A short and simple word. Art. Just three letters. But what kind of a world is given by that notion!
Some people can’t do without, some pretend they do — but most probably, they don’t know that they need art just as well. Art may be one of the very few things distinguishing man from animal.
Did you try to live in a room without pictures? I did. I remember a visit in a hotel in the vicinity of Barcelona, Spain, back early in the seventies. Every room was decorated with small paintings, all by the same artist, mostly still lifes, lemons and the like, pretty dull and boring. It made me sick after a few hours, so I decided to turn them, facing the wall, showing their backside.
Surprisingly, after only a few days, I felt such a need for eye food that I rather wanted to look at these inferior pictures than living without. It was an experience that showed me something I never forgot. “Man shall not live by bread alone” — this is really true, and if the basic needs are taken care of, man feels an emptiness which has to be filled.
“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God”. This is the whole citation attributed to Jesus, and the emptiness may well be the indication for that longing. Art cannot becalm that longing, but may indicate the direction the soul wants to go. Anyway, I’m eager to find out what my musings will lead me to.