patheos.com/Resources/Additional-Resources/In-the-Zone.html

http://www.hoopsworld.com/the-science-and-psychology-of-being-in-the-zone

What might surprise many fans is that psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has actually studied this experience scientifically. He first became intrigued by such work observing supremely talented painters. He noticed that on some occasions, these painters would become so absorbed in the their work that they would lose track of basically everything happening around them. They were seemingly oblivious to any sort of pain, fatigue and even time. They became totally absorbed in the work they were doing. I have personally experienced this throughout my life, and particularly as a systems analyst and progammer when creating and coding integrated data collection and analysis systems would keep working. 

This experience Csikszentmihalyi observed would later be called “flow,” and this is what is occurring when professional athletes describe being in the zone.

Here is an account of Ben Gordon, then with the Chicago Bulls, pulled from a 2005 issue of Sports Illustrated, which is a clear description of a flow experience: 

“You lose track of time, what quarter it is. You don’t hear the crowd. You don’t know how many points you have. You don’t think. You’re just playing. Offensively everything is instinct. When the feeling starts going away, it’s terrible. I talk to myself and say, ‘C’mon, you gotta be more aggressive.’ That’s when you know it’s gone. It’s not instinctive anymore.”

During flow, a person is totally immersed in what he or she is doing while simultaneously having a feeling of being energized, intense focus, full involvement, all while experiencing success in the activity. Another way to think of this is what Csikszentmihalyi described as “working at full capacity.”

During a flow experience a person has a very clear goal he or she is trying to achieve and the focus is narrowed exclusively towards meeting that goal. In addition, the person loses self-consciousness and is totally absorbed in the activity. Another way to think of this is that the sense of self as a social actor is lost. As Gordon noted above, “You don’t hear the crowd.” It’s almost as if one is in a world by himself and isn’t aware of evaluations or judgments from the outside world. One loses oneself in the activity to the point that other needs are ignored or feel as if they are not even present. Hours pass by as if they were minutes.

Reading these initial characteristics of the flow experience, many people are tempted to believe they experience flow while watching a sporting event or doing something more passive. Such events would not be characterized as flow because in order to achieve flow one must have some kind of control over the outcome. Despite what some fans think while being enveloped by watching their favorite sporting event, they have no control over the outcome.

In addition, for one to experience flow the activity must meet a delicate balance between ability level and challenge. If we do not experience enough of a challenge, we will not achieve flow. However, if the challenge is too daunting and we don’t have the resources to achieve it, we will also fail to experience flow.

Reflect back to Jordan’s famous flow experience. While he was one of the best basketball players on the planet, he didn’t experience flow every night. It took the right mix of circumstances for him to find the crucial balance between ability level and challenge. The NBA Finals provided that balance. The experience also must offer immediate feedback, which is something sport most certainly provides.

Finally, the activity must be intrinsically rewarding. That is, we must love engaging in the activity for the activity’s sake. In other words, professional athletes who are playing simply for the money are not likely to experience flow since the activity is extrinsically, as opposed to intrinsically motivated.

It is important to note that flow can be experienced in myriad of activities and is not limited simply to sports. For example, in my own life I experience flow while teaching, engaging in therapy or communication training and writing. However, much like Jordan didn’t experience flow in every basketball game, I do not experience flow every time I engage in the aforementioned activities.

Research has indicated that people who experience flow very much enjoy it and want to experience it more frequently. However, it has also indicated that people engage rather infrequently in the activities that are likely to induce flow. Perhaps our quick fix society is to blame as it can be so much easier to engage in superficial activities that provide us with an initial increase in positive affect but do not promote true flow experiences.

Flow concepts are being implemented in business, education and a number of other areas of society. The question being asked now is what kind of environment best fosters flow? This must also be combined with the question of what skills do we each possess that can be actualized in such a way as to promote flow.

