There are many reasons to celebrate humanity; perhaps as many to celebrate as there are to condemn. But without doubt one of the great brilliances of human life is the ineffable, those none tangible excursions which the human soul can take.
Whether it’s an artistic journey, philosophical, spiritual, theoretical, psychological, and form of being and form of thinking which breaks away from the confines of the present and the body. But these journeys are not equally afforded to everyone. There is a determining factor in their occurrence and in their frequency. That is the material base.
It should come as no shock to anyone that in order to live a comfortable spiritual life, a comfortable philosophical life, or creative life, one must first live a comfortable material life.
The material concern of our existence always takes precedence over any extracurricular axions. And the material reality of our being is a complex piece within itself.
The most obvious aspect of this is the financial reality of our situations. Aside from the obvious barrier of living within a market--thus supplies for art, books for learning, or churches for the spirit may be locked behind a monetary boundary--there is also the fact that finances allow for necessity. Without proper income, it is impossible to meet basic needs--food, shelter, water, etc.
Without these needs met, there is a preoccupation with the world in all its tangible aspects; there must be. If one is not concerned with getting food to not starve, then one will starve and any artistic ambition which held back the procurement of sustenance essentially damned the dreamer.
But there is another aspect to the material considerations; one which, perhaps counter to the name, is slightly more transient. And that consideration is security, or rather comfortability.
This comes in a handful of types and might be as simple as living away from home. It is possible the ensuing homesickness might inspire metaphysical outbursts, but it is more likely that this lack of comfort in the environment will hinder any artistic or other ineffable creation.
Of course, this is the tamest example, reserved for those who have met every other level of material comfort. Take a different example. Consider you are financially well off, but you live in a place like Gaza. No matter how much money you have, aside from affording you the opportunity to leave (keep in mind this is your home and that still might not be an option) you are still not in a comfortable material environment. Thus, your material base has not been met.
It is hard to paint, or to think, or to pass the time watching stars and dreaming of how the universe works, if you’re constantly under threat of being bomb, if your local hospital is filled with children starving and dying from constant incursions from an occupying force or if the country which you call home has been claimed by a imperial power looking to genocide your entire race. Needless to say, this is not a comfortable environment.
However, unlike the financial side of the material, which because of its connexion to literally subsisting and returning to a hunter-gatherer state, there is still a chance to enter and immaterial form of being under such conditions; in fact, there might even be an obligation to do so as a sign of strength.
This is why there is often an explosion of art in war torn nations. It’s a testament of strength. It’s to show that the people who are suffering are able to overcome the very basic inabilities of situation to still enter into that realm coveted by humanity. And that’s important. War time art remains among the most important contributions humanity can produce because it’s a sign of our resilience and our strength. It’s a sign that even if our position in this world crumbles, our position in the next is secure.
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