Pursuing a Master's Degree in Creative Work

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words, but maybe they are worth far more than that. Pictures, although seemingly simple in nature, are extremely complex. Far too often, people overlook what a picture truly is. When a person looks at an image, they most likely see only the image, nothing else. Many people do not look deep enough into an image to fully comprehend the true meaning of it. However, when an individual begins to truly study an image in an attempt to understand the true complexity of it, they will be surprised at what they overlooked before. As stated by French Realist Painter, Gustave Courbet, “Fine art is knowledge made visible.”

   "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference." (Robert Frost) In today's world there is no tolerance for the individual thinker. It is not acceptable to modify or bend the rules of society. Society is civilized, and to be civilized there must be rules, regulations and policies that prevent. Individuality leads to a mess of chaos. To prevent disorder, institutions in society keep these rules strongly enforced. Man creates these institutions in order to provide convenience and stability in everyday life. Then instead of man running these institutions, the institutions begin to reverse the role of power and

Individualism puts the individual at the forefront of decision making power (SUO, 2016). Although we do not have specific power in the decision making process, we have a representative form of democracy where elected officials speak for the people, however, the individual has a strong voice in the American form of democracy (Borade, 2012).

Alexis de Tocqueville (1835), a French political thinker, stated that individualism is not mere selfishness, but is “a mature and calm feeling, which disposes each member of the community to sever himself from the mass of his fellows and to draw apart with his family and friends, so that after he has thus former a little circle of his own, he willingly leaves society at large to itself […] individualism, at first, only saps the virtues of public life; but in the long run it attacks and destroys all others and is at length absorbed in downright selfishness”. In this sense, the relationship between the individual and community is seen as a negative one, with individualism being a selfish time-bomb that explodes and destroys the collectiveness needed to

In the eyes of the Buddhist, Ma Yuan’s painting could be considered beautiful because of its representation of the Buddhist goal of achieving enlightenment. In Buddhist philosophy, the ultimate objective is to leave samsara, or the earthly existence, and reach nirvana, which is the escape from samsara. While the path to nirvana varies depending on the branch of Buddhism, a key aspect of achieving enlightenment is relieving oneself from suffering. The Four Noble Truths explain that all life is suffering, which caused by desire, and in

“That citizen sinks further into apathy, anonymity, and depersonalization. The result is that he comes to depend on public authority and a state of civic-sclerosis sets in” (Alinsky, 1971). This statement perfectly describes what is happening to the people today. People are no longer concerned with what is happening around them. The world today is living in an individualization phase where there are more people who know more stuff about the celebrities, latest fashion and gadgets, rich lifestyle, etc. rather than the continuous welfare problems. Because the world has reached the technology era, people are blind and deaf to the oppression that is happening. In this world full of complex networks of problems, where should the people start?

As a US Citizen we conform to regulate and maintain the foundation that connects us as a whole. The whole is made up of multiple people who share the same values, and is necessary in a long term successfully running society like the USA. But in times of change, we must stand out as individuals and refrain from the collective unit in order to redirect the long-term path of society. Time and time again displayed throughout history, men and women have departed from the collective whole in order to change their surroundings. Often it’s these type of individuals, such as Steve Jobs, Martin Luther King, and Bill Gates; who revolutionize the world they live in.

Traditional conservatives adopt an organic view of society. This implies that society works like a living thing, an organism, which is sustained by a fragile set of relationships between and amongst its parts. The whole is therefore more than just its individual parts. This implies that the individual cannot be separated from society, but is part of the social groups that nurture him or her, reflecting the dependent and security-seeking tendencies within human nature. Organic societies are fashioned ultimately by natural necessity, and therefore cannot be ‘improved’ by reform or revolution. Indeed, reform or revolution is likely to destroy the

In 1946, Ayn Rand wrote, “‘The greatest good for the greatest number’ is one of the most vicious slogans ever foisted on humanity. This slogan has no concrete, specific meaning. There is no way to interpret it benevolently, but a great many ways in which it can be used to justify the most vicious actions.” Collectivism is defined as the practice of assigning primacy to a group over each individual within it. At its core, the ideology stems from prioritizing the well-being of all. However, when allowed to run rampant as it is in Anthem, collectivism contorts into a binding institution that impedes individual evolution. Idealistically, collectivism is utopic, but in practice it negates the significance of the identities of its subjects.

Are we truly worthy and capable of ruling ourselves without the constant overwatch of the government over our backs? This question was very much a central issue that plagued American colonists both before and after independence from the British Empire. Thomas Hobbs, a foremost philosopher, warned how people were “nasty, brutish, and short” and that in order to control man’s habitual actions of sin, you need a powerful government that can watch out for these types of people. Much of what Hobbs advocated aligns with the ideas and thinking of Alexander Hamilton, but on the other hand, there are modern libertarians who would argue that without government, people interact with each other in ways that produce harmony and civility, major ideals that were held by the late Thomas Jefferson. Despite both Hamilton and Jefferson’s ideals playing a major factor in the development of political parties in the newfound United States, it is the Hobbesian view that makes a stronger case for the role of government in the affairs of the country.

“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” Aristotle. The world is better together, as a whole, than it is made up by each country individually, separated and fending for themselves, with no one support from one another. We are currently living in a divided world. Either divided over power, race, religion, and so much more. We read the news daily, wondering why we cannot accept each other and move forward. We wonder why we are all trying to win the “war of division” separately, not relying on other people that believe in the same thing we do. This “war of division,” despite the contrary, is one we have been facing since the start of our country. From the day we won our war of independence to today, we fight issues on our own, but what

For thousands of centuries, Japanese artists had been breaking the boundaries with their relentless creations of shocking pieces that made people question if there was a life after death. The popular subject of restless spirits or dark beings drove many artists from the Heian Period to modern-day times to express their stylistic techniques and narrative stories through woodblock printing and other alternative forms of art. Unlike most Western art, Japan’s disturbing representations of decaying bodies and death did not promote unrealistic, commercial expectations of death that commonly exists in art today. While handling such abstract ideas of the afterlife alongside the uncensored authenticity of death, each piece arouses fear and empathy for

Among academics, political leaders, and government representatives differences of opinion and concern abound: differences about the most beneficial structure of self-government, about who controls what, about when self-government should be implemented, about whether or not a true form self-government can ever be achieved.

Spiritual Liberation is a psychedelic art form that focuses on the “mind manifestation”. It is considered to be a visual state in which the mind evolves beyond its own knowledge and understanding of the materialistic world in order to be free. This art style displays the visual experience of a psychedelic trip, such as bright contrasting colors with no empty space. The purpose of using bright colors is to represents the colors found freely within the universe. The universe represents freedom and connection to one another on a spiritual level, which is why the entire canvas is occupied. Many spiritual artists believe that our vices and our ego disconnect us from spiritual liberation, that is why they focus on depriving the mind of the ego and

Although our nation’s government relies on the fundamentals of liberal democracy, it still has many flaws. Articles written by Francis Fukuyama share a clear message suggesting that America’s political institutions are decaying and its flaws will not be fixed unless we have good leadership within the government that yields good policies. It is still not too late to make reformations in the system. Today, US citizens share a distrust for the inner workings of our government, and through the years, there are many things that must change. Although our government is able to withstand failures right now, it may cause an expansion of problems that will cost us indefinitely. The existence of interest groups has caused an exponential increase in the elite control of the system, thus creating people’s lack of trust for the government.