The Art of Our Lives

Today’s post from DailyGood featured dancer and potter, Paulus Berensohn. I loved what he had to say about art.

I am very interested in the behavior of art rather than the achievement of art. I see all the arts as apprenticeships for the big art of our lives.

— Paulus Berensohn

There are three short videos in the post about Berensohn that I found inspiring. In one of the videos I learned that my favorite poet, Mary Oliver, had featured him in a stanza of her poem, To Begin With, The Sweet Grass.

Someday I am going to ask my friend Paulus,

The dancer, the potter,

To make me a begging bowl

Which I believe

My soul needs.

And if I come to you,

To the door of your comfortable house

With unwashed clothes and unclean fingernails,

Will you put something into it?

I would like to take this chance.

I would like to give you this chance.

— Mary Oliver

In one of the videos Paulus told a story about one of his pottery students who was dismayed because no one was buying her pottery. His response to her was, “Give it away then. Or return it to the earth.” It is the practice of art that matters, not the things that we create.

Art is a Verb

Paulus suggests that art is a verb, not a noun. This strikes me as true. For me, it is the process of making photographs that enlarges and enriches my life, not what I do with them after I’ve created them. In the end, what I create is far less important to me than that I continue to create.

Actively striving to see beauty, even in scenes that I might otherwise think are ugly has stretched my ability to embrace and accept all parts of life.

To practice any art is to explore what really matters to you. It is also a path towards learning about yourself and the deep longings of your heart. Sometimes the creation of a piece of art is much like a dance. The beauty is in the doing. If you stumble, it also becomes part of the dance and the learning.

The art of our lives is the art of active participation in the joys AND sorrows of the world. Simply living fully, joyfully, and gratefully is highest art we can pursue.

May you walk in beauty.

Note: Yesterday afternoon I was fascinated with reflections on the pond and clouds in the sky. Today after lunch I was fascinated with light and shadow on an apple and the peeling of a clementine that I ate for lunch. (The art of my life)