Obviously, not every NBA player has the skill-level of a Michael Jordan, but that doesn’t mean that every player cannot experience his own flow experience. The challenge for NBA organizations is to create the unique environment for each player to maximize his opportunity for flow.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_%28psychology%29
Flow is the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. In essence, flow is characterized by complete absorption in what one does. Proposed by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, this positive psychology concept has been widely referenced across a variety of fields.^[1]
According to Csikszentmihalyi, flow is completely focused motivation. It is a single-minded immersion and represents perhaps the ultimate experience in harnessing the emotions in the service of performing and learning. In flow, the emotions are not just contained and channeled, but positive, energized, and aligned with the task at hand. To be caught in the ennui of depression or the agitation of anxiety is to be barred from flow. The hallmark of flow is a feeling of spontaneous joy, even rapture, while performing a task^[2] although flow is also described (below) as a deep focus on nothing but the activity – not even oneself or one's emotions.
Buzz terms for this or similar mental states include: to be in the moment, present, in the zone, on a roll, wired in, in the groove, on fire, in tune, centered, or singularly focused.

History/background

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and his fellow researchers began researching flow after Csikszentmihalyi became fascinated by artists who would essentially get lost in their work. Artists, especially painters, got so immersed in their work that they would disregard their need for food, water and even sleep. Thus, the origin of research on the theory of flow came about when Csikszentmihalyi tried to understand this phenomenon experienced by these artists. Flow research became prevalent in the 1980s and 1990s, still with Csikszentmihalyi and his colleagues in Italy at the forefront. Researchers interested in optimal experiences and emphasizing positive experiences, especially in places such as schools and the business world, also began studying the theory of flow at this time. The theory of flow was greatly used in the theories of Maslow and Rogers in their development of the humanistic tradition of psychology.^[5]

Flow has been

"Art as Cohesive Coherance" ... a talk given at the Ethical Culture Society of Essex County, NJ

Please note:
This is a draft paper used to organize and manage planning for this project
and needs to be edited further before formal publication other than on this website. -HGL

Good morning. Thanks for coming. I’ll try not to be more boring than usual; however

I have a tendency to get lost inside my mind.

At least ever since I took English Literature in the Spring semester as a Senior in high school.

I sat in the back near the windows which had a southern exposure and as the days grew longer so did my daydreaming …

And there is nothing new here either. Luckily it’s almost two months until spring.

But it will be eclectic

Here’s a short quote from Picasso. I chose it because it speaks to the intensity of the creative experience, and that’s what we are talking about, getting caught up in the enveloping experience of creating the endless expansion of reality out of possibility that our curiosity uncovers and our imagination forms.

And it links to my choice of Johnny Cash’s Folsom Prison Blues for the intro music.

“We artists are indestructible; even in a prison, or in a concentration camp, I would be almighty in my own world of art, even if I had to paint my pictures with my wet tongue on the dusty floor of my cell.”[1]
― Pablo Picasso

A couple of thoughts to occupy the minds of those of you who would find an art appreciation lecture boring no matter what … 

I’ll set it up with another quote from Picasso:

“What do you think an artist is? An imbecile who only has eyes, if he is a painter, or ears if he is a musician, or a lyre [pronounced liar] in every chamber of his heart if he is a poet, or even, if he is a boxer, just his muscles? Far from it: at the same time he is also a political being, constantly aware of the heartbreaking, passionate, or delightful things that happen in the world, shaping himself completely in their image. How could it be possible to feel no interest in other people, and with a cool indifference to detach yourself from the very life which they bring to you so abundantly? No, painting is not done to decorate apartments. It is an instrument of war.”[2]
― Pablo Picasso

So here’s some class warfare economics applicable to our responsibilities as citizens to let your mind wander off with

These might not fit everyone whose mind will wander off

Like, if I think art will bore you, why would I think economics won’t?

In that case, you are on your own. Wander off with what you will. I can only do so much.

Fair market capitalism is not socialism.

Free market capitalism is monopolism.

How do monopolists get away with cloaking the negative connotation of monopolism with the positive term “free market” and the positive term “fair market” with the negative connotation—in our society—of socialism?

Three simplistic slogans sustained by reason:

• The so-called “free market” produces the company store.
•  “Trickle down” economics is plantation economics.
• Solidarity of labor is not an evil conspiracy.

