Art is Therapy

[Dutch Uncle]

About two years ago I went to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam with a group of people from my local Humanistic Society. We all had done a course in "The art of Life through the eyes of modern philosophers' (18th century onwards) together, and even after we had concluded this course months prior, the teacher invited us to join her to visit this exhibition.
(Some background information on the exhibition here)

I was already well on my way out of the FOG (hadn't a clue yet I would need to go through a Storm as well  ) and I was struck by this caption the guest-curators had written next to this piece of Art (12th century AD):

(click https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/AK-MAK-84 for rijksmuseum-page on this piece)

Today I stumbled on a picture I had made of the caption. It's blurred so I typed it up:

***possible triggers on motherhood***

The title of their caption read:
I can't cope. I want Mommy,
even if I'm 44 and a half. (which fitted the bill about right)

Here we're a long way culturally rom the Christian story, so what's surprising and intriguing is that we observe very similar needs being addressed in very similar ways. The Buddhist deity Guanyin was the savior of people in peril. Until the 14th century he was represented as a man, later as a woman. Like Jesus or the Virgin Mary, Guanyin fulfilled the related roles of hearing us in our distress, meeting us with tenderness and strengthening us to face the tasks of life.
The centrality of such figures in the Buddhist and Christian outlooks suggests that all mature lives will involve moments of deep-self-doubt and feelings that one cannot cope alone. It's not a sign we have failed as a human to be overwhelmed by a need for reassurance.
Modern society struggles to update what this figure represents and to provide a contemporary version of the publicly available nurturing mother.
Exhibiton: "Art is therapy", Rijksmuseum.
Guest-curators: Alain de Button and John Armstrong.

Now, years later, I'm struck by the content of the caption, as it really is something I identify with: finding a nurturing source outside my dysfunctional FOO and upbringing. And my need to connect with people and society, and that (not) surprisingly this is apparently and age-old theme for humans and humanity.

Reading this makes me feel more connected to the human experience.
I hope and wish it may feel the same for you.

[Talisien]

I love this insightful caption. And I have a copy of almost this exact statue on my mantelpiece.