MIND

I found myself trying to explain, in group last night, what I thought was our purpose as creative people, coming together to explore common interests and common goals.  I was trying to explain, in a clumsy way, perhaps, that for me all art work is the attempt to penetrate ever deeper into the mind-territory that constitutes my own humanity; to experience art, to talk about art, for me, is to learn more about my own humanity and that of others; and in this way to become more fully human.

I try to understand what I mean by the territory of the mind.  Mind is different from brain; brain is no more than the engine, the little robot we send out into the vast territory of the mind.  Mind is something infinitely greater than "we think."  Mind encompasses everything knowable, whether we know it yet or not.  Mind encompasses everything do-doable, whether we have done it yet or not.  Mind is not"mine," nor is your mind yours.  Mind is something we share, as human beings; we glimpse our small portion of its topography, we find areas we are exploring with the "like-minded."  We meet, occasionally, our Dr. Livingstones in the heart of darkness.

This, I was trying to explain, is something far different than "therapy."  It is in my view a far greater enterprise.  It's not about exchanging notes on our different neuroses and the way we learn to cope with them.  This is about the vast, unending, limitless enterprise of expanding our horizons, extending our freedoms beyond the limits we have accepted or imposed upon ourselves, exploring new potentials; all in order, as I see it, to become more fully human.

And that, for me, is what it's all about.