The Highest Goal of Any Art
Is so simple, despite thoughts to the contrary.
I was reading through some old content on this site recently – posts, quotes and postcards. In all honestly, I was dumbfounded. A lot of it just didn’t make sense to me. “What did I mean by that?”, I kept asking myself. And I started to get dejected because I just couldn’t reconnect to the emotions that inspired each piece of writing.
I began to think about my writing process and realized that I have never once planned a post. Sometimes I have an idea about what I want to write, but more often than not, I’ll be running or reading or otherwise engaged and a thought will pop into my head that inspires me to write. So I do. I begin to type and I just see where the words take me.
And that’s when it hit me. Just as art is simply the expression of one single moment, one idea, one inspiration, the appreciation of art isn’t possible in every moment, from every perspective, by everyone. Because I, as the artist, can’t fully appreciate each art form I’ve created at any given time, doesn’t make it any less valuable. To the contrary, it makes it that much more critical to create when inspiration strikes because that unique form of art may only be possible in that moment. Wait a minute, a day, a week, and it’s gone. Something may replace it, sure, but not the same thing.
All of which brings me to what I’ve come to believe is the highest goal of any art. Not to be revered by millions of people or to earn a steep financial reward. But simply to connect with one person, in that one moment when they’re ready to receive it. On any other day, at any other time, they might glance at it and move on. But on that day, at that moment, it might just change everything.
life: acoustic & amplified 