Painting with Meaning 2: Beautifying Representations

Fragments from imaginary dialogues

“An important aspect of the Art of (Playful) Living is beautifying representations.”

“So it has to do with meaning.”

“Yes. 

Let’s take ‘art’ as an example. To understand what it means is to form a mental representation of it – a model. The representation is 
partly implicit (implicit-model) – you recognize something as ‘art’ at a glance, without really knowing why –, 
partly explicit (explicit-model) – a more or less systematic explanation of why some things can be labelled ‘art’ while others cannot.”

“The word ‘art’ has become kind of a verbal-empty [<link; short length]. The linguistic pattern ‘The Art of x’ is ubiquitous.”

“One way to go about it is theoretical-understanding, clarifying the representation you and others have of it.
What do you/they mean by ‘art’?
Why is x ‘art’?
You can fill books on the subject without really getting anywhere.

Another way to go about it is practical-understanding, by which I mean in this case the intentional aesthetic process of beautifying representations. You’re creating meaning, you’re making them more meaningful for you, thus beautifying the landscape of your inner-world. I like to think of it as creating inner works of art.”

“How do you do that?”

“This is a personal introspective integrative process. In essence, you do it by connecting it with the things that are most meaningful to you.

I like to do it in writing, mind-mapping style. Like this:

“

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