One of Those Weeks

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19607_10150561253524956_1804358799561093639_nHave you ever had one of those weeks? You might know what I am talking about here. There are weeks when a lot of things decide to happen together. Last week was one of those weeks for me when so many great things happened together that I am still trying to recount them all. I am so thankful for each one of this blessings. Among all those blessings, I had the opportunity to teach three nights, three different subjects: basic computer skills, painting, and sculpting. Of course, on each one many other teaching opportunities came along.  My wife says that no matter what I am doing I find the chance to teach something. I can’t stop myself from teaching something, because I learn through teaching.

11073071_10150564957424956_9088131320696504778_nBeing an educator is a challenge but it is also an amazing blessing. It doesn’t matter what the subject is. In ancient Greece the concept of subjects was technically the concept of branches of practice but it came from the three of knowledge and had to be connected to its trunk and rooted in practical life. Subjects were not isolated concepts. Specializations, so to speak, had a purpose in service. Switching subjects was a continuum. Math and music could be having a discussion together, and philosophy could assist the conversation inviting science to share its point of view while a poet put to rhythmic speech the historical account of the piece of art being created with the brush or under the chisel.

I see knowledge as one unlimited supply of interconnected events, points of views, interpretations, results from experience and experimentation, explanations of our surroundings, assumptions of what we don’t know based on the things we do know, and abstract descriptions of an idea. As I explained to one of the participants: “Everything we see, hear, and say is an abstraction of an idea”. Letters are the abstraction of the idea of a sound that we translate into a symbol, but that sound itself is an abstraction of the idea of that particular sound. Objects are abstractions of ideas producing symbols we get attached to. The object perish, and the symbol changes its value based on time and context, but the idea remains. Sadly, humans attach themselves to so many perishable abstractions instead of taking hold of the idea. Even more so, we often forget to rely on the source of life who put the idea into visual and palpable realization with just speaking.

11150225_10150566159194956_8952423942549070099_nOn that thought, I begin my week still in awe and spiritually refreshed after witnessing how 43 individuals made a profession of faith last night through baptism at City Church. It is such a fulfilling experience to hear each story towards transformation. It is also great to share this experience in community with a bunch of strangers that become family in Christ. This week we just began can be one of those weeks too if only we focus on being thankful, on keeping the faith with patience to see the fulfillment of the promise of God.

April is almost coming to an end but there are still things to do and classes to teach. I continue the computer class at The Literacy Center of Milford, and if you are missing on all the fun of the painting and sculpting parties, we are going to be sculpting at The Grove in New Haven, Friday, April 24. The events for the month of May are listed also so you can RSVP with time. You can also request private sculpting and painting parties, as well as art lessons.

Always Something to Learn

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I am still learning.
– Michelangelo

There is always something to learn. No matter the age, the ability, the level of skill, the success or life realization, we learn and should seek to learn until we die. It would be arrogant to think that there is nothing to learn, or worse, to think we know everything. Even when it seems that we know something or that we don’t need what is taught, even when we are practicing what they are talking about, I believe we can learn something new each day. The day we stop learning, we stop living. I don’t know about you, but I don’t know everything. In fact, I know much less than what I should know at my age. Hopefully, I’ll live long enough to catch up.

Learning doesn’t have to be focused on a specific topic. It is not about being in school forever. Learning doesn’t have to be strictly about ‘serious’ subjects. It could be something trivial and ‘useless’. Seeking knowledge for the sake of knowledge is a lot of fun. We might never use information we have stored in the brain, but we can become the heroes in the next trivia challenge. My grandfather always said that we don’t need to know everything, but a little of everything enough to sustain a conversation with anyone. Knowledge is not about us, is about others. It is about connecting with people. In order to relate to others it is good to know about them. That is a motivation for learning something new every day.

To Be Aware Is to See

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I watched a commercial on television that really got my attention because I do the same thing. I’m not sure what the product was or what exactly the narrative was about but I found it very interesting. There is a guy taking a train ride looking at people, their expressions, the silent screen of their eyes, the happiness of the moment, the gestures of the hands, what they are wearing, and how they conduct themselves. As the man observes them he explains how he takes all this untold stories into his music. I believe it was music. Honestly can’t recall. However, this awareness is one of the most important characteristics for artists who want their art to be meaningful to people. If artists can ‘see’ people beyond the presence of a person standing or sitting there, they can take it to their art, and their art in return will take it back to the people. People then can connect with the art, the artist, and back to themselves.

To be aware is to see. Seeing in a meaningful way requires a higher degree of consciousness beyond the image transmitted from the eyes to the brain. To see is to connect to the world outside with watchful discernment. Requires for us to be alert and sensitive to the unspoken messages of the surroundings. That sensitivity comes from personal awareness. Without self-awareness we are disconnected from the outside world and we can distort or misinterpret external messages. Discernment leads to revelation. The revelation that allows us to see beyond what is in front of our eyes that transmitted into our art is capable of touching lives.

