For my project I decided to explore Epicurus’s philosophy in the context of Western culture. I used the information gathered from class via our discussions and based off the reading by Irvin Yalom which summarized much of Epicurus’s philosophies. As a class guided by the text Staring at the Sun by Irvin Yalom , we discussed how Epicurus “view was that life pleasure and pain are so important to human existence that all our actions are governed by seeking pleasure and trying to avoid pain” (www.spring.org.uk). It would follow that in culture, all of the feel good work of art; still lifes for example, will never show pain in any way.
A Basket of Flowers by Jan Brueghel shows dead pedals around a basket of beautifully arranged flowers. When I viewed this at the Metropolitan Museum of Art it seemed out of place for the very reason that it showed these dead pedals on the table which the basket sits atop. This was because when one goes to the museum to view art, much of it is to see the sheer beauty of it; when someone expects a still life it is most commonly of a beautiful vase of flowers or bowl of fresh fruit. This is in accordance to how Western societies would like to view the world, with an absence of death and pain and to have esthetically pleasing images and “happier” images bloated and done over and over again to give this illusion that a flower is this beauty and only that, and fruit by nature are fresh and ripe; in short, to avoid death by highlighting the peak of beauty in a flower’s life. This view is not only distorted but keeps us ignorant, for the few things we can know with certainty about life is that it will come to an end, so rather if we should embrace that these articles of nature will die. Interestingly the couple of still lifes I saw that showed in a very subtle way the passing of life, (referring back to A Basket of Flowers) the pedals that lay dead around the basket were still as bright and vibrant as those painted within the basket. Giving the viewer a false sense of reality about death, similarly to how in a cheesy movie they have the favorite grandparent or hero die by simply saying a few last words and shutting her eyes—as though when someone passes it is peaceful and other than the actual death they looked completely healthy. When in reality the person will most likely look withered and skeletal like, will very possibly ramble about nonsense and most notably lose control of their sphincter releasing the bowels of the last meal they ate. When viewing this at the Met I was able to discuss these aspects that these paintings showed and more importantly didn’t show with a friend who came along with me who is equally enthused about art. The discussions that took place were interesting as I was able to view many of the works at the Met (and later the Whitney Museum) with an illness & dying lens and compare it to my friend who enjoyed the works for the esthetics and the disciplined skill that went into each work.
From the trip to the museums and the reflection that followed I was able to learn that Epicurus’s
Philosophies weren’t a criticism of Western outlook on life but rather an observation. Although we avoid pain and thus avoid death by burying it with thoughts of pleasure, avoiding it is better than dwelling on the inevitable truth which for so many is impossible to overcome. For even Epicurus “taught that the point of all one’s actions was to attain pleasure” (www.iep.utm.edu), in the case of someone constantly fearing death and always thinking about it, why not instead enjoy life’s pleasures even if the may be viewed as avoiding a truth; after all they will make you happier.
It is important to analyze through the illness & dying lens and criticizing these reflections of society in culture just as it is to criticize McDonald’s advertising through a lens critical of American food ways for one general reason, if a culture is breeding, whether intentional or not, ignorance of something that effects one in their daily lives he should criticize it. It is important to be not only aware of what you may be doing but why you are doing it, from there and only there can you ask yourself: Should I be doing this? Ignorance should never be the reason someone did something they would have otherwise not done if they were aware of what they were doing.
hey john i really liked this piece, and im sorry i had to miss the museum because it sounds like it was an interesting experience.
ReplyDeleteI think Epicurus could be right about western culture, i've never read him, but i think he is ignoring how much pain can go into achieving certain pleasures. I think pain is a necessary part of certain pleasures, or a necessary opposite that has to be experienced in order to experience pleasure at all. For example In Christianity its necessary to grudgingly give up human pleasures and suffer in order to attain eternal salvation and the pleasures of heaven.
In your post you talked about how death is usually foolishly romanticized into something perfectly beautiful and profound. While i agree that it is silly to completely think of death in this way i think its equally silly to only think of it in a perfectly ugly and harsh way. I think dying is usually quiet and is really a combination of or a lack of both beauty and ugliness. I think looking at death as neither a positive or a negative experience, but rather as a cancellation of both positives and negatives for the person who is dying, can make witnessing death kind of peaceful in the sense that the person who is passing is passing into a place where neither beauty or ugliness exists, which is neither bad nor good.
I thought that this exploration through art was intersting because I too am an entuhsist. I think this would have been a deeper post if you gave insight on how you percive death, and maybe others personal account as well, versus the theroies of epicurs and what is demonstrated through art. I really like your ending paragraph and how you connected your insight to the class as a whole.
ReplyDeleteI belive this was the best qoute "is is in accordance to how Western societies would like to view the world, with an absence of death and pain and to have esthetically pleasing images and “happier” images bloated and done over and over again to give this illusion that a flower is this beauty and only that, and fruit by nature are fresh and ripe; in short, to avoid death by highlighting the peak of beauty in a flower’s life. " I belive you could have made this stronger by giving examples of our culture that exemplify this theory.
Interesting ideas!
I liked your speech in class and it was something I didn't think about the entire unit until you did this project. I like the way you structured your post and the idea behind it. You also use evidence from the museum is a nice alternative to the internet research that most of us have done. I think on of the best lines you have on your still life post is, " It is important to analyze through the illness & dying lens and criticizing these reflections of society in culture just as it is to criticize McDonald’s advertising through a lens critical of American food ways for one general reason" because you start to attempt to connect two of our units and i like the statement that you use to wrap everything up. This was a good post.
ReplyDeleteJohn,
ReplyDeleteI liked the real-world aspect of your project a lot, I think that a society's various views on typically important subjects such as death can be interpreted through the artists of its people. There are a few minor improvements you could make, such as replacing 'pedals' with 'petals', but overall I think it was a well planned and enacted project. Maybe the vibrant color of the petals in "A Basket of Flowers" is a reflection on how despite the physical aspects of a flower, or person, remaining, the life behind those things is gone and nonreturnable?
I thought your project was really interesting. I knew that this false view of death was shown in movies like how you mention the cheesy scene where the grandparent says their last words and peacefully dies, but I thought paintings and things like that have more real feelings and views. My favorite part was when you said: "his view is not only distorted but keeps us ignorant, for the few things we can know with certainty about life is that it will come to an end, so rather if we should embrace that these articles of nature will die." I completely agree with this, instead of being shown as something it's not, I think death should be shown as it actually is so it can be embraced and not just pushed away from our society.
ReplyDelete