Abstracts

The Art of Discernment
In virtually all universities, general education courses are required as part of a degree program. You will gain much from studying a wide variety of subjects. Not only will you broaden your basic knowledge, but you will also increase your critical thinking skills. The humanities speak to the heart, men’s aspirations for the good and the beautiful.
Allegory of the Cave and Making Connections
Study: Allegory of the CaveGreek PhilosophyMaking Connections with the CaveThe Story of Marilyn. Discernment is the ability to judge well or the quality of being able to grasp and comprehend what is obscure. Not understanding what is around us is true, beautiful, and good makes this a difficult task.
Good, Better, Best
You will study: Being 1% Better Good, Better, Best being 1% better. In this section, you will learn how to be better than you are now. In This Section, You will study how to become 1% better than you were before you were born.
Chapter 2: Beauty and Creation
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Creation
This course seeks to understand principles associated with beauty and creativity as they relate to the arts. We will examine the creative process and vision of artists, composers, authors, and filmmakers. In varying degrees, each will follow in the footsteps of how God created things by bringing order to chaos.
Adam and Eve
Even within our own biblical tradition, what tempted Adam and Eve? Yes, the serpent, but it was also the promised necessity of the fall. After partaking of the fruit the scripture states, “And the eyes of them both were opened” (Moses 4:13, emphasis added)
The Creation Stories from Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia
Ancient Egypt had three major creation stories that related to each other. The Mesopotamian creation story may be considered a stranger to its comparison to the Egyptian creation story. In This Chapter You Will Study:Ancient EgyptVisionThe MesopotAmian Creation Story. The Creation Stories from Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia.
Chapter 3: Visual Arts
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Introduction to the Visual Arts
Seeking After Truth and Beauty in the Arts: Art and Truth. Examples of Artistic Truth: Painting, sculpture, ceramics, photography, architecture. In This Section You Will Study: Seeking After truth and beauty in the arts. What is the truth in our age? Where do we discover Truth? The importance of accessing and discerning truth in the art world.
The Artist's Personal and Artistic Process and Vision
Creativity at its highest levels involves both sides of the brain in a personal process that requires vision, inspiration, knowledge, and just plain hard work. Howard Gardner's extensive description of creativity represents one of the most comprehensive definitions of the creative person. Creative individuals seem to have unusual capacities to become totally immersed in one task for long periods of time.
Visual Art Examples
Tracy Emin’s My Bed is an art installation that features an unmade bed with various pieces of garbage (empty bottles, cigarette butts, clothes) strewn about the base of it. If you happened to see The Little Dancer of Fourteen Years by Edgar Degas in a dumpster, you would stop to look at it.
Chapter 4: Seeking After the Good
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See Life Whole
The Arts as a Lens to “See Life Whole”Dangers of Applying a Negative StandardSeeking Virtue in the ArtsLearning to Recognize and Value Good ArtSeeing Life Whole is published by Brigham Young University at a cost of $16.99. To order your copy of the book, call the BYU bookstore on 08457 909090.
Art & The Good
"Good art" is a subjective term that can have different interpretations depending on the context and perspective of the individual. In general, “good art” is often considered to have the following qualities: Aesthetically pleasing, originality, emotional impact, technical skill, intellectual stimulation.