There is no such thing as a free market because of what are called externalities, things like second-hand cigarette smoke,.

Trickle down means letting the master get the fruit of our labor and he will give us what we need.

The solidarity of labor means we as workers—those who earn our living by our mental and physical efforts—have identified what we have in common, the desire to be treated fairly in the distribution of the wealth our labor produces.

There is much we do not have in common, aggregate income for one thing, but the right to collectively participate in determining the fair distribution of the wealth we help produce is even biblical in its basis:

Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn. - Deuteronomy 25:4

For it is how we distribute the wealth we produce that is the fundamental factor of determining the society in which we live. And when we who earn our livelihood by our own labor, our mental and physical effort, are separated from our common interest of a fair distribution of the wealth our labor creates, then the society suffers. We are separated from our common interest when do not participate in the determination of what is a fair distribution of the wealth created by our labor.

But back to art appreciation.

Art as Cohesive Coherence: The da Vinci Model, also known as the science of art.

Like I said, nothing new here.

Da Vinci demonstrated his passion for art some 500 years ago, what curiosity, unquenchable in da Vinci’s case, and an inventive imagination can create. And yet we still struggle with the constraints of needless boundaries on both curiosity and imagination. Don’t misinterpret me. Not all boundaries are needless.

We have to know something about da Vinci to get very far into this, wouldn’t you agree?

He is described as “archetype [arr-keh-type] of the Renaissance Man, a man of "unquenchable curiosity" and "feverishly inventive imagination”.[3] “Marco Rosci states that while there is much speculation about Leonardo, his vision of the world is essentially logical rather than mysterious”, and the empirical methods he employed were unusual for his time.[4]

Keep those adjectives in mind:

• ·         Curious
• ·         Imaginative
• ·         Logical
• ·         Inventive

There is one more I would add:

• ·         Productive

He created stuff.

Da Vinci thought of art as science back in the fourteen-fifteen hundreds, the 15^th & 16^th centuries,  he lived from April 15, 1452 to May 2, 1519, 67 years.

 

And acknowledging that a summer day camp integrating science and art experiences is named the DaVinci Experience®, and with a nod to Jackson Pollack fans of whom I am one, da Vinci “is widely considered to be one of the greatest painters of all time and perhaps the most diversely talented person ever to have lived.”[5]

 

Remember that: “diversely talented”

Quoting from Wikipedia with footnotes linking the source: “Among the qualities that make Leonardo's work unique are the innovative techniques that he used in laying on the paint, his detailed knowledge of anatomy, light, botany and geology, his interest in physiognomy [fizz ee og no mee] and the way in which humans register emotion in expression and gesture, his innovative use of the human form in figurative composition, and his use of the subtle gradation of tone. All these qualities come together in his most famous painted works, the Mona Lisa, the Last Supper and the Virgin of the Rocks.^”[6]

"Leonardo is also renowned as a scientist, engineer and inventor. The areas of his scientific study included aeronautics, anatomy, astronomy, botany, cartography, civil engineering, chemistry, geology, geometry, hydrodynamics, mathematics, mechanical engineering, optics, physics, pyrotechnics and zoology.

"While the full extent of his scientific studies has only become recognized in the last 150 years, he was, during his lifetime, employed for his engineering and skill of invention. Many of his designs, such as the movable dikes to protect Venice from invasion, proved too costly or impractical. Some of his smaller inventions entered the world of manufacturing unheralded. As an engineer, Leonardo conceived ideas vastly ahead of his own time, conceptually inventing a helicopter, a tank, the use of concentrated solar power, a calculator, a rudimentary theory of plate tectonics and the double hull. In practice, he greatly advanced the state of knowledge in the fields of anatomy, astronomy, civil engineering, optics, and the study of water (hydrodynamics).

"Leonardo's most famous drawing, the Vitruvian Man, is a study of the proportions of the human body, linking art and science in a single work that has come to represent Renaissance Humanism.”[7]

OK.

