Are we truly living in our reality? Has our mind/spirit been dipped with curiosity of what Art means to us and how it represents our reality? How can Art be something so meaningful?
The significance of ‘Reconciliation with Reality’ stemmed from the importance of experiencing ‘all’ of reality, which somehow subsumed into the ‘eternal’ and ‘absolute idea’ of reality. In other words, one must accept reality because ‘the real is rational’ and ‘the rational is real’; thus, making their ‘acceptance of the status quo’ very literal. This philosophy stems from the Hegelian perspective of Russian literary critique, Vissarion Belinskii, a ‘Westernizer’ in Russia’s mid-19th century. Belinskii believed Society to be ‘a living individual’, with organic relationships, sub-relationships and so forth. Henceforth, the individual cannot function without a society and so, just like the cells to a human body, the individual is a cell to society. Ultimately, this cohesive unity is meant to create something bigger and more important – an end to ourselves and our ‘spirit’. Belinskii believed our “subjective individuality is the expression and definition of the spirit, but spirit is infinite; consequence, subjective individuality cannot be [limited]; [the] spirit is real, and consequently subjective individuality cannot be egoistic”. To put this into simpler terms, he defines the spirit as an entity which ties people together, creating a harmonious community of interdependence; in turn enabling a reconciliation with reality.
Belinskii also perceived Art (any form; from paintings, literature, poetry etc.) to be of great importance in appertaining this ‘reconciliation with reality’. Not only did he define the function of Art to be symbolic in developing one’s ‘spirit’, but his nostalgia for the era of Romanticism was something which belonged “not only to art, not only to poetry: its source is the same as the source of art and poetry life”. He went so far as to say, “where life is, there is humanity, and where humanity is, there is Romanticism”, encompassing the importance for societies need of Art, love, and literature. Perhaps stemming from Hegel’s ‘philosophy of the mind’, where he lays out the three divisions of the mind/spirit: the ‘subject’, the ‘object’ and the ‘absolute’ of the mind/spirit. The ‘absolute’ being the most relevant as it encompasses themes such as art, religion, philosophy; structure of reflection on the spirits expression/action on the world. In other words, “Art is the reproduction of reality” and one should achieve a deeper understanding of it to comprehend and come to terms with reality.
Theorizing on Belinkii’s interpretation of Hegel’s ‘reconciliation with reality’, I might suggest that we have lost touch with our reality, as we live in a world where we may be technologically fulfilled, but we are simultaneously detached from ourselves and others around us. Although the modernisation of Western society has developed great things, we seem to have lost ourselves (in the philosophical and psychological sense) in the process. Finding one’s identity has become more complex (not that it was ever easy), due to the numerous choices we have, the love-hate relationship with social media and coming to terms with mental-health issues amongst other things. Our world has expanded both physically and metaphorically; and we, as individuals, are struggling to keep up with the speed at which it is developing at. Are we not meant to walk before we run? Our rapid modernity has caused us to neglect our ‘reconciliation with reality’, forgetting to consider how impactful Art (in any form) is for our mind/spirit, as Hegel and Belinskii imply. After all, we are only human, so it is only natural that we question the reality of our existence, but reconciling with it is a different matter.
Dolphinmind 