Science has a job to do, and art has a job to do. What are these jobs, and are they related, and if so, how? If science or art fails to do their job, what are the consequences for humanity? If science or art succeed admirably in their jobs, what will the consequences be... how will we know whether we are succeeding or failing? Should the average person know, or even care, or is this a job reserved for "intellectuals?" Is there meaning to our existence over and above that which we assign to it, or does our meaning reside solely in the actions we take? Do we each have a responsibility to 'us' as a group, or is it every man and woman for themselves? In this time of consilience, should we ask what art can learn from science, and vice versa, or are they mutually exclusive of one another?
These are just a few of the questions that interest me. A mission statement should consist of questions, not answers, and at the beginning, it is not proper to ask only one question, because, what if it is the wrong question? Then, even the right answer will do no good. And so I begin by asking as many questions as I can hold in my mind at one time, and throw them all up in the air, and see where they land, perhaps just one on fertile ground, where it will be able to put down roots, and grow.
I believe that just as science seeks truth (objective reality), art seeks honesty (subjective reality), and one without the other is not enough to assure the survival of our species. I believe that science is presently doing a better job of serving its purpose than art is, but it is a new millennium now, and perhaps time for humanity to realize that all of our technical progress cannot protect us from ourselves. I believe that truth without honesty is just a loaded gun in the hands of an emotionally immature people... us. I believe we can look to the future realizing that the answers we must find lie within us, as well as without. Of course, I may be wrong, and completely off base, that is yet to be discovered.
Now that this beginning has been made, I will find some answers to these questions before I am through. To think otherwise is naive.