Religion & Spirituality
The happy attentiveness of artists at work has been described as a state of total absorption and effortless concentration. It might seem that Emerson contradicts this notion of happiness when he notes, “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful...” It may be argued that functional uselessness is the basic property of any work of art. How do artists in their happiness live up to the purposes for living that Emerson offered, usefulness first, but also “to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well?”