I was walking with a friend awhile back, and commented on something--the way the bark looked on a tree, or the pattern made by lichen on a rock.
"You're so visual!" he exclaimed.
Huh? What did he mean, I asked.
"You see stuff like that all the time! I'm not visual, I don't notice stuff like that. It's the artist in you, I guess...", he said.
I keep thinking about that. Is it true artists are more visual? Or that musicians are more tuned in to sound, or rhythm? Are dancers more in touch with their bodies?
I mean, we're human beings--we're ALL visual. We ALL like music. And we are ALL very aware of our bodies. (Just ask anyone who's just stubbed their toe....)
As soon as I pointed out the patterns to Larry, he could see them, too. And he found them just as unusual and interesting as I did.
I think it's more a question of interest. And the focus we bring to bear on that which interests us.
And how we share that interest and focus with others.
We all know there are starving children in the world, but we are bombarded with sad stories hundreds of times a day. We hear another sad story, and don't really feel compelled to do something about it on daily basis. It's not that we don't care. It's just not under our noses, it's one of a thousand such stories. So we don't think about it much.
Then suddenly, someone who's been overseas tells us their experience with these children. Or we see a commercial that shows a real child suffering. Or we watch a movie that tells a story about such a child. Or we realize, with shock, that someone we KNOW is hungry. Really hungry.
Now we are engaged. We SEE it. We FEEL it. We care. And perhaps feel moved to do something, something concrete and useful, right now.
The same with any social issue. Abandoned pets, women's rights, gay marriage, religious freedom... The minute their story crosses our path in a personal, immediate way, then we really see it. And sympathize. And hopefully are spurred to action.
These excellent causes may come into our life through pure chance.
Or a single person may be an agent for such change. And they do what they do not simply because they are a "good person"--for we all have the capacity for that.
They do it because they are attuned to it. It has caught their interest, and then their heart. And perhaps has become a mission in life for them.
They then transform their interest, their "hook", into something that "hooks" us. They connect us with THEIR interest.
We tend to categorize artists of all kinds in this role: Visual artists, musicians, writers, poets, dancers, etc. But really, we all have the capacity for this interconnection.
After all, my "visually challenged" friend has remarkable affinity for people with Asperger's Syndrome. He has opened MY eyes to the suffering of people with this condition. He has made ME more aware of HIS interest, and we are both better people for it.
When we pay attention to what captures our interest, what catches our hearts, and when we share that with others,
wonderful, powerful things can happen.
