Situation: What seems to matter in life is how we feel. We feel ourselves in the space/time continuum, we have a visceral, non-rational connection directly with the universe. How we feel is perceived in terms of "quality" of life. [Definition needed.]

Problem: How can improve the way we “feel,” create quality in our lives, be happy?

Factors:

• Indifference is the enemy of quality. It’s easy to produce garbage, it’s harder to make art.
• One person’s art is another person’s garbage. [One person's quality is another person's quantity.]
• Some art is not intended to give pleasure. [Pathos, tragedy.]
• It’s all very subjective.
• “There is no apperception so blind as the non-sensuous apperception of feelings.” (Otto Baensch, Kunst und Gefuhl, Logos, II, 1923, p. 14.) Feelings are nonetheless real.
• “The serious artist is the only person able to encounter technology with impunity...”  (McLuhan, Understanding Media, p. 33.)

Solution: Whenever possible make art out of every facet of living: cooking, building, dressing, working, thinking, writing, programming, playing, singing, expressing joy, and sorrow… HOW to do this is more problematic--remember, feeling is not necessarily rational. So what makes art art?

[See Significant Form, The Nature of Art, Quality Without a Name, Turkish Crafts, Extreme Programming Master, Media/Technology.]

Bibliography

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