More on Art-Forms

by Frank Gordon USA

In the previous Another Look at Basics - #18, IVy 37, p.--; we considered Matched Terminals and Art-Forms.

An earlier definition of art was: technology or skill in the use and practical application of a science.(1)

But the term as used here applies to the fine arts; and may be defined as: the quality of communication,(2) the re-creation of a reality,(3) or as the result of reducing "the chaotic materials of life to structures that will stand as meaningful penetrations into that chaos."(4)

Art as the quality of communication

Hubbard's definition of art is that of a science-fiction writer: "Too much originality throws the audience into unfamiliarity and therefore disagreement, as communiction contains duplication and 'originality' is the foe of duplication."

As a story begins, it must not only intrigue the reader, but be familiar. "The phone rang stridently." "The door creaked slowly open." "She stood naked at the window." are examples.

The opening line can also foreshadow a plot that appeals to its special audience. Pride and Prejudice opens with, "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." Listen up, ladies!

Battlefield Earth opens with, "Man," said Terl, "is an endangered species." Attention, science-fiction fans! This is about the survival of the human race!

Examples of re-creating a reality

As an example of this re-creation of a reality or mental model, Allen Hacker(5) has re-defined a suppressive person (SP) as pre-emptively defensive and "someone who sees himself as the so-horribly-victimized effect of others that he can no longer discern which of the many people he now contacts is his potenial next nightmare."

Also, where psychiatric PR considers mental illness a brain disease; Hubbard, in DMSMH viewed it as being out of present time in the grip of an engram.

These differing mental models, or "realities," imply very different approaches to treatment.

Meaningful penetrations into life's chaos

Cinderella

A common experience is expressed in the fairy tale Cinderella: "an unappreciated person is finally recognized and appreciated." This story of feeling unappreciated, abused and neglected is popular because it reflects (with matching terminals) what has happened to many people in thir lives. And of course, it finally provides the missing appreciation.

Sour grapes

Some stories can be summarized briefly. Consider the phrase "sour grapes" from Aesop's Fable about the fox and the grapes he couldn't reach. "They're probably sour," he mutters. Foxes and people tend to minimize what they can't have.

The gingerbread house

In the fairy tale Hansel and Gretel, the birds have eaten the breadcrumbs they left as a trail home. Two lost and hungry children in the woods. They stumble upon a gingerbread house. Who could resist? But it happens to be a very attractive trap.

Frankenstein's monster

A creator produces or invents a creation. He wants a postulated result. But the created has its own requirements. A kind of wrestling match ensues. The story of a creator versus his creation. The way it should be versus the way it is. Almost biblical. The law of unintended consequences and side-effects. "Gee! - I didn't know this robot was loaded." This has many possible variations.

A man invents a cheap reliable form of transportation. Hurrah! But it becomes a monster, multiplies and finally chokes a whole planet with pollution!

A computer is invented, making communication rapid and computations easy. Hurrah! But it beomes a monster, takes over the whole culture; putting it on automatic and dominating it, or it collapses unexpectedly!

Summary

The popularity of any literary work depends upon its reflecting common and frequently stressfull situations. The many ways in which people can try to pursue happiness and what happens as a result. Homer's Odyssey (Ode to Zeus) neatly expresses Everyman's predicament:

"Odysseus was a clever man of many devices, but whatever he devised somehow managed to skid sideways."

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1 See the definition in Studies in Literary Archaeology #4, "An 1866 Definition of Philosophy," IVy 31, p.38.

2 Hubbard's definition of Art. Tech Dict 72, p.23.

3 See "Reality as a Mental Model," IVy 29, p.3.

4 "Matched Terminals and Art-Forms", IVy 37(?), p.--. In Hubbard's terms: art reduces the plus randomity of life to an optimum by finding data or patterns (using Logic 10) which will serve as stable data to align and clarify this randomity. It also provides matching terminals to assist the discharge of painful emotion.

5 IVy 32, p.7,