Psychological Visibility

Psychology and Self Improvement
1

I wanted to learn more about the idea in this post, as I’m still somewhat confused.

Thomas was mentioning how he likes to be admired by his writing and poetry, but I have nothing to be admired for. I like my art but I don’t do anything that is original and worth admiring. I see it this way: if I was studying science and had discovered a theory on my own that had already been discovered, what would be the point of showing it? It wouldn’t be new to the world. The same I see no point in showing my art, although I still feel compelled to at times, not sure why. Yes, it’s just my own personal plaything, it has no importance to the world whatsoever. While insults take away the pleasure of enjoying my characters, compliments make me feel like a fraud. I never feel good by showing my work, yet I still feel compelled to do it?

What are my thinking mistakes? Thanks in advance. :dough:

Life Delights in Life
2

This is an error. If you are in a creative field, you can’t judge your work by a comparative standard. You have to create the work to please yourself. The consideration for the outside world should be a secondary one. If you have no interest in showing your art, but you love doing it, that is all that matters. On the other hand, if you are being mediocre and don’t seek to correct it, then you’re not worthy of admiration, but contempt. Your work must be achieved by your standards. Aim to be an artist, not an entertainer.

3

Sigh.

I know that. It’s not about comparing with others. But even art has standards. New ideas can be created. Ayn Rand knew she was original and had something important to say. A person can please oneself doing wrong sums, it won’t make the sums any good. If the person realizes one couldn’t in fact do any maths, where does the person goes from there?

4

Sigh.

I know that. It’s not about comparing with others. But even art has standards. New ideas can be created. Ayn Rand knew she was original and had something important to say. A person can please oneself doing wrong sums, it won’t make the sums any good. If the person realizes one couldn’t in fact do any maths, where does the person goes from there?

Buy a calculator?

5

Psychological visibility as Thomas was discussing it doesn’t mean being admired necessarily, it means being *understood*. It’s no good being admired in a vacuum or, worse, being admired for all the wrong reasons. Personally, I prefer constructive critics to admirers–the critics help you learn how to be *better*. Fans are an intellectual dead-end and a drain.

1 Like
6

I wanted to learn more about the idea in this post, as I’m still somewhat confused.

Thomas was mentioning how he likes to be admired by his writing and poetry, but I have nothing to be admired for. I like my art but I don’t do anything that is original and worth admiring. I see it this way: if I was studying science and had discovered a theory on my own that had already been discovered, what would be the point of showing it? It wouldn’t be new to the world. The same I see no point in showing my art, although I still feel compelled to at times, not sure why. Yes, it’s just my own personal plaything, it has no importance to the world whatsoever. While insults take away the pleasure of enjoying my characters, compliments make me feel like a fraud. I never feel good by showing my work, yet I still feel compelled to do it?

What are my thinking mistakes? Thanks in advance. :dough:

Art should be made first to satisfy the artist, or at most a group the artist conceives as suitable. When writing, for instance, it is common to have a readership in mind. You are not writing to please the readership, but you will construct and word your story appropriately. If the world in general appreciates your work, so much the better.

Keep in mind: most new works are reimaginings or recombinations of existing works. The basic story plots have been established for centuries. Pop music has been recycling the IV, V, and I chords for decades. All western music follows a few variations of chord progressions. And movie plots…heh. The fact that we’re literally recycling movies from previous decades tells you a lot about them. The fantasy-novel realm is littered with Tolkein clones, my own attempts included.

So if you’re not producing something truly novel, that doesn’t mean you’re not creating something worthwhile. You bring your own perspective and abilities to whatever you create. I mean, my goodness, we’ve seen pictures of people for centuries, and people haven’t changed all that much. Last time I checked, photography as an art was still going strong. :lol: Get out there and create!

7

It is certainly possible to be too concerned with others on this issue of psychological visibility. So long as you create something that can be understood by a rational mind, and so long as it is artistic (it concretizes abstractions), then the originality will come from your unique perspective on the issues. You are certainly not required to come up with and to concretize a whole new philosophy, as Miss Rand did.

If you are aiming to become a commercial success, then others have to be aware of the value you have to offer and be willing to pay for it. However, you shouldn’t be motivated to please those others, but rather to create what you want to create (by a rational standard) and then see if you can sell it. You may or may not find an audience willing to pay for what you have to offer, but you can still do that which is rationally pleasant to yourself, in your spare time as personal fuel. There are many good artists out there who just never reach a wide enough audience to be commercially successful, but they still create their art for their own sake, since each mind needs concretized abstractions to function properly.

