Thought for the Day

Thought for the Day

"Only through art can we get outside of ourselves and know another's view of the universe which is not the same as ours and see landscapes which would otherwise have remained unknown to us like the landscapes of the moon. Thanks to art, instead of seeing a single world, our own, we see it multiply until we have before us as many worlds as there are original artists."

The Maxims of Marcel Proust

Marcel Proust (French writer) 1817-1922

This morning the word "artistry" kept coming to my mind. So I pulled out my trusty Bartlett's Familiar Quotations to see what the voices of the ages had to say on the subject and I ran across this thought provoking quote. 

Proust is instructing us on how to view and appreciate art. Standing in a gallery before a French Impressionist painting, we get a glimpse of life in the late nineteenth century. An early American portrait or Renaissance masterpiece pulls us into a world we would never otherwise know, and we gain an appreciation for what the artist is recording, from their perspective.

But this quote easily translates to how we view and appreciate anything outside of our familiar surroundings. It speaks to the art of empathy, encouraging the exploration of the way others view things. This "studied action," (to use one of Webster's definitions for "art"), brings with it a promise that, if we do take the time to consider other perspectives, we will find worlds upon worlds stretched out before us, enriching us. 

The world could always use a bit more enriching through this kind of art appreciation.

Note: This photo was taken out of my window at some point during a flight between the west and east coast last year. The window seat always gives a wonderful perspective, doesn't it?