Do you wish there's a god?

[Belacqua]

Nature is already filled with beauty unsullied by all the self-display of artists.

But no sense-impression of which we are aware is simply a sense-impression. It is already selected, interpreted, made by the mind. This is one of the things that painting does (among many others): it enriches our ability to perceive the world by working in dialectic with sense-impressions. 

If you spend a few years with Kano School or Rimpa Japanese paintings, the world looks different to you. Specifically, the portions of the world which you perceive as worth looking at, and the way your mind selects and interprets those views, increases. You gain greater access to beauty, a wider ability to see and enjoy -- in short, more perception equals greater pleasure. And greater pleasure in the world -- the ability to see and love its beauty -- changes the way the world is for us. 

Now a person might say "I already enjoy it enough," and for that person I guess it might be true. But he has set up walls for his perception which are not necessary, and blocked for himself all the wisdom which previous artists offer us. 

This is part of what Blake means when he says that when our perceptions are fully open (if that were possible) the world would appear in its truly infinite nature, and that salvation comes from increased sensual enjoyment. The opposite of this is closing ourselves down to the status quo of the interpretations we already have. 

__________________

Here is a painting I like, chosen more or less at random from a number that enjoy. It's Kano or Rimpa; it's not really based on observation. I'm not claiming it's a world-class great work, only that it is a pleasure to look at:

http://japaneseaesthetics.tumblr.com/image/183436547151

Could you plug this into your system for me, and tell me in what way it promotes questionable assumptions, including consumerism of art? In what way does it decrease or distract from nature, or sully nature with "self-display" of the artist? Would the world be better without this painting in it?

Oh dear; too late to edit. 

The painting I give a link to is NOT Kano or Rimpa. I left out the "not" in that sentence. Silly me.