8

Buy a calculator?

:dough:

So, by analogy, if I buy art instead of doing it, that gives me self-esteem? How, exactly?

Keep in mind: most new works are reimaginings or recombinations of existing works.

Maybe most, but not all. New ideas get developed.

You are certainly not required to come up with and to concretize a whole new philosophy, as Miss Rand did.

But if what I value is genius and originality, how can I be I satisfied with less?

9

But if what I value is genius and originality, how can I be I satisfied with less?

If it comes down to it and the case is so, you’re going to have to accept that you’re not a genius in a specific area, or a genius in any area. You’ll then move on with your life and figure things out for your own self, what to do with yourself. That’s worst-case scenario.

But I think you might not have in mind what genius actually means, the way you’re approaching it. If genius is judged by what has already been achieved by somebody, there are a LOT of “geniuses” who aren’t the smartest ever, or who possess the most potential ever. “Achievement genius” happens mostly because of ambition, determination, and follow-through. If you’re talking about the actual brain potential, even that can be judged in a lot of different ways, and it’s rare. Take our favorite genius philosopher, Rand. She had a great mind, for sure, but even more so she was determined and hardworking. It took her decades of sticking with it to achieve what she did. It didn’t just come to her.

Are you smart enough to figure things out? Do you want to do things? Then I bet you’ll be able to achieve great things with yourself.

10

:slight_smile:

So, by analogy, if I buy art instead of doing it, that gives me self-esteem? How, exactly?

Not instead of. Bought art and calculators both can provide examples of how it is done, both can be instrumental.

11

I know that. It’s not about comparing with others. But even art has standards. New ideas can be created. Ayn Rand knew she was original and had something important to say. A person can please oneself doing wrong sums, it won’t make the sums any good. If the person realizes one couldn’t in fact do any maths, where does the person goes from there?

Well, your goal should be to achieve something rational and worth doing. Why this person enjoys doing wrong sums? You won’t find happiness acting irrationally. If he thinks an emotion is more important than the truth, then he is an evader. Doing sums is not creative work, you’re mixing categories. Why can’t you do any maths? You’re not mentally retarded. It takes effort, there is no other way around. These examples you give, are acts of evasion. You cannot expect to achieve some value without taking any actions to gain it. Is this person seeking admiration? If a man wants certain effect, it is his responsibility to discover and enact the necessary cause. He cannot sit and wait for this to happen “somehow”. This principle applies to the desire for wealth, happiness, freedom, or any other value.

12

Psychological visibility as Thomas was discussing it doesn’t mean being admired necessarily, it means being *understood*.

Yes, absolutely; the admiration has to come from the understanding of one’s consciousness by another. As an example, I’ve tried various on-line dating avenues, and got an interest by one girl in a foreign country. We’ve been communicating a lot, but I’m not sure the understanding is there due to both the language barrier and the philosophy barrier. I like her and I would date her, but I can’t say it goes beyond that because of the difficulties; I’d even help her to move to the United States by offering her advise and guidance; but I can’t promise her anything beyond that, in part due to the psychological visibility factor.

13

There was no effort when I was a child. My mind just did things and I just experienced them. Yes, I did just sit and it happened. I felt an urge to draw and I did it, it happened, I was happy with what I did. I was surrounded by people that genuinely valued the creativity, joy and promise of children unless they are so bitter they cannot appreciate it. Now all the effort I put in things give me no rewards whatsoever. I find the most basic things in life very difficult to do.

That’s not I was talking about anyway, but I am not good at making myself understood and used a bad analogy. Nevermind what I said about sums.

Other people won’t see what I create it as I see it. What happens is I end seeing it as they see it and it’s painful. They will connect it to their own experience. Sometimes they even comment “it reminds me of…” To me my characters are the sum of my creativity, my life experience, my ideas, my stories, in reality they are just lame characters with no importance whatsoever. I don’t want that to be visible.

14

There was no effort when I was a child. My mind just did things and I just experienced them. Yes, I did just sit and it happened. I felt an urge to draw and I did it, it happened, I was happy with what I did. I was surrounded by people that genuinely valued the creativity, joy and promise of children unless they are so bitter they cannot appreciate it. Now all the effort I put in things give me no rewards whatsoever. I find the most basic things in life very difficult to do.

I’m not sure what you’re talking about here. Do you find brushing your teeth difficult? Fixing lunch? Walking?

