Vic2rsBlog
I took up guitar playing because I felt there was something I was missing by not playing the guitar! That’s why you took up your chosen form of expression, wasn’t it?

Follow the above link to V.’s summation of our conversation. And do please click on the comment link to read Dave’s Fripp quote, which is as beautiful as it is enlightening. Here is what I had noted regarding our conversation a few days ago:

OK, yes I see the correlation, but to what extent is this bridging ability innate in the artist (as opposed to being developed)? I mean, I would guess this isn’t something that is so much thought about by the artist as it is experienced… and furthermore I would guess that it’s not generally conceptualized even during the development of the artist’s skill.

Well, how innate is the Buddha in you or me? No, I don’t suspect all artists are aware of their ability to bridge a gap. But artists regularly tap into the collective unconscious and part of the amazing gift of art is that they bring stuff from there to the awareness of individuals or even society as a whole.

I think I get the sense of what you’re saying partially from a study of Zen… but just saying things like “bridge between form and formless” and “ride the wave of creative energy”… I think I’d have a better chance at pulling off a magic trick!

You are just standing in your own way. Creativity, like love, is an endless energy and like love it transcends us. You should play guitar with your eyes closed more often. You are the antenna. Scales and chords are just a way to teach the mechanics of guitar playing. They are of no real importance. With time you learn that you can play any note over any scale – maybe just as a passing note, lightly played… and ending on a note within the scale…

Hell, in this society even art (including music) is taught as a mostly mechanical pursuit. Technique might help free the artist, but does it MAKE the artist?? Anyway, it seems like various art forms could be so much more life enriching, even as a purely personal pursuit, if it was about experiencing the “bridge between form and formless”!

You are correct. It is much easier to teach the mechanical aspects of any art form or even craft than to teach creativity. Teach somebody how to throw a basic pot and they can do that soon… but can you really teach somebody how to create a beautiful little vessel by teaching the mechanics? Certainly not. One would have to teach philosophy, one would have to teach how to view the world… EVERYTHING. And that takes time. Time is something most people don’t think they have.

Well, that’s a lot to think about. Perhaps it should be a lot to NOT think about…

It has to be a lot. It’s about everything.

but you see where I’m coming from? ;-) Picking up the guitar and THINKING about bridging form and formless… probably not going to produce much more than a little chuckle. I’ll let you know if I have a breakthrough.

Don’t get your hopes up for the first x years of playing guitar. But you might get glimpses of what I am talking about. Anything worth doing will take time.

Let me add to that:
I think the artist not only bridges the gap between formless and form, s/he also bridges the gap between different views or experiences of form, that is different cultures. Which brings me right back to Octavio Paz:

All cultures are born out of mingling, meetings and clashes. Conversely, civilizations die from isolation.

Who “digests” that experience, or that clash, for society? Who paves that street? Who paints that new picture, so that even John Doe loses his fear of the other and the different, and exclaims “I can see that now! And it is beautiful.”