Thank Heavens This Actually Works

Music, dance, film, theatre, poetry, literature, sculpture, architecture—under the ceiling of one classroom, every artistic discipline is sampled and critiqued. In Introduction to the Humanities, the musical motion picture West Side Story is a required supplementary material, and this semester’s classical music quiz is fast on its way. Time spent in the class is meant to whet cultural appetite and measure cultural understanding.

As a perspective animator, this student (who does not particularly enjoy referring to himself in the third-person) looks more closely at specific branches of the arts than those displayed in the classroom; upon opening his mind, however, he has stumbled upon an enriching truth. His capacity to tell stories through pictures—to create the illusion of life, moment by moment—has improved by studying and practicing acting skills; by listening to a wide variety of music; by watching dancers and learning to dance himself. Participating in the arts has even improved his writing!

Through activity in spheres other than his chief branch of study, this student has benefited in many other aspects of his life. It does not make immediate sense—how can someone improve at something by shifting his or her focus to something unrelated? The idea flows readily to another: how can activity in the Church benefit all areas of life, when its central focus is on spiritual things?

Truthfully, this student does not know. He only knows that this is the case. When unhappiness finds its way into daily routine, he looks (often later than he would like to admit) to his duties in the Church, and finds himself falling short in some way. Upon improving his adherence to what he knows simply to be right, everything else changes for the better. In some invisible way, every facet of human life is connected.

Posted by S. Benjamin Puente