Art Is Awareness and Action

Vincent Van Gogh saw the face of human suffering. Rouault saw the face of human suffering. Picasso saw the face of human suffering. Beckett saw the face of human suffering. T. S. Eliot saw the face of human suffering. Virginia Woolf saw the face of human suffering. Do we see the face of human suffering? Art helps us see the human condition and to reach into the innocent life of our nature and ask the 'why' of torture, cruelty, abuse, murder, atrocities, destruction, genocide, and environmental degradation. You say, "But I am just one person. How can I prevent the evil I see before me?" One person may effect the lives of countless people once they see that they have within themselves the capacity to do so. We are more than ourselves when we take up the questions and needs of others.The artist is an example of this principle. Art is awareness in action. We do not have to be artists to take our awareness to others and ask, "How may I help?."