Pay attention. Many of us have heard that command throughout our lives. In art, tuning your attention to specific details is extremely important.
If you have ever heard of Zen, you have likely wondered what it is. If you haven’t heard of Zen, I can’t help you and no one can.
For the helpable, Zen likely seems mystical, a spiritual thing that allows a person to interact with the world in a different way than normal.
Although esoteric on its face, Zen is simple, profoundly simple (But maybe I misunderstand it). Zen is slowing down enough to see things, to take in something as it is rather than what you perceive it to be. Now this may sound mystical, but it isn’t; you do not look past the present reality to perceive something like platonic forms in a cosmic ether. You merely stop to think about what you are perceiving; you allow your eyes and mind to linger on things longer than normal. The short of Zen is noticing; the long of Zen is to grasp at comprehension.
For example, if I look at a piano briefly, I will say, “Oh, hey, great, a piano,” because it is a piano, but if I stop and begin to study the object, if I bein to pay attention, I will begin to see superficial details: the warm color of the wood, the instruments angles, and the design someone thought to create a unique brand. If I go further, I begin to think about what the piano is and how it is put together, and I begin to ask questions as I observe the piano. As I ask questions, I am not rushing for an answer; I am slowing down and allowing my eyes, my ears, and skin to interact with the piano so I can understand and build a mental picture of the instrument.
This is just one example of the process of viewing things with Zen. Zen is not really a philosophy; it is a method, one that I see as very useful in everyday life. The value of the process comes from the understanding you can gain about things, and, perhaps more importantly, the appreciation you can gain for the world.