An interesting aspect of awareness is knowledge. If we add knowledge to what we see we can make objective interpretations based on facts. I mean objective as objective gets. We all know that a completely objective interpretation of the world around us is completely subjective based on our values, beliefs, and understanding. The sky can be blue for some but others can see it dark. Understanding why others see it differently than us is a result of knowledge which turns a subjective interpretation into an objective interpretation of the attributions behind it. We can be sensitive to that interpretation from someone else without surrendering our interpretation or our personal beliefs.

Play Your Game

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I am not good at chess. I play a little and can hang in there through a game but I don’t take the game seriously. I’ve never touched a chess book as some people do. I do like to think ahead five or six moves and develop options based on possible moves from the opponent. I do the same when I fight. I plan my moves and plan my reactions to possible attacks but remaining flexible and alert to any surprises. I play chess very fast too. I don’t like to be there thinking for too long what my next move is going to be. Some people take so long to make a move a just bring my sketchbook with me and doodle while they think. People have their way of playing and I respect that.

During my stay in Kampala, Uganda we played chess from time to time. One of the guys was slightly obsessed to beat me since his first nine attempts didn’t prosper. I went to Rakai for a few days and upon my return to Kampala my friend was waiting for me at the gate with the chess board in his hands. He told me about his nightmares during those nights and how he figured out how to defeat me. Honestly, he was so much better than me at the game and also takes chess very seriously. His tenth attempt ended in his defeat yet again. At that point I had to reveal my secret: “You are defeating yourself. You are trying to play my way. Play your game not mine”. We played for the eleventh time and after two hours and twenty five minutes, and many sketches, he won.

Sometimes we get distracted from achieving our goals because we are trying to play someone else’s game. Each one of us have specific goals sustained by specific values and desires. However, sometimes we try to adapt our ways and end up losing ourselves. I’ve been asked by a few people to change my art to something more ‘commercial’ so I can sell more. People is always recommending to do things in a certain way as if one size fits all. On the other hand, some people try to do things the way I do things. Doing things the way I do things entails that you have to become me and that might not work for you. I am not a fan of either one.

We can share knowledge and we can learn from each other. These are two different processes. We share knowledge all the time. Right now as you read this I am sharing knowledge with you. We transfer or give information. Learning is about ‘making sense’ and ‘finding meaning’ of the information in ways that we can apply, analyze, evaluate, and synthesize in new ways to create new things or thoughts. Learning is not about copying, reproducing actions, or repeating what somebody else’s said. Learning is experience through applied knowledge. Use what you learn to play your game.

Assumptions, Interpretations, and Attributions

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I heard a story many years ago. Two men working for a show company were sent to a tribe in the middle of nowhere to scout the territory and inform the company of any possibility of success selling shoes there. The first man makes his observations and informs the company of his conclusions:

– Business here is going to be a complete waste of time and effort. No one is wearing shoes.

The second man also reports back to the company:

– Business here is going to be great and worth the efforts. No one is wearing shoes.

Similarly this happens in every situation in life. One situation, two individuals, different views. It happens in the art world too. Two individuals can look at the same piece of art and have two completely different views of it. Interestingly, every view is subjective.

Photo Sep 06, 2 31 35 PMWe have the capacity to decode the symbolic information we receive and develop our own views to explain what we see, feel, and understand. We give meaning to the world around us through the filter of our experiences and knowledge. Socially, in the meaning making process we examine multiple views, balance them with our own and form our conclusions. These conclusions are explained and could be categorized in assumptions, interpretations, and attributions.

Assumptions are taking for granted a conclusion without proof or facts based on personal biases. It is very natural to us to fall prey of assumptions. That is not a problem. The problem is when no proof or facts allow us to consider other options. We form our view and that becomes the only truth. Interpretations, on the other hand, consider facts balancing these with experience and knowledge, assigns meaning, but remains open to consider other views that eventually help grow and develop a broader picture. Attributions go a step further.

According to Bernard Weiner’s Attribution Theory, broadly used in cognitive psychology, we assign meaning to meaning. In other words, we explain why we reached our assumption or interpretation of an event, behavior, a piece of art, and other forms of symbolic information. We assign internal or internal causes to our conclusions. Interestingly, we switch between internal and external attributions when it come to us and others. If we are successful or received favorable feedback we apply internal attributes and tell ourselves: “I worked very hard on this”. When we fail or we don’t like the feedback we receive we tell ourselves we apply external attributes to justify the results: “I don’t care what you have to say. You don’t know what I had to go through to achieve this”.

Photo Sep 06, 2 34 39 PMThe scene quickly switches when it comes to judging the behaviors or events involving others. When people act in a specific way we attribute that behavior to internal factors concerning personality or character traits like coping skills (or lack thereof), or attitude issues. Rarely we consider external attributes to be the cause for other’s behaviors like a difficult situation they might be going through.

Once again, these views are subjective. All opinions are subjective. Every perspective is as individual as the person who has it. However, we must be very careful how we share these views with others not only for their sake but for our own. Our words can hurt people. We don’t know what they are going through. We should lift people up instead of trying to tear them apart. We must remember that when we apply assumptions, interpretations, and attributions to others we do so based on our own views, biases, experience, and knowledge. When we talk to others or about others, we might be revealing more about ourselves than what we are trying to reveal about them.

For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Matthew 7:2