Originally posted by AThousandYoung
Art is the refinement of perception. Artists are more aware of their environments than say mathematicians.
The conscience and morality are part of our social mentality. We're like wolves or cattle; we're social animals with social instincts.
Spirituality is like art; those who are always looking for friends, enemies, and explanations will tend ...[text shortened]... e of the reality around them.
I'm not sure what a strictly materialistic point of view is.
i say that art is not concerned with the environment, nor of perceptions, but with spirituality. You may think of music, which is a spiritual entity, it affects our moods and demeanour, concerns itself with our emotions and occasionally our intellect. There was a time when it was thought that the mere imitation of nature was the ultimate aim, but it was soon discovered that man may transcend, through his thought processes, his immediate environment, and create rather than merely imitate.
Conscience may be suppressed, or ignored. It may excuse or accuse us through the dictates of reason. To state that animals use reason, i do not think can be established, their mode of conduct is instinctive.
yes spirituality should make us better human beings, if it does not then it has proven itself false to its own power.
A strictly materialistic point of view is one which denies a spiritual element, one in which there is no reality but the material or physical.