“All these qualities come together in …”

Coherence: the quality or state of cohering: as
a : systematic or logical connection or consistency
b : integration of diverse elements, relationships, or values [8]

Couple of things to think about ...

First: The joy and satisfaction found in living the inner directed life of our curiosity coupling with our imagination pushing and pulling us into doing something new, a variation on an existing theme, or extending our range, something that renews the cycle through our own sense of joy and satisfaction in doing it,

“Getting caught up in the enveloping experience of creating”
Not simply “producing”  … though producing can be creating
Not simply “building” … though building can be creating

For most of us, cooking is a good example of the variation in our minds, preparing food can be work or it can be art, and the food a work of art.

Creating the endless expansion of reality out of possibility that our curiosity uncovers and our imagination forms.

The creative experience can be doing almost anything. I doodle and work on social action projects. Others paint, garden, . I have a close personal friend in Alaska, disabled with COPD, on oxygen 24/7, lives in a one-room log cabin with wheel chair and scooter ramps, and ties flies for fly fishing in the summer. For him there is both the fly tying and the fly fishing.

You know, when I get caught up in my own cycle of curiosity, imagination and doing something that emerges from that process, I don’t get bored. And I find that typical.

Second concept to think about if your mind is not yet wandering: Our responsibility in moving toward oughtness out of the isness of our current existence.

That is both the solitary responsibility of the individual and the collective responsibility of the group or groups to which we belong.

This is the struggle of the artist, Picasso’s war, the dialectic of art: oughtness as the arbiter of isness out of possibility?

As human beings we consciously experience the process whereby our curiosity pursues discovery arousing our imagination that leads us to try something, the “what if” of the human mind.

The result—the painting, the music, the dance, the sculpture, and, yes, the tied fly—is what we typically call art. But there is also the carpentry, the auto repair, the plumbing …

The act of cohesive coherence … the sticking together of diverse elements that are connected logically in some way … which may in fact simply be the point of view of the artist … thereby creating its possibility in reality … choosing its oughtness by creating its isness

Cohesive

1. Characterized by or causing cohesion
2. Tending to cohere or stick together

Cohesion

1. The act, process, or condition of cohering: exhibited strong cohesion in the family unit.

Cohere

1. Be united; form a whole.
2. (of an argument or theory) Be logically consistent.

It is the entire process that is art. Omit any element in the process and it no longer is art … to the artist, not necessarily to the observer. Here again cooking is as good an example as any. It can be work or it can be art, completely dependent on the mind of the cook … while the person eating the food may or may not think of it as a work of art independently of the mind of the cook.

But this is all commonly accepted, isn’t it?

So why don’t we take the natural curiosity of children and use the internal motivation of their imagination to guide them in the discovery of the tools they will need to create the what if’s that their curiosity and imagination bring to mind.? To discover the subject matter that ignites their self-motivation to learn, pulled along by their curiosity and imagination? Why don’t we apply the science of art to education?

In order to survive with ease in today’s world, we should be able to read, to write, and to perform at least simple arithmetic. But as children, we don’t know that, we have to be told that. What we know as children is that it is fun to play and in our play to practice the adult behavior that attracts our attention as necessary for successful adult living, or the next step toward becoming adults, because that is what we are driven internally to do … by our dna, as it were.

We know that we need to know how to read, and by reading with children the stories that we know will interest children, we know they will reach the point—individually—where they will want to read.

We know that we need to know how to write, and by writing with children the words, the numbers, the symbols used in communicating ideas and thoughts, we know they will reach the point—individually—where they will want to write these words, numbers, and symbols.

We know that we need to know how to do arithmetic, and by doing it with children—counting, adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing— we know they will reach the point—individually—where they will want to do it themselves.

In all of these activities our mind works best using the da Vinci model: the arousal of curiosity, the feeding of our imagination, leading to our creating something of interest, and its integration in reality arouses interest in others, feeding their imaginations, leading to their creating something else, ad infinitum, the endless expansion of reality out of possibility. The science of art.

