Life is the greatest piece of art of all time, and everything in the universe is a little part of it. Living creatures are simultaneously the paintbrush, the painter, and the paint. The chisel, the sculptor, and the block of stone. The instrument, the musician, and the sound from the instrument. You get the idea. There are many wonderful, beautiful things on Earth alone, and not just the beauty is important. Art is about the miserable, the wonderful, the boring and the exciting- it is about everything. Even if you have a miserable life, then you are part of the artwork. Everything tedious and boring will be a piece of art… your wait in the doctor’s office hangs forever like a Norman Rockwell painting. What does this have to do with anything? I don’t know, I just wanted to share.
Of course, it goes to follow, that if everything is art, then there are some things that are wrong, or not artful:
- Plagiarism - This should be self explanitory. If not, I’ll explain later.
- Destruction of human created art - Also self explanitory.
- Destruction of all other art without good purpose - This includes people, things… anything. What is good purpose? Well, I’m not exactly sure yet, but I do have some things in my head. Specifically, I believe that there are certain actions that are wrong, but that with the right purpose, they can be either less wrong or even right.
What is more important, action or reasoning? I think that reasoning is more important, personally. I shall show this by example.
There are two millionaires who give a large amount of their money to charity. One of them gives money so that he can gain a tax exemption and look good in the public eye. The other man gives money to charity because he truely believes that the charity he is giving to (let us say cancer research, for the Hell of it) is truely a good cause. Are they both doing a good thing? I would say that only the latter man is doing the right thing, because he has the right reason. The first person is using charity as a means to save money, meaning that he isn’t really giving any money at all, if you think about it. Of course, there are worse ways that he can give money, so I do not believe that it is a bad thing that he gives to charity.
There are two very poor women who steal. One of them steals because she frankly doesn’t want to work at all, and can get away with what she does fairly easily. She doesn’t attempt to get a job at any point of her life. The other woman steals the same amount of money in her lifetime, but she steals because she fell into bad times. She had a job, but she was laid off, and cannot get another job despite trying very hard. She steals so she can support herself to live. Are they both doing wrong? I would say that they are both doing wrong, but that the latter person has a good reason and it is almost cancelled out to be a right. However, if she was stealing money for her and her family, would she be any less wrong? I maintain that yes, she would be doing the right thing, because she is not doing this simply for herself.
What do you all think about any of this? I’m interested to start a serious conversation about this.
NOTE: When I say a person’s motivation, I mean their true motivation, not what they rationalize their motivations to be.
