Avocado: Symbol of Self-Growth and Identity - Essay Sample

Introduction

The avocado idea of the self alludes to the propensity of a person to establish their reality in society, which is their identified way of living (Silverman, 2017). Every person develops their methods of living that are identifiable in the community. The concept of avocado for self, therefore, alludes to a naturally grown fruit that has a seed in the middle. Besