What Exactly Constitutes “Arts?”

A photo caption in this morning’s New York Times reads, “Lin-Manuel Miranda, center, and Daveed Diggs, right, at the White House with Michelle Obama in 2016.  In August, Mr. Biden told Mr. Miranda, “The future of who we are lies in the arts.” 

Lin-Manuel Miranda is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the worldwide blockbuster musical Hamilton. Daveed Diggs is the Tony- and Grammy-winning actor who originated the roles of the Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson in Hamilton. And, of course, the Obamas had them at the White House to celebrate their runaway success.  

Not everyone writes musicals. Not everyone stars in musicals either, but I would ask you to consider that every one of us has an “arts” impulse, no exceptions. I maintain it’s hardwired into us. 

The one thing that causes my heart more anguish than any other right now is the stifling of this impulse. It’s the binaries. The zeroes and ones. The reductionism. The impatience. The consumer mentality. Myriad reasons. I could go on, but I won’t. Not about that. 

When I put “arts” into the search bar on my photo aggregator, the image you see above is what first came up. Music. Painting. Dance. Theatre. The standard insignia for arts.  

But what if arts are those four and so much more?

It could be—if we’ll think about them that way. 

What about cross stitch? Or crewelwork? Or knitting?  

What about grooming dogs as an art? Bathing cats? Herding cats? 

Could car-washing be an art? Certainly, detailing a car is. 

How about splashing in rain puddles? Or raking and falling in autumn leaves? 

Or growing houseplants? 

Or doing jigsaw puzzles as meditation and prayer in the way that I do? 

Yoga? Karate? Mixed Martial Arts? Note that last word. 

Long-time readers of mine will know that I am a serious musical theatre student. I write mystery novels that use musical lyrics as a cipher for solving cases and for spiritual growth. All three of these jerunds—writing, solving, and growing—are arts. 

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about what one gift I might give everyone in the world that I believe would solve our collective problems. 

For a long time, I thought that the gift to all would be Creativity, but now I’m not so sure. Creativity is a wondrous thing without doubt, but it’s gotten too constrained a definition just like arts. 

Now that I’ve considered it a little longer, I think the gift to all is Imagination. 

Here’s why: Imagination is the one thing required to create anything new. A new grocery cart, a new mural, a new bicycle, a new novel, a new can opener, a new tap dance, a new light fixture, a new musical. 

A new dream—of any kind. 

Interestingly, the science of addiction medicine weighs in here. It posits that the drug user cannot imagine a future without the substance, therefore once the substance is removed, all that’s left is despair. Is it any wonder we are caught in the worst addiction crisis in history? 

I’m with Joe Biden here. “The future of who we are lies in the arts.”  

Mr. Miranda, keep composing. Mr. Diggs, keep singing. And me, I’ll keep writing. 

Now how about you, Beloved? 

How are you going to expand that definition of the arts? 

What’s your art? 

Imagine it.  

Oh, and start now.  

Dr. Susan Corso is a spiritual teacher, the founder of iAmpersand, and the author of The Mex Mysteries, the Boots & Boas Books, and spiritual nonfiction. Her website is susancorso.com.