Soulmaking: Definitions, Processes, and Artistic Principles

Learning Objectives

• Concept Discussion: Discuss the foundational concept of Soulmaking.
• Artistic Development: Develop the artistic potential of students through the practice of soulmaking.
• Environmental Sensitivity: Enhance students' sensitivity and awareness regarding their surrounding environment.

Philosophical Foundations and Etymology

• Etymological Origins:     * The term "making" in "soulmaking" is derived from the Greek word "poieo."     * Verbatim Definition: "Poieo" means "to be the author or maker of something."
• Poiesis in Philosophy:     * In a philosophical context, "poiesis" is defined as "the activity in which a person brings something into being that did not exist before."
• Emphasis on Authorship:     * The term "soulmaking" is preferred over alternatives like "soul-builder" or "soul-grower" because it emphasizes creative, intelligent authorship.     * The process is not driven by impersonal forces but by Intelligent Forces.

Defining Soulmaking

• Dr. Norman Narciso’s Perspective:     * Dr. Narciso, a leading Filipino thought leader in the art world, defines soulmaking as "an alternate place to know oneself and to look at the depths and meaning of what we do in our daily lives."     * It serves as a step toward a deeper comprehension of how an individual perceives the world and how their personality is viewed.
• Role in Art Production:     * Soulmaking is central to art-production.     * It involves crafting stories and transforming brief moments into symbolic images.     * It functions to connect with people, understand culture, and embody values such as tolerance, peace, and imagination.

The Process of Self-Knowledge and Perception

• Knowing Oneself:     * The question "who are you" serves as the primary guidepost throughout the soulmaking process.     * The process begins with consciousness, requiring an individual to realize and embrace their truth, history, and understanding of existence.
• Perception vs. Production:     * While art is the core of soulmaking, the focus is less on the final product and more on the method of perceiving the world.
• Depths and Essence:     * Soulmaking transcends a purely religious perspective of the "soul."     * In this context, "soul" refers to a person's individuality that resonates through their behavior.     * Art acts as the symbolic human expression used to fulfill the need for self-communication and the actualization of one's being.

Application to Everyday Life

• Sense of Purpose:     * Art provides a sense of purpose. Creating expressions of one's perceptions, feelings, emotions, and realities is the key to personal cultural growth.
• Universal Accessibility:     * Soulmaking is a method available to anyone, not just those considered "obviously artistic."     * It involves the ability to lose oneself in the art of viewing the world from a different perspective and detaching from the self.
• Human Experience:     * Every human experience is utilized to build influence that improves both the artist and others.

Core Motivations: Soul, Sound, and Structure

• Soul: Defined as the emotional or intellectual energy or intensity specifically revealed in a work of art or an artistic performance.
• Sound: Defined as vibrations that travel through the air or another medium, heard when they reach a person's or animal's ear.
• Structure:     * The arrangement of and relations between the parts or elements of something complex.     * Refers to the surface and quality of an object, whether real or simulated, providing variety and beauty in art.

Five Categories of Soulmaking (MUGS)

• Crafting Images:     * Involves imaging or representing in any form: painting, sculpting, drawing, story-telling, poetry, dancing, composing, or taking notes.     * Rooted in personal experiences, encounters, and events that spark reflection, recall, and judgment.
• Crafting Stories:     * Occurs when individuals write, engrave, or inscribe thoughts, ideas, commentaries, criticisms, and positive/negative emotions.     * These stories become personal histories to be handed down through generations.
• Crafting Instruments:     * The instrument maker acts as a bridge to the unknown.     * The soul requires a vessel; instruments produce sounds that transcend feelings and sensations into another realm.     * Involves transforming found or used objects to discover harmony, balance, and magical sounds.
• Crafting Movements:     * Recognizes that life is full of movements, beats, flowing images, and narratives.     * The philosophy posits that "Everything we do in life is a performance, we perform life."
• Crafting Techniques:     * Involves using evocative descriptions of experiences and explorations.     * Examples include photograph studies, puppets, masks, constructions, and notepad studies.

The Five Phases of Soulmaking

1. Seeking:     * The individual recognizes themselves as a "seeker" interested in growth.     * The goal is to find a discipline to make sense of the world and heal wounds of the "self."     * Systematic searching leads to tools that satisfy creativity and passion.
2. Settling:     * Communication must be profound with the soul, other humans, non-humans, and the world.     * To achieve this, one must stop "perpetually wondering" and find a point of being settled.
3. Surrender:     * Involves pain and vulnerability.     * During the "crashing," activities begin to serve the soul.     * True surrender requires accepting wounds and living in darkness.
4. Soulmaking (The Stage):     * The individual transitions from reflective practice to becoming a practitioner of soulmaking.     * One becomes an "injured healer" or an expert who accepts there is no way to "ever get it right."     * This stage is not static; it requires constant re-settling and responding to the psyche's appeal for submission and care.
5. Soaring:     * The desire to conquer material realities and "travel."     * Soaring cannot be forced or engineered through "psychological spaceships"; it happens only by passing through the previous stages.

Artistic Techniques: Improvisation and Appropriation

• Improvisation:     * Acting without previous planning or deciding to act on the unexpected.     * In the $20^{th}$ century, it arose as a response to the "stiffness of the arts" and a call for emancipation from monotony.     * Adds spontaneity, identity, and uniqueness to a work.     * Some artists rely on "opportunities" or natural phenomena (like storms or meteor showers) where outcomes cannot be fully controlled.
• Appropriation:     * Historically common (e.g., apprentices copying masters to hone skills).     * Authorship Issues: Occurs when artists take bits and pieces from others without responsibility, potentially losing the original voices.     * Versus Forgery: Forgery includes outright copies and "pastiches" (infusing elements into new work). Contemporary forgery involves predicting an artist’s future work through style analysis.     * Motives: Appropriation artists often want the audience to see a "new take" on a original, recognizable image.

The Seven Da Vincian Principles

1. Curiosit (Being Curious): An insatiable approach to life and an unrelenting quest for continuous learning.
2. Dimostrazione (Independent Thinking): A commitment to test knowledge through experience, persistence, and learning from mistakes.
3. Sensazione (Refinement of Senses): The continual refinement of the five senses, especially sight, to stay present in the moment.
4. Sfumato (Going Up in Smoke): A willingness to embrace ambiguity, paradox, and uncertainty.
5. Arte/Scienza: The development of balance between science and art, logic and imagination ("whole-brain" thinking).
6. Corporalit (Physical/Mental Health): The cultivation of grace, fitness, ambidexterity, and poise.
7. Connessione (System Thinking): Recognition and appreciation for the interconnectedness of all things and phenomena.