THE PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE THROUGH THE MIRROR OF ART

Art has a unique way of capturing the essence of life. It reflects our joys, sorrows, and everything in between. When we gaze at a painting or listen to a haunting melody, we often find ourselves pondering deeper questions about existence. What does it mean to live? How do our experiences shape us?

This intersection of art and philosophy invites us to explore the human condition through various creative lenses. Each brushstroke, note, or sculpture tells a story—one that resonates with our own journey.

As we delve into this fascinating relationship between life’s philosophies and artistic expression, prepare for an enlightening exploration that could change how you view both art and your own life's narrative. Life is a canvas, and we are the artists. Each experience adds color to our existence, shaping who we become. Art allows us to explore emotions that often elude words.

Through painting, writing, or music, we express complex thoughts about love, loss, and identity. This creative outlet becomes a mirror reflecting our innermost selves. The struggles of life transform into powerful expressions of resilience in this space. Art invites us to ask big questions: What do we value? How do moments define us? It challenges societal norms and pushes boundaries.

Each piece tells its own story while resonating with universal themes—connecting individuals across time and culture. In this way, art serves as both a personal journey and a shared experience among humanity. As we engage with different forms of art, we're encouraged to reflect on our beliefs and philosophies about what it means to truly live.

The contributions submitted by our guest writer were first published in the souvenir of 6th Chimera 2022, organised by the AMRAPALI (Society for ARTS).

BIMAL KR. HAZARIKA, ACS | Retd. Bureaucrat, Author & Playwright | Guwahati, Assam

Before we talk of art, for that matter, mirror of art, let us ponder over the philosophy of life.

My philosophy on life is that you should 'LIVE' while you are alive and you should give others that same privilege. We should not judge people for the choice they make, because we often make bad decisions. You should do what you want with your life as long as it makes you happy and causes no harm to others.

A philosophy of life is defined as having, at a minimum, two components: a metaphysics i.e the area of philosophy that deals with the nature of existence, truth and knowledge and an ethic i.e. the study of what is right and wrong in human behaviour. A metaphysics is an account of how the world hang together. An ethics is an account of how we should live in the world.

Your life purpose consists of the central motivating aims of your life - the reasons you get up in the morning. Purpose can guide life decisions, influence behaviour, shape goals, offer a sense of direction and create meaning. For some people purpose is connected to vocation - meaningful, satisfying work.

Now let us see how the philosophy of life is determined through the mirrors of art. Art is something that stimulates an individual's thoughts, emotions, beliefs or ideas through the senses. Works of art can be explicitly made for this.

Art is a highly diverse range of human activities engaged in creating visual, auditory or performed artifacts - art works - that express the author's imaginative or technical skill and are intended to be appreciated for their beauty or emotional power.

In fact, participation in the arts may even assist kids with language, motor skills and visual learning development. Research indicates that young people who regularly participate in the arts are four times more likely to be recognised for academic achievement later on. Art has the power to move individuals to social action, manipulate and influence, entertain and educate. There are seven different forms of art - painting, sculpture, architecture, cinema, music, theatre.

Traditional categories within art include literature including poetry, drama, story and so on, the visual art (painting, drawing, sculpture, graphic art painting, design and other forms expressed on flat surface) the plastic art (sculpture, modelling), the decorative art (enamel).

We may in this context mention that dance is a performing art consisting of sequence of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorised and described by its choreography, by its repertoire of movements or by its historical period or place of origin.

Art makes people optimistic about their future. Arts can be used to help spread message of inspiration, making people achieve great things in life. Art can be a form of communication between people to focus on common issues for the betterment of human kind. Inspirational music is the best form of creative art. Art has the power to move individual to social action, manipulate and influence and entertain.

Art influence society by changing opinion, installing values and translating experiences across space and time. Art in this sense is communication, it allows people from different cultures and different times to communicate with each other via images, sound and stories. Art as said by many is often a vehicle of social change and as I stated earlier we should live while we are alive and give others the same privilege. Our motto in life should be to remain happy without causing harm to others.

MARK BORDOLOI | Entrepreneur & Community Service | USA

Let me start with this, if you do not like art, then probably you are not creative. The whole universe is the result of God’s creativity. We are all made in the image of God. We see creativity in all forms of art whether it's music, designs, painting, and many more of which we can think. Somebody thought about this universe and here we are today. Creativity in the form of art is paradise. Creativity is, about ideas and how we develop, understand, and communicate through them.

