The Arts are an important area of practice in Middle Way Philosophy, helping us to tolerate ambiguity and extend our available symbols and ideas. However, the ways of understanding and interpreting the arts also need the Middle Way. Aesthetic judgement is neither absolute nor relative, but depends on the degree of integration with which we engage with a sensual experience.
The following links are to places on the site where a Middle Way approach to the arts is discussed:
Middle Way Philosophy audio
Meaning audio includes several talks relevant to the arts, especially concerning the use of archetypes
Ethics audio includes material the wider question of value judgements, including aesthetic judgements (especially see the final video on this page – ‘value judgements’)
Podcasts and reviews
Podcast with Alva Noe on his book ‘Strange tools: Art and Human Nature’
Podcast with Susan Wright on creativity in early childhood
Podcast with Ed Catmull, President of Pixar and Walt Disney, on creativity
Review of Creativity Inc by Ed Catmull
Podcast with Stephen Batchelor on art as an integrative practice
Podcast with Norma Smith, artist and retired art teacher
Podcast with Helena Bassil-Morozow on Jungian Film Studies
Review of ‘The God of the Left Hemisphere’ by Roderick Tweedy
Blogs
Music and awe – blog by Emilie Aberg
On not saying amen to Star Wars – blog by Robert M Ellis
Reflections on ‘Narziss and Goldmund’ by Hermann Hesse – blog by Robert M Ellis
The Lute Strings – A Parable
The quarrel between philosophy and poetry – blog by Robert M Ellis
The Three Christmases – blog by Robert M Ellis
What’s wrong with cliché? – blog by Robert M Ellis
The Baptism of Christ by Piero della Francesca
Annunciation by Simone Martini
Other resources