To a Higher Mount— At West End Gallery
The world is an illusion, but it is an illusion which we must take seriously, because it is real as far as it goes, and in those aspects of the reality which we are capable of apprehending. Our business is to wake up. We have to find ways in which to detect the whole of reality in the one illusory part which our self-centered consciousness permits us to see. We must not live thoughtlessly, taking our illusion for the complete reality, but at the same time we must not live too thoughtfully in the sense of trying to escape from the dream state. We must continually be on our watch for ways in which we may enlarge our consciousness. We must not attempt to live outside the world, which is given us, but we must somehow learn how to transform it and transfigure it. Too much “wisdom” is as bad as too little wisdom, and there must be no magic tricks. We must learn to come to reality without the enchanter’s wand and his book of the words. One must find a way of being in this world while not being of it. A way of living in time without being completely swallowed up in time.
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—Aldous Huxley, Shakespeare and Religion
There’s a lot packed into this summarizing paragraph from an Aldous Huxley essay that discusses the religious implications of The Tempest from Shakespeare. Each line seems to hold some tidbit of advice that stands on its own while still reinforcing the whole.
As an artist– I guess that’s what I am calling myself these days– the line that spoke to me, besides Our business is to wake up, is this: We must not attempt to live outside the world, which is given us, but we must somehow learn how to transform it and transfigure it.
Artists live in this illusory world and create their own set of illusions within it in order to get along. For me, part of this is in my painting. It is my transformation of the world into something more palatable to my own tastes, my own beliefs and understandings.
I say artists but non-artists do much the same. Most of us interpret and remake the dream of this world that is set before us into forms with which we can live– a way of being in this world while not being of it.
Hmm. Don’t know if that adds anything to anything this morning. It’s certainly not a complete or well thought out essay. It’s more of a jumping off point. I might roll it around in my head a bit more today as I work.
Maybe you will as well.
No? Yeah, I probably won’t either…