Other people won’t see what I create it as I see it. What happens is I end seeing it as they see it and it’s painful. They will connect it to their own experience. Sometimes they even comment “it reminds me of…” To me my characters are the sum of my creativity, my life experience, my ideas, my stories, in reality they are just lame characters with no importance whatsoever. I don’t want that to be visible.

This is a totally alien outlook for me. Are you satisfied with what you create? Do you have your own standards to judge your work by?

If you can’t objectively judge your own work then you need to spend more time defining a rational standard to judge it by. Other then that, who cares? There will always be people who don’t understand or value your work. Why hold their judgment over your own? What are you afraid of?

15

I wanted to learn more about the idea in this post, as I’m still somewhat confused.

Thomas was mentioning how he likes to be admired by his writing and poetry, but I have nothing to be admired for. I like my art but I don’t do anything that is original and worth admiring. I see it this way: if I was studying science and had discovered a theory on my own that had already been discovered, what would be the point of showing it? It wouldn’t be new to the world. The same I see no point in showing my art, although I still feel compelled to at times, not sure why. Yes, it’s just my own personal plaything, it has no importance to the world whatsoever. While insults take away the pleasure of enjoying my characters, compliments make me feel like a fraud. I never feel good by showing my work, yet I still feel compelled to do it?

What are my thinking mistakes? Thanks in advance. :slight_smile:

As a fellow artist, I can offer the following advice for motivation: Create art with the purpose of improving - sketch a lot, read books that can help, draw whatever comes to your mind to improve your imagination and self expression. And if you create something that looks professional enough to you - you can show it to others.

The logic of that is that the learning process is a “sensitive” time for external input. It can distract and damage motivation, and therefore there is a need for a firm separation between practice and display. The process of learning is good either alone or with a drawing teacher, but not when you are aware in every step of the way that this will be displayed.

As for psychological visibility for an artist; I find it very satisfying to be understood (when my art is) and getting compliments is very fun too.

I think a person’s art is the key to his/her soul (much like seeing what art someone likes is revealing, only more so). When someone really understands your art, he also understands who you are (or at least some aspects of it), and because of it he can share your kind of world and enjoyment of it. This is a very high level of psychological visibility - the kind not normally achieved between strangers.

So there are great reasons to share your art. However, if you show your art as a way to bypass insecurity, then it’s counter-productive. Your first priority needs to be your progress. If you don’t yet understand why you need to share, but you feel that it damages your motivation, better limit it.

16

(Edited to add some more thoughts)

Myself, it’s not about what others think. It’s about what the work is in reality. When people say “it looks like so and so character of famous film” it’s true, although I never intended it to be such or “your art looks dated and there’s nothing new in it” it’s also true. It hurts that it’s true. I cannot be blind at what the rest of the world produces.

Ifat, I’m not sure about some things you said. When I’m studying I often need the input to know how to improve and to correct obvious mistakes I might have missed. I can’t pay for a course and it seems a good idea to take advantage of the free knowledge other artists offer in online forums.

17

It’s not about what others think. It’s about what the work is in reality.

If you’re not happy with your work why show it to others?

18

I like my work, but not in reality. I like what it means to me. If I show it to others they see what it is in reality, not what it means to me.

19

I like my work, but not in reality. I like what it means to me. If I show it to others they see what it is in reality, not what it means to me.

The implication is that you are not actually concretizing abstractions, but only putting across something vague and not clearly defined. Either that, or you are focusing on your emotional reaction to your own work instead of focusing on the facts as they are presented in your work. The solution is to improve your skills, both in the technical sense (better drawing capabilities) and in the philosophical sense (learning what it takes to convey your ideas, and develop those skills). I know I have a strong attachment to my own artistic work, but I also learned that I needed to improve what I wanted to convey. Showing your work to important others (honest friends and associates) can give you appropriate feedback as to if they understand what you are conveying given what you actually did.

However, I do think you are focused too much on what others get out of it, and not focused enough on developing your skills. Once your skills are developed more, you won’t be so dissatisfied in your abilities; so that even if you cannot be Michaelangelo, you will be able to accurately convey your abstractions in your art.

In other words, think about what facts you have to present and what style you must present it in to better convey the overall meaning your work has to yourself. It takes a while to learn how to do this, but it is worth it.

20

so that even if you cannot be Michaelangelo

But this is what I want to be. How do you become like those people? How do you create something new, something only you could have created and nobody else?