“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.”  –Pablo Picasso

“The practice of the arts is cleansing to the soul.” –Ms. Darbus, High School Musical

All we have left from the most ancient peoples who walked the earth are objects.  These objects are usually art and pottery; take cave paintings for example and their beautiful designs along with accurate representations of the animals that lived alongside ancient humans.

From the earliest civilizations that had writing, the earliest objects we have are art and poetry.  Archaeologists call the objects they find from the earliest civilizations artifacts.  This word’s origin shows that archaeologists recognized that the majority of what ancient cultures left behind and that has lasted were works of art because the word artifact literally means, “work of art.”

While the earliest humans had a clear inclination toward art, we too have that inclination.  This is because art and humanity are inseparable.  A French theologian in the 20^th Century named Jean Danielou stated that one of the two great callings of humanity is art.  This is true regardless what place or time humans may be living.  Art is prevalent in all cultures whether they write or not, whether they are primitive or technologically advanced, and whether they are even intentional about it or not.

There are two points of consideration when it comes to the arts and life, but first it needs to be clear that humans have a need for the arts.

The Need for Art

In much of the advanced world, science has come to the forefront of education while the arts have been pushed back.  However, the arts are extremely important because humans need art.  This is because the right side of the human brain is associated with creative functions.  Creativity is art.  If we disregard experiencing or practicing art, then we neglect the right side of our brain.  By ignoring art because of the idea that science is more important (the two are not mutually exclusive), this takes part of our humanity away.  Actually, when we think about it, the majority of innovation and invention in humanity was the result of art.

Take for example reading and writing.  These two skills are the most foundational to the advanced civilization we live in, and without them there can be no more advancement.  This is because advanced knowledge comes about as the result of generations of knowledge accumulating one upon the other, and the sheer amount of knowledge we have today cannot simply be transmitted by speaking alone.  It must be recorded through writing and become easily accessible to the coming generation.  Writing began as art.  Human art goes back to cavemen.  Recently, in an interesting set of studies, archaeologists have discovered that there were symbols and patterns in cave art that repeated over and over across generations in Europe.  While, they do not believe this functioned in the same way as writing, they do believe it was a precursor to writing.  The connection between art and the origin of writing is still apparent in the earliest forms of writing.  Writing began as a large set of thousands of drawings and paintings called hieroglyphs representing different ideas and words.  Furthermore, these symbols were combined with each other to produce more words.  However, as writing developed further, the symbols simplified and greatly reduced in number to associate with sounds and that became the alphabet.  How important writing is and its impact, well that’s history, literally.

Further, many inventions and innovations came about because of works of art like books and movies.  Take for example Smart Watches which were envisioned for more than 60 years before they became a reality, which I wrote about at the end of my article, “Imagination.”  Or take space shuttles, video phone calls, photography (insert footnote).  Art and imagination lead to scientific innovation.  So the arts and sciences are not exclusive, rather art gives birth to science.

So what does this mean for us?  It means two things.

1. We should experience art

The sciences help us live, but the arts show us how to live.

Being absorbed in a great work of art leads into a state of flow.  Psychologists describe this state as one in which people lose sense of their time and place and are totally involved in what they are experiencing.  This is often associated with happiness.

An example of this is storytelling.  Quite so often we come across a story whether it is told, written, or shown.  This story has an impact on us and leaves us with a feeling of renewal.  Stories actually create a common experience not only among the listeners or viewers, but it even has similar effects across all brains.  Brain scans carried out on people listening to the same story show that their brain activities sync with the storyteller’s brain.  So in a way, the art of storytelling brings humans closer on a very deep level.

This forms a basis for why we should practice art.

2. We should practice art

There are three reasons we should practice art.

1. Achieving a state of flow and happiness.

Like experiencing art, practicing art also leads to a state of flow.  It is actually one of the easiest states in which to achieve flow.  This in turn often leads to happiness.

2. Art also helps our brains and skills grow.

Take music education for example: schools who have music education programs not only report high rates of attendance, high graduation rates, and lower disciplinary problems, but students who engaged in music programs in school also performed very highly academically.  Further, students who may be behind in school, were able to make good gains in academic subjects while they were in music programs.

3. Art relieves stress.

This is the reason why adult coloring books have taken off and become very popular.  In the past I have engaged in drawing and writing poetry, and while I did not engage in them for purposes of stress relief, I have found both to be excellent sources of stress relief and achieving a state of flow.  It is not my experience only but also the experience of countless others.

Overall, art helps us achieve renewal and recharge ourselves.

The sciences help us live, but without the arts, the sciences would not have advanced the way they did.  In addition, the arts show us how to live.

Do you have the experience or practice of art in your lives?  If not, what is preventing you?  How can you create a place for art in your lives?  Have you seen art impact people positively?