Ch'i and Artistic Expression: An East Asian Worldview that Fits the Creative Process Everywhere

Article Information

Creative Arts Educ Ther (2016) 2(2):12–20DOI: 10.15534/CAET/2016/2/6

Ch’i and Artistic Expression: An East Asian Worldview that Fits the Creative Process Everywhere

“气”和艺术性表达：契合所有创造性过程的东亚世界观

Shaun McNiff

Lesley University, USA

Abstract

In the tradition of ch’i (气), past and present, we have a paradigm that accurately corresponds with how artistic expression happens and heals through the circulation and transformation of creative energy. It is a thoroughly empirical approach to forces inherent in all of nature which include physical and psychic elements of creative action. Beginning with reflections on the qualities of ch’i and how it has been interpreted in the West, this article explores its presence and cultivation. The historic Taoist and Confucian emphasis on nurturing ch’i as a personal way of participating in the more comprehensive creative processes of nature offers a timely practical and conceptual model for how art heals.

摘要

在“气”的自古至今的传统中，我们有一个范式精确地回应艺术表现如何通过创造性能量的循环和转变进而发生并进行疗愈的。它是一种对所有自然固有力量彻底的实证方法，包括创造性行为的身体和心理上的因素。从对“气”的质地及其在西方的解释的反思开始，本文探讨了它的存在和发展。历史上的道教和儒家强调培养“气”作为更为全面地参与自然创造过程的个人方式，为艺术如何疗愈提供了及时的实用性和概念性模型。