“We have art in order not to die of the truth.”
Friedrich Nietzsche
I wonder what this really means and how it fits into our world. Does it mean that the truth can be so ugly and awful that we need the beauty of art to make life bearable? Do we use art to mask or camouflage ugliness; in essence to cover it or hide it?
How does art help us not die of the truth. Can the truth really kill us?
Oh my goodness. This is a tough one to crack and I'm not doing it well at all!
I think maybe art is a reminder. It can act as a reminder of the other side that is possibly equally truthful. One side of truth may be dark; but at the same time art can show a different and/or positive truth. Art can elevate us out of the dark or mundane we places we find ourselves.
Or at least that is my hope.
Great art elevates us. Like Book From the Sky, Xu Bing, New York 2013.
Friedrich Nietzsche
I wonder what this really means and how it fits into our world. Does it mean that the truth can be so ugly and awful that we need the beauty of art to make life bearable? Do we use art to mask or camouflage ugliness; in essence to cover it or hide it?
How does art help us not die of the truth. Can the truth really kill us?
Oh my goodness. This is a tough one to crack and I'm not doing it well at all!
I think maybe art is a reminder. It can act as a reminder of the other side that is possibly equally truthful. One side of truth may be dark; but at the same time art can show a different and/or positive truth. Art can elevate us out of the dark or mundane we places we find ourselves.
Or at least that is my hope.
Great art elevates us. Like Book From the Sky, Xu Bing, New York 2013.
"Tell all the truth
ReplyDeletebut tell it slant,
Success in circuit lies,
Too bright for our infirm delight
The truth's superb surprise;
As lightning to the children eased
With explanation kind,
The truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind."
Emily Dickinson
Thanks Mo -no more to say - Emily put it so elegantly!
Deletewhenever I am ready to despair due to the actions of mankind - the cruelty, greed, violence and thoughtlessness - it is remembering the beauty of the arts that reconciles me to being human...
ReplyDeletethank you for reminding me.
Oh so true - art is such a solace and a place to turn to to be reminded of beauty and truth isn't it?? Go well...
DeleteThis brought to mind something I once read about the deeper meaning of the word "remember," but about which I could not recall the details. So I tried to reconstruct it by going to m-w.com to look up "re-" and "member." There I found "again, anew" and "part of a whole." Which suggests to me that remembering can be the act of putting things together again/anew.
ReplyDeleteArt is one way to re-member, the better to keep truth alive and make something out of broken-ness.
ooooh, I really like the re-imagining that that offers with remembering...perhaps remembering allows us to do just what you suggest Liz! Art is definitely a part of that - trying how to fix the broken bits with hew ways...go well.
Deletegirl! That quote resonates with me. My life is so hard... fraught with troubles that I escape into art. When I read that I went, yep. I'm not alone. Thanks! LeeAnna at not afraid of color
ReplyDeleteWe are marvellously not alone in the inter web somehow - kindred spirits are out there...
DeleteI recall a Japanese proverb: "By acting in accordance with truth, we always emerge victorious". My thought is that art, at its best, or in one version of itself, brings us to truth's door. Isn't denying the truth what kills us?
ReplyDeleteBrilliant quote Dee - and I like the idea of art bringing us to truth's door. It doesn't force us to see, read or understand truth - but it brings truth in front of us and asks us to consider...thanks so much, go well.
Delete