October 3rd, 2025
[12:31am October 3rd, 2025]
I write this after clocking out of the fourth long day of the week, six months into an increased workload. As I have ever less in me to devote time, thought, and research toward the Ode To Culture project, a question echoes that my arch-nemesis has been teasing out in recent months: What is the difference between art and content?
OTC has always been, for me, a way of documenting tangible connections between spiritual principles and lived experiences. It’s not just testimony, but practice in recognizing beauty, meaning, and duty in life. It’s a snapshot, like so many of Patrick’s pictures, that allows me to give each topic its due, not just in thought or lipservice, but in action–embodied understanding. In respect to the former question, this prompt has all the signs of content; get it out, add to the catalog, go to bed. However, I catch myself carefully constructing each line and each word to tease out my unconscious bias toward this project being considered art.
[1:01am October 3rd, 2025]
As a working definition, I consider content a “filler” that can be mass-produced for mass-consumption; there is little value in last-week’s news (or news commentary rather). Art is distinguished by its ability to raise the medium AND the artist or audience to a higher pattern of existence. Art participates in that higher reality– which may be the redeeming quality of content. Paint is not just pigment if it connects us to a purpose.
- What is the difference between art and content?
- Why does consciousness determine the qualia of objects.
- Is content necessarily inferior to art?
- How do you treat art and content in your routines?
The thread is open. Create boldly, and may the Spirit guide us all
Notes:
1. The use of italics for “art” and “content” is to highlight the subjectivity of the terms for this discussion. One man’s content is another man’s art.
2. My favorite feature of Patrick’s photography is his knack for catching “portals” or framing very unique moments in passing. See some of his work at the link below.