james hillman on art and therapy

Pardon the mailing but thought it might be better to be inclusive than exclusive on this and let it land where it may.
Please excuse if not of any interest to you. i particularly find amusing the list of what he sees the arts suffering from

comments welcome

From Emotion. James Hillman. Northwestern University Press.1960
this is from the 1991 preface to a later printing of the book

The field of art therapy has always imagined the use of the arts to be therapeutic either for the expressive release of the blocked psyche or for symbolism, sublimation and communication, which thereby allow the patient to give creative formulations to the disordered soul. I want to reverse this relation between art and therapy of emotion. I want now, and finally as a last thought, to suggest that therapy is useful to the arts.
Let us assume that the arts in our western world are in as much disarray as the patients we encounter.
The Arts themselves are suffering from exploitation, commercialism, delusions of grandeur, low self esteem, dried out rationalism, addictive careerism, fascination with success, vulnerability to criticism, loss of direction and intention, personalism, and so on. What seems lost to the arts is precisely what therapy deals with everyday: soul. Through art therapy soul returns to dance and painting, to poems and sculpture. Each gesture the patient makes attempts to place into defined form the emotional influxes that assail a human life. Each gesture is made for the sake of the gesture and not for anything external to the gesture itself.
I dance my woe as fully as I can and paint my wild madness with a rich palette as I can attain, not for reviewers of my product, not for recognition, not for the increase in size of the letters of my name.
I do it for soul�s sake, and this gesture, encouraged by the art therapist in studios, practices, and clinics in the city after city, town after town, may be more than a therapy of the patient> It may also be a therapy of the arts themselves, restoring to them the archetypal gestures of the soul

--
Kraig Grady
North American Embassy of Anaphoria Island <http://anaphoria.com/>
The Wandering Medicine Show
KXLU <http://www.kxlu.com/main.html> 88.9 FM Wed 8-9 pm Los Angeles

thanks Kraig for posting that. I have Hillman's "Revisioning Psychology" which is quite amazing and I think has made me think more than Jung or Freud ever did. I remember once I was hanging with some "sucessful" rock musicians and first heard them refer to music as "product" to be sold like so much soap. I had a very strange and unpleasant feeling in my gut at that moment.

Dante

yes rock has lost much of its soul especially when you compare this to say the love-in of the jefferson airplane and such.
or even when the band such as the grateful dead became a business, it was not without preserving the "community" , the travelling carnival that it came from.
Not that i am a fan, i respect this about them.
Chamber music has lost this soul, it is no longer apart of people playing music as a group. It is merely music done by those of limited resources

dante.interport@... wrote:
> thanks Kraig for posting that. I have Hillman's "Revisioning Psychology" which is quite amazing and I think has made me think more than Jung or Freud ever did. I remember once I was hanging with some "sucessful" rock musicians and first heard them refer to music as "product" to be sold like so much soap. I had a very strange and unpleasant feeling in my gut at that moment.
>
> Dante
>
>
> Meta Tuning meta-info:
>
> To unsubscribe, send an email to:
> metatuning-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
> Web page is http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/metatuning/
>
> To post to the list, send to
> metatuning@yahoogroups.com
>
> You don't have to be a member to post.
>
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
> >
>
>
>
>
> -- Kraig Grady
North American Embassy of Anaphoria Island <http://anaphoria.com/>
The Wandering Medicine Show
KXLU <http://www.kxlu.com/main.html> 88.9 FM Wed 8-9 pm Los Angeles

--- In metatuning@yahoogroups.com, Kraig Grady <kraiggrady@...> wrote:
>
> Pardon the mailing...

Kraig, just thought you'd like to know that you touched a (positive)
nerve with Kyle Gann, and he has mentioned this on his blog this morning:

http://www.artsjournal.com/postclassic/

Cheers,
Jon

i appreciate you drawing my attention to this.
To put something like this out
I have be touched by the responses and from where they have come from, some of my favorite people. it makes me very optimistic. and makes me feel that maybe things are healthier than i thought.
To recognize the need for healing is a great way down that path.
Jon Szanto wrote:
> --- In metatuning@yahoogroups.com, Kraig Grady <kraiggrady@...> wrote:
> >> Pardon the mailing...
>> >
> Kraig, just thought you'd like to know that you touched a (positive)
> nerve with Kyle Gann, and he has mentioned this on his blog this morning:
>
> http://www.artsjournal.com/postclassic/
>
> Cheers,
> Jon
>
>
>
>
>
> Meta Tuning meta-info:
>
> To unsubscribe, send an email to:
> metatuning-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
> Web page is http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/metatuning/
>
> To post to the list, send to
> metatuning@yahoogroups.com
>
> You don't have to be a member to post.
>
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
> >
>
>
>
>
> -- Kraig Grady
North American Embassy of Anaphoria Island <http://anaphoria.com/>
The Wandering Medicine Show
KXLU <http://www.kxlu.com/main.html> 88.9 FM Wed 8-9 pm Los Angeles

