We are so lucky to have art. A short word coming directly from the Latin. It is a word "which summarizes a quality of communication" according to philosopher L.Ron Hubbard. It is how we, as persons, approach aesthetics, the study of beauty. We order our environment to be pleasing to us. It is intentional. We design our environment to bring us pleasure. The skills of craft that lift the fine arts to a different level of communication, to that particular quality of art, take study and practice in application. If you are a dancer, for instance, you spend years creating your body into an instrument, as well as learning how to play it. This is done while learning the less concrete parts of the art form that then lead to expression and performance that will move an audience. Most dance still has the aspect of happening in consecutive moments and then only existing as the experience shared.

All endeavors in life require some degree of competence. Even, or maybe especially, doing the dishes (or so it seemed to me at four while learning to wash my Grandmother's antique French porcelain). And when someone is painting my house, I want a higher level of competence than just slopping some paint on the walls. Along with even, streak free application, there needs to be some understanding of color and how it is affected by light, along with an understanding of all the different "neutral" colors, and how they interrelate, what will bring more light, what will make a space seem larger or more cozy. Someone who can do a fine job of this is worth a premium pay. Almost every person I know has had a moment of walking into a room and feeling better for no reason other than the competence of a basic level of applied aesthetics. According to L. Ron Hubbard in The Way To Happiness, "The true 'gift of heaven' may have been the potential to be competent." and he notes, "The test of true competence is the end result." www.thewaytohappiness.com @waytohappinesstampa
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