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Apr 15, 2020
"Look back along the endless corridors of time and you will see that four things have built civilization: the spirit of religion, the spirit of creative art, the spirit of research and the spirit of business enterprise." --Neil Carothers
Phil Chan on Art, Civilization & Empathy
"It is no accident that all civilizations possess art. This is so because art is not simply a by-product of civilization; art is its necessary precondition. Without art mankind would less likely have developed the capacity for empathy, and without the capacity for empathy, individual lives would remain brutish. A collection of brutes cannot possibly come together to lay the groundwork for a civil society." In a time when civil society has entered a period of profound uncertainty, Phil Chan's words in this piece emphasize the imperatives of art.
BE THE CHANGE
Don't short-change yourself when you're invited to connect with someone you don't know. There's wisdom in the saying: strangers are just friends we haven't met.