And so I realized that, if only I took the tiniest bit of care, I could surely observe the same acts of creativity in any other human community and society around the world, including my own. Yet another revelation, to me, was the pervasiveness with which this creativity occurred among the Penan and, by extension, occurs among all other human communities. However, the differences were distinctions in degree rather than in kind. Everybody participated in the process of creating order, beauty, and meaning out of a world that otherwise would be chaotic, and of casting a web of meaning that linked together human beings who would otherwise be forlorn castaways in the vast green ocean of the tropical rain forest. It is the creative impulse on which culture itself and society are based.
Art is a foundation stone of humanity.
Without it, there is no society and no civilization. In 1941, as London was reeling form the attacks of the German Blitz, Churchill submitted an annual budget to the government that contained significant funding for the arts. It caused some debate. Art and the arts are not a frill, they are not an option, they are not a decorative elaboration we can dispense with in times of trouble. On the contrary, it is precisely in times of distress that we need the arts all the more, because they keep our humanity, our souls alive while we fight for survival as individuals and communities.