--- In metatuning@yahoogroups.com, Kraig Grady <kraiggrady@...>
wrote:

Kraig

It seems like the standard conflict of interest situation.
Most, or all of what is below relates directly or indirectly
with money. If a musician has a infinite amount of money in
the bank (let's say $10 billion) he/she is immune to much
(but not all) of what "The Arts themselves are suffering from".

If one looks at a musician that has no day job and just making
ends meet, things are different. There is financial stress. If
he/she has a family, they are under stress too.

Art is therefore work:

Routine by Stuart Doggett

http://www.poemhunter.com/p/m/poem.asp?poet=158586&poem=2895196

For others, paying the bills with some left over is failure.
The poem below talks of great money with the influence and
slavery that can come with it. Has a slow start, but also
some notable phrases.

Money talks! by Sylvia Chidi

http://www.poemhunter.com/p/m/poem.asp?poet=108674&poem=2527725

-Stephen

POST ABOVE IS FROM STEPHEN >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

POST BELOW IS FROM KRAIG >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

>
>>
> From Emotion. James Hillman. Northwestern University Press.1960
> this is from the 1991 preface to a later printing of the book
>
> > Let us assume that the arts in our western world are in as much
disarray
> as the patients we encounter.
> The Arts themselves are suffering from exploitation,
commercialism,
> delusions of grandeur, low self esteem, dried out rationalism,
addictive
> careerism, fascination with success, vulnerability to criticism,
loss of
> direction and intention, personalism, and so on. What seems lost
to the
> arts is precisely what therapy deals with everyday: soul.

my observation is that those who go after money don't do any better than those who do not.
in fact the former give up sooner

stephenszpak wrote:
> --- In metatuning@yahoogroups.com, Kraig Grady <kraiggrady@...> > wrote:
>
> Kraig
>
> It seems like the standard conflict of interest situation.
> Most, or all of what is below relates directly or indirectly
> with money. If a musician has a infinite amount of money in
> the bank (let's say $10 billion) he/she is immune to much
> (but not all) of what "The Arts themselves are suffering from".
> > If one looks at a musician that has no day job and just making
> ends meet, things are different. There is financial stress. If
> he/she has a family, they are under stress too.
>
> Art is therefore work:
>
> Routine by Stuart Doggett > >
> http://www.poemhunter.com/p/m/poem.asp?poet=158586&poem=2895196
>
> For others, paying the bills with some left over is failure.
> The poem below talks of great money with the influence and
> slavery that can come with it. Has a slow start, but also
> some notable phrases.
> >
> Money talks! by Sylvia Chidi >
> http://www.poemhunter.com/p/m/poem.asp?poet=108674&poem=2527725
>
> -Stephen
>
>
> POST ABOVE IS FROM STEPHEN >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>
> POST BELOW IS FROM KRAIG >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>
> >
> >> From Emotion. James Hillman. Northwestern University Press.1960
>> this is from the 1991 preface to a later printing of the book
>>
>> >>> Let us assume that the arts in our western world are in as much >>> > disarray > >> as the patients we encounter.
>> The Arts themselves are suffering from exploitation, >> > commercialism, > >> delusions of grandeur, low self esteem, dried out rationalism, >> > addictive > >> careerism, fascination with success, vulnerability to criticism, >> > loss of > >> direction and intention, personalism, and so on. What seems lost >> > to the > >> arts is precisely what therapy deals with everyday: soul. >> >
>
>
>
>
>
> Meta Tuning meta-info:
>
> To unsubscribe, send an email to:
> metatuning-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
> Web page is http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/metatuning/
>
> To post to the list, send to
> metatuning@yahoogroups.com
>
> You don't have to be a member to post.
>
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
> >
>
>
>
>
> -- Kraig Grady
North American Embassy of Anaphoria Island <http://anaphoria.com/>
The Wandering Medicine Show
KXLU <http://www.kxlu.com/main.html> 88.9 FM Wed 8-9 pm Los Angeles