“The soul and the core of the great art, or a great culture, must be the ultimate concern,” said Christian playwright Jiang Wenlai in a speech about the appreciation of European classical music.
“Ultimate concern is a philosophical term,” said Jiang who calls himself the “ floor playwright” as he is living in a tiny room during his playwriting.
"Just like Socrates said, ‘The unexamined life is not worth living. We have to make sure that we have a clear understanding about ‘why should we live in this world’, ‘why the world is like this', ‘why should I keep living’, and ‘what’s the point of my life’. After we figure out these questions, we can find the courage to carry on our life,” added the folk playwright living in Shanghai.
He also mentioned that if art and culture are lacking ultimate concern, people, the objects of art and culture, will not be nourished. And that’s how various kinds of mental illnesses appear.
Nowadays, more and more kids are diagnosed with mental illnesses. For example, Xu Kaiwen, deputy director of Peking University Mental Health Education and Counseling Center said, “40% of freshmen of Peking University think that life is meaningless.” He pointed out that the defects of values lead to psychological disorders of some college students, which is called “hollow hearts”.
“These students have a good life, but they just feel depressed and painful. Some of them even want to die.” Jiang also stated that a psychology teacher in a college of Shanghai once told him that the mental condition of students wass serious now. Some students come from rich families who live a comfortable life, but they just keep saying that their hearts are hollow.
Jiang feels painful when he sees this. He finds out that the present popular culture lacks attention for ultimate concern. That’s why adults and their kids are easily addicted to nonnutritive information, but their souls are always empty. Therefore, he suggests that all adults and kids could try to appreciate the elegance and beauty of classical music.
Jiang urged that the greatness of European classical music was that it brought information about the ultimate concern.
He said that the traditional culture of China has always regarded death as taboo. The Chinese would stay as far away as they could when they saw tombs in the countryside. While conversely, European classical music is full of songs like requiem and funeral march, which could comfort people’s hearts.
Jiang's representative works are four large-scale dramas: ‘Beethoven in China’, a six-scene musical drama, has been popular in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Beijing, and performed many times in the past 20 years; ‘Shakespeare in Jiaxing’, a six-scene modern drama, is a historical and ideological drama for intellectuals; ‘The Christmas Eve of Yandang Mountai’”, a six-scene church epic, was once performed in a Beijing Church as a tribute to commemorate Robert Morrison’s coming to China 200 years ago; and his latest work, “Lanlin Easter”, a six-scene drama.
-Translated by Nicolas Cao
“伟大的艺术、伟大的文化——它的灵魂、它的核心一定是终极关怀。”在最近的一次分享中，自称是“打地铺的剧作家”的姜原来再次分享入如何赏析欧洲古典音乐时，就艺术和文化如此评论说。
“终极关怀是一个哲学词汇。”姜原来介绍说，“就像苏格拉底说的，未经审查的人生没有价值。你必须对‘为什么要我们要活到这个世界？’、‘这个世界为什么是这样的？’、‘我为什么要活下去？’、‘我活下去的价值意义是什么？’都有一个清晰的了解。有了这样的了解，我们才能够有勇气活下去。”
他谈到，当艺术和文化缺少这样的终极关怀时，艺术和文化的对象——人很难得到滋养，很容易出现各种心理疾病。
姜老师提到，在当今社会中，孩子们的心理健康出现越来越多的问题。比如，北京大学心理健康教育与咨询中心副主任徐凯文甚至提到：“北大四成新生认为活着没有意义”，并指出价值观缺陷导致部分大学生心理障碍，并称之为“空心病”。
“很多孩子们明明过得很好，但是却是忧郁的、痛苦的，甚至有是选择死亡。” 姜老师提到自己认识的某位上海高校心理学老师曾对他提到，现在孩子们的心理问题很严峻，有的学生家境非常优越，什么都不缺，但是却常说自己的心是空的。
他看到的时候觉得很心痛，也感受到当下过于世俗的文化失去了对终极问题的关切，所以导致我们和下一代很容易沉迷中各种没有营养的纷繁信息洪流中，灵魂却很难得到滋养。因此，他常常感受到，无论是成年人，还是少年人——可以说男女老少，都可以亲近古典音乐，近距离感受到它的典雅和美好。
姜老师见证说，欧洲古典音乐的的伟大之处在于，它带来了终极关怀的信息。
对此，姜老师说我们身边的不少传统文化是最回避死亡问题的，常常看到不少国人走到乡村若看到坟头，一定会躲得远远的。
而欧洲古典音乐中却有着大量的安魂曲、葬礼进行曲等音乐可以作为安慰人的宝贵资源。
姜原来分享欧洲古典音乐赏析：伟大的艺术一定要有终极关怀的理念
“The soul and the core of the great art, or a great culture, must be the ultimate concern,” said Christian playwright Jiang Wenlai in a speech about the appreciation of European classical music.
“Ultimate concern is a philosophical term,” said Jiang who calls himself the “ floor playwright” as he is living in a tiny room during his playwriting.
"Just like Socrates said, ‘The unexamined life is not worth living. We have to make sure that we have a clear understanding about ‘why should we live in this world’, ‘why the world is like this', ‘why should I keep living’, and ‘what’s the point of my life’. After we figure out these questions, we can find the courage to carry on our life,” added the folk playwright living in Shanghai.
He also mentioned that if art and culture are lacking ultimate concern, people, the objects of art and culture, will not be nourished. And that’s how various kinds of mental illnesses appear.
Nowadays, more and more kids are diagnosed with mental illnesses. For example, Xu Kaiwen, deputy director of Peking University Mental Health Education and Counseling Center said, “40% of freshmen of Peking University think that life is meaningless.” He pointed out that the defects of values lead to psychological disorders of some college students, which is called “hollow hearts”.
“These students have a good life, but they just feel depressed and painful. Some of them even want to die.” Jiang also stated that a psychology teacher in a college of Shanghai once told him that the mental condition of students wass serious now. Some students come from rich families who live a comfortable life, but they just keep saying that their hearts are hollow.
Jiang feels painful when he sees this. He finds out that the present popular culture lacks attention for ultimate concern. That’s why adults and their kids are easily addicted to nonnutritive information, but their souls are always empty. Therefore, he suggests that all adults and kids could try to appreciate the elegance and beauty of classical music.
Jiang urged that the greatness of European classical music was that it brought information about the ultimate concern.
He said that the traditional culture of China has always regarded death as taboo. The Chinese would stay as far away as they could when they saw tombs in the countryside. While conversely, European classical music is full of songs like requiem and funeral march, which could comfort people’s hearts.
Jiang's representative works are four large-scale dramas: ‘Beethoven in China’, a six-scene musical drama, has been popular in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Beijing, and performed many times in the past 20 years; ‘Shakespeare in Jiaxing’, a six-scene modern drama, is a historical and ideological drama for intellectuals; ‘The Christmas Eve of Yandang Mountai’”, a six-scene church epic, was once performed in a Beijing Church as a tribute to commemorate Robert Morrison’s coming to China 200 years ago; and his latest work, “Lanlin Easter”, a six-scene drama.
-Translated by Nicolas Cao
Christian Playwright Jiang Yuanlai: The Great Art Must Be about Ultimate Concern
