I have been listening to SpongeBob SquarePants tonight while drawing and have been getting a kick out of it. Right now the imagination episode is on. It’s good and silly, but there is a good lesson in this one. Imagination can take a box and turn it into new reality, a new world. There is something to that idea. I can remember being a kid and really enjoying a big box, often more than expensive toys. And there is a principle in this that connects us to Art.
Art takes imagination to make something more than what it is. Art can turn an empty box into a spiritual artifact. Imagination can take an otherwise boring and bland item and make it riveting. We don’t need fancy tech or distractions, right there in an empty box there is so much we can discover.
SpongeBob can be silly, but it has some relevant morals. Being entertained by simple things may be seen as a sign of simplemindedness, but I think it is mindfulness. It is an ability to connect with the joy of life no matter what we have. Not a bad lesson to be found in a cartoon…