There’s Something Very Unifying About A Global Crisis

There’s something very unifying about a global crisis — a great inescapable event that affects us all at the same time.  Such crises seem rare but in modern times, they happen often.  We have world economic crises, a global climate crisis, and a crisis of faith in our leaders that’s led to widespread social uprisings around the world.  These sorts of crises affect everyone to some extent, but the effects are hard to gauge.  Some people are affected disproportionately, others not at all.

But in the case of coronavirus, it’s different.  Coronavirus is affecting everyone — rich and poor, young and old, all races and creeds — at the same time.  And while some of us say to ourselves, “It’s just the flu” or “I’m young, it won’t kill me,” our lives are still being majorly impacted by it.  For starters, there are social restrictions and they’re getting tighter by the hour.  Moreover, the world economy is shutting down, which means that along with toilet paper, money is going to be in short supply..

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Why We Need To Practice Creative Expression

4/30/2011

For decades now, it’s been impressed on us moderns that art is a frill, unnecessary and usually unaffordable.  This view has always struck me as patently wrong, but I’ve never had a ready answer for it until now.  You can try to explain why art is not a frill, or you can simply answer the question “What would life be like without art?”

If you’re really strict with yourself and strip out every form of art there is, you may start to see what a gift art can be — a gift of joy, beauty, inspiration, and pleasure. Read More