enlarge my heart

this has been a most amazing week - busy, to say the least, but in a wonderful, fulfilling, mind-blowing-cup-overflowing sort of way.

we are so honored to host mako fujimura this week and to hold his first exhibition in china (opening this afternoon!). things are blessedly under control, which explains why i'm able to take time to blog on the morning of an exhibit opening. :)

last night was a wonderful dinner with mako and members of our arts group - feast for the stomach and the soul. as an artist, writer and creative catalyst, mako is a strong advocate for arts education. one member of our group asked, "what if you're passionate about the arts and creating art but frankly, you're just not really good?" mako had an honest and thoughtful response - he pointed out the purpose of educating one in the arts may not necessarily be to cultivate oneself to be the next picasso or shakespeare. mako emphasized that art enlarges our capacity for empathy, that's why the arts are important. when you watch a play, you can't help but step inside the characters' lives and feel their joys and sorrows. when you hear a beautiful piece of music, your heart automatically rises and falls with the notes and you transcend your circumstances to be part of something grander and universal. when you look at at a work of art, you catch beauty and truth that may either affirm or question certain assumptions you hold about the world as you know it. art causes you to step outside of yourself, even if briefly, and simultaneously reminds you of your humanity and the greater humanity in which you participate.

as a writer, empathy has always been one of the virtues i strive to encompass in my work. i suppose that's why i chose to study journalism at university: i was attracted by the imperative responsibility of sharing the stories of others. every person carries in them a beautiful narrative, and all these stories weave together as a bigger, glorious narrative. we were created to be storytellers and storybearers - i think in sharing stories, we better understand ourselves and the world we inhabit.

but we, selfish creatures that we are, long for greatness. we want to make a name for ourselves, for our art to be immortal. we forget that we ourselves were meant to be eternal beings. we turn inward and riddled with doubts and fears, we strive to protect and promote ourselves. yet we were not made for greatness - we were made for grandeur. we were meant for a world more brilliant and beautiful than the world we know, we are more than what can be contained by this frame of flesh and bones. we were meant to worship something grander than ourselves.

art can remind us of that. art carries us beyond tangible, visible realities to a greater reality we sense but are often too timid or scared to touch. art expands our imagination and enlarges our heart to gasp and grasp at the Mystery. and when that happens, we can't help but forget ourselves.


cups of coffee: 1

mood: mind percolating like a coffeemaker on overtime