The Nature of Art

In a predetermined universe, what is the nature of art? Just as all human societies at some point create their creators – they also begin traditions of creating creations - otherwise known as art. Why are humans inclined to take useful crafts, like language or pottery, and imbue them with something extra, something intangible and slippery? There are several functions of art, from an anthropological perspective, such as setting standards of behavior and transmitting customs or values. In this way, art acts to preserve culture. Art can also as an agent of change as it opens a relatively safe outlet for allowing taboo thoughts to be expressed. Once expressed within the confines of an accepted artistic medium, taboo thoughts may be dismissed. On the other hand, taboo ideas expressed in artistic media that push the limits of acceptance can precipitate cultural shifts or change, both in what are considered acceptable forms and in the relaxing of taboos. In either case art either preserves or destroys according to its timing. It is this aspect of art that comes into play when examining predeterminism, in that art may act as a force upon the trajectory of ideas pulling them one way or another.

In order for art to be an agent of change, a force shaping the universal outcome, does it have to survive the war of attrition, the sandblasting of time which eventually makes fools of us all? Does it have to be fundamentally important to a generation or more importantly to their offspring? Or is it an individual exercise based on personal insight or observation, of which outward appreciation gives the creator the belief that he or she is not in isolation on this lonely planet? If you accept that the future can be seen in the present, as can the present be seen in the past, and each event is multidimensional – then the act of creation takes on more importance than the resulting artwork because it resonates through time - beyond the single event or individual experience.
-LEH