When we ask ourselves about the philosophy of life, we get many answers. We look for material success as well as spiritual happiness in many forms. The true meaning of life varies from individual to individual based on their true goals in life. How do we get inspiration to long for a truly spiritual life? Is it easier to achieve a material source of happiness or spiritual happiness? One may answer by saying, “Hard work with a definite goal can help in achieving anything in life.” Now the question will be what and how?

Before we go deep into the philosophy of life through the mirror of art, we must acknowledge that Creative people are Entrepreneurs, revitalize cities, make things magnificent and valuable. A real piece of art opens our eyes to the domains of the transcendent. Beauty is essential for economic development in many ways. How do you become more creative? Is it dedication, focus, commitment, or discipline?

An artist and a Creative person bring the true meaning of life to reality. That is the role of art and artist. They look into reality indirect way. Many of us witness the true meaning of art and we feel the same way the artist portraits. We look for meaningful perspectives of life. We know how we should live our lives in this world.

I would like to emphasize on three philosophical aspects which are Dream, Desire and Destination. Whatever we plan to accomplish in our life requires utmost discipline. Once our discipline becomes a habit and then that becomes our daily rituals.

Dream: Our life starts with a simple dream. A dream is an essential part of our life’s journey. Without a dream, we cannot progress in life. Dreams bring things closer to us. Many art forms help us dream and make us feel real. To accomplish happiness, we must pursue our dreams with dedication, commitment, and discipline.

Desire: God gave this tremendous ability to long for something in life to human beings. Once we start desiring something in life, we put everything into it to accomplish it. We succeed only when we align our dreams with our desires in a disciplined way.

Happiness can be a desire for some, therefore how are we going to achieve that? Probably, appreciating life’s surroundings. One of the important aspects in our life to become happy is to start trading our expectations with appreciation. Life will be simple. Through the eyes of an artist, we experience these in many forms.

Destination: This is the ultimate goal point in our life. Where do we want to arrive today? What had been dreamt and desired to arrive at this point in our life? A well-defined destination and once we accomplish the goal of arriving at that well-defined destination makes us feel the fulfillment in life. The fulfillment in life does not necessarily be the result of achieving the materialistic goals, it is the spiritual accomplishment that lasts long and makes us complete.

In the end, we must appreciate the art forms of everything. Art is life and the future. Without art, we cannot imagine how beautiful the world is and privileged to be a human being. In today’s world, the many forms of art inspire us to appreciate this beautiful universe. Do not be terrified of art, make it a part of life. This should be the philosophy of life.

DR. SEETA SHAH ROATH | Multimedia Educator, Ed.D, M.Ed, BSc | USA

Histories are mirrored in our art – futures can be charted through our art

The world is the canvas of an artist who weaves a worldview with words, music, dance, paint, and pencils. An artist who expresses the inner soul of a life full of love, light, song, and laughter. An artist who looks around and sees disappointments, distrusts, dishonour, and discord that turns into hatred, warfare, hunger, disease, and death. Mirrored in newspapers, on the airwaves, and in the faces of our children. Mirrored in the canvasses of our lives, the graffiti in our neighbourhoods, and the pages of children’s drawing books.

Let us not bunker down like a turtle hides from the outside world, but let our songs of hope be heard, dance the dance of joy, the beauty of movement, the poetry of a happy soul, the painting that captures the light of eternity, and hope for the universe. Raise our voices, stamp our feet, twirl our skirts, brandish our paintbrushes, and disappear in the words our pen and keystrokes strike on the canvas of a global audience. These are the words that flow from my pen at the thought of expressing our philosophy of life through the mirror of art.

A utopic world may be expressed by a joyful soul, just as a tormented world may be expressed by an anguished soul.

I believe in using our art to highlight our disappointments yet show what could be, the cognitive dissonance that arouses positive change, and painting a picture of whom we were, are, and could be.

Our history informs on our futures, charting a path that guides us through the evils that threaten our very existence. Expressions that emit from deep inside our very souls may show the humanity that may save us from ourselves.

PRERONA BHUYAN | Sattriya Danseuse | Guwahati, Assam

Through the lens of my eyes “Art” exists in every molecule of life. I feel the power and passion in life through dance.

When I was as little as 3, my Maa introduced me to the world of dance. I have never known life without dance ever since. She would accompany me to all my dance classes, patiently waiting outside while I trained. She would dress me up for shows and I would always radiate in the joy that lit her face as she watched me perform. She wanted me to dance. Always! That was her dream.

You see, dance was an escape for both of us. As a child she always wanted to pursue it, however, that wasn't possible because “good girls” never danced during her generation and time… Therefore she lived her unfulfilled desire to dance through me. However tragedy struck me early on in life, my mother passed away and along with her my aspirations to be a dancer died too. Living was lifeless and I was just getting by every day aimlessly.