A picture is worth a thousand words

A friend of mine, Mark Ross, created the painting above.  With this painting as a reference, he reached out to his audience and wanted to know what the painting meant to each member of his audience.

The great thing about art is that it means something different to each viewer of the artwork in observation.  1,000 viewers of an art piece will have 1,000 varying perspectives.

These perspectives, when shared and engaged between viewers, allow the entire audience to think more abstractly, creatively, and openly.  When idea exchanges are encouraged and open, we can realize the synergistic impact of varying viewpoints that challenge the way we perceive our external environment. 

Apply this approach to politics, social issues, or any other topic, and you get the same outcome – positive interaction, personal growth, and relationship building.  The main reason why politics and social issues may bring about division, as opposed to the appreciation that art provides, is because many discussers of politics and social issues do not exchange ideas with encouragement and openness; rather, they close themselves off to other viewpoints and try to talk over the other person, instead of talk with the other person.

Want to know another crazy thing about the comparison between art discussions and political/social discussions?  Typically, political and social discussions are derailed when emotions come into play.  These emotions cloud the way we think and serve as the fuel that compels us to either ignore others’ perspectives or to talk over others.  Yet, fruitful discussions of art, and its beauty, are driven by emotions.  When a viewer of artwork is moved by a piece of art, that viewer emotionally connects with the piece and can better express his perspective of the piece with a fellow viewer.  The fellow viewer, equally moved but with a different perspective, does not feel threatened by the difference in perspective.  Rather, both viewers can appreciate the art for what it is, through their own lenses, and appreciate how the other interprets the artwork.

With political and social discussions, emotions frequently create barriers to communication, both in expressing your ideas and in being receptive to others’ perspectives.  You may emotionally identify with your political and social values, and therefore feel like you’re personally attacked if another person disagrees with you. 

In contrast, the emotions that art evokes in us move us to appreciate the art itself, as well as the eclectic interpretations that art provides.  Instead of emotionally identifying with our individual perspectives, we all emotionally identify with the same thing – the artwork!  And since we can all appreciate the art itself, we can mitigate our barriers to communication and more freely express different interpretations to better enrich one another.

Funny how a slight change in perspective can really change a conversation.  Funny how the same tool (in this case, emotions) can be leveraged to change the dynamics of a conversation.  Your perspective is your toolbox, and your various tools represent the different thoughts, actions, and behaviors you engage, based on the requirement of the job at hand.  If a handyman can utilize a screwdriver for multiple projects, why can’t people utilize the tool of emotion to apply equally across different subject matters?  Whether political, social, or artistic in nature, all conversations can be transformed positively by emotional engagement and appreciation, as opposed to divisiveness due to the negative impacts that emotion stirs in one’s identity and openness to other perspectives.

 BONUS!

What do I see when I look at this artwork?

I see the course of our lives!  Our deserts are met with crystal blue ponds.  Our long treks on the prairies are met with cool breezes and beautiful snow-covered terrain.  Our green grasses are met with the winding paths of our mountains.  And throughout the journey, we can always take a step back and admire the beauty of our journey, how far we’ve progressed, and appreciate what is left to come.  The mountain itself is not the destination – it may be located at the end of this particular journey, but who knows what’s on the other side of that mountain?  The discipline, commitment, and hard work you’ve cultivated in reaching your mountain can only benefit you as you descend the mountain and run off into the next journey after it!  After you move past that far mountain, you can start an entirely new picture … a continuation of your journey.  A life of wonderment, exploration, and transcendence that has no destination other than the journey itself.

What do you see? Let me know in the comments.

Thank you, Mark Ross, for letting me use your beautiful painting and incorporating it into my blog post!  If you want to see more of Mark’s work, and some of his other service offerings, check out his website at http://nextthinggroup.com/.

*Painting Credit: Mark Ross, http://nextthinggroup.com/