Good thread, many answers.
Another question: What is Beauty? Art? Why do we pay large amounts of money for old wood and metal? Joshua Bell's patrons pay huge amounts of money in sold-out performances to hear a great violinist? A rare bottle of wine?
"Conrad syndrome?" "Silk Road Syndrome?" Some even take it as far as the "Stendhal Syndrome." How about the "Stranger in a Strange Land Syndrome?"
Why? What do we get out of it?
Because Art, with a capital "A", whether visual, auditory, gustatory, perhaps olfactory gives us a
special feeling. A 'feeling' that goes beyond mere kinesthetics. A feeling in the "gutski wutskies"- the solar plexus that for a moment takes us beyond the physical, the mundane.
When Handel composed "The Messiah" he said it was "like having his fingers plugged into God." --- "plugged into God." Think about that.
Back to "Stranger in a Strange Land Syndrome." Though we enjoy the physical plane, do any of us feel it is really our home? Or are we drawn to something beyond? And does great art, a keris, a painting, a fetish have a connection for us, a visceral connection to that Source?
And maybe, do we connect to that "Source" through art that was created by someone who, like Handel, was connected when he, or she created it? And that "art" transcends language, religion -- all the tags we like to hang on it?
Because that "Source" that we reach for is beyond our five senses and our nearest "sense" is that visceral sense that gives us Joy. And folks, we ARE addicted to Joy! An addict will do what it takes.
The rest of this justification is just our conscious mind trying to make sense of this. It really can't, but it tries. Words like "Investment" "Value" etc, come to mind. But then we have to ask "Why?" Why does a piece of wood, a canvas and oil, have value? Because it reaches out to us. Mentally we say, "It connects us with Joyful memories, the past, etc." The Silk Road Syndrome? Sure, but it goes far beyond that if we let it.
Perhaps a keris really IS a conduit. Think about that, 'a conduit.' "Art as Conduit"!
To me, great art is something that grabs you every time you relax enough to bond with it and I see something different every time, every day.
But I must take time to relax and focus and
en-Joy. Otherwise I am like the people who walk right by Joshua Bell playing magnificent music in a subway.
And folks, more and more, I am taking the time to stop and smell the roses.