And as we experience this process, consciously absorbing the science of art, we become comfortable with the way our minds work and confident in their functioning even as momentary satisfaction gives way to new needs for both the necessities and the excitements of life as human beings.

And we don’t have to be children to absorb and internalize the science of art. Curiosity and imagination are in our DNA. For many of us, we simply need the affirmation that it is OK to use them.

Some Psych 101 at this point. Opening up curiosity and imagination late in life can be like opening a storage closet long kept tightly closed. Some strange things can tumble out, stuff that has been repressed by negative experiences of guilt, shame, fear. Like teachers who tell us we can’t draw or sing or dance, that we will always be mediocre, never truly succeed.

But in today’s world, I would suggest that it is equally important for older adults to learn the science of art. Especially when faced with the loss of a job as described in today’s The New York Times:

There is a movement afoot to return art to its rightful place in the shrines of learning:

STEAM not STEM

Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics

not

Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics

Its Mission Statement on its webpage reads:

Our mission is to have business leaders, arts professionals, educators and others work together to educate governments, the public and the media to the need for returning Arts to the national curricula. China and others have determined, as we must, that STEAM education is a national priority issue.

Together we can demonstrate that Arts is a necessary adjunct to STEM "by connecting the dots" for all constituents -

• Arts education is a key to creativity, and
• Creativity is an essential component of, and spurs innovation, and
• Innovation is, agreed to be necessary to create new industries in the future, and
• New industries, with their jobs, are the basis of our future economic well-being.

A win-win situation – low cost – job growth and insuring the future.  If we do not connect these dots Arts education will continue to be virtually extinct in our schools - and the US's economic future will be damaged.

Articles

• Our Education System is not so much “Broken” – as it is Totally Outdated!
• Art Education in China
• New Law Aims to Measure School Creativity
• STEM to STEAM – Recognizing the Value of Creative Skills in the Competitive Debate
• STEAM – Not STEM Whitepaper

Research

• Arts and Education Webinar
• Neuroeducation: Learning, Arts and the Brain
• The Arts, Creativity and Cultural Education

CONTACT INFO

Harvey P. White
Chairman, (SHW)2 Enterprises
Suite 110
2223 Avenida de la Playa
La Jolla, CA 92037

phone: 858/729.0442
fax: 858/729.0105
email: info@steam-notstem.com

http://steam-notstem.com/

CREATIVITY ENABLES INNOVATION

"It is the tension between creativity and skepticism that has produced the stunning unexpected findings of science." - Carl Sagan


HALF A MIND IS A TERRIBLE THING TO WASTE

"Science and technology aspire to clean, clear answers to problems (as elusive as those answers may be). The humanities address ambiguity, doubt, and skepticism - essential underpinnings in a complex, diverse and turbulent world." - Dr. Alan Brinkley


CREATIVITY IS ECONOMICALLY VIABLE

"The game is changing. It isn't just about math and science anymore. It's about creativity imagination and, above all, innovation." - Business Week


CHINA IS PUSHING AHEAD OF THE U.S.

"Art education constitutes an important component of teaching in primary and secondary schools in China." - CERNET (the China Education and Research Network)

Let me conclude with one observation. For most of my life, and most certainly long before I existed, there has been a debate about the quality of minds across population groups fueled, in my opinion, by the specious arguments of prejudiced minds. This is relevant in today’s global economy where every citizen is a resource for producing wealth, and to the extent that anyone is idle or working below capacity who could be more productive in some manner, to that extent we are not only failing in achieving our potential and but are falling  behind.

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[1] http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/picasso

[2] http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/picasso

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_Vinci: Gardner, Helen (1970). Art through the Ages. pp. 450–456

[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_Vinci: Rosci, Marco (1977). Leonardo. p. 8

[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_Vinci: Vasari, Boltraffio, Castiglione, "Anonimo" Gaddiano, Berensen, Taine, Fuseli, Rio, Bortolon.

[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_Vinci: These qualities of Leonardo's works are discussed by Frederick Hartt in A History of Italian Renaissance Art, pp.387–411.

[7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_and_inventions_of_Leonardo_da_Vinci

[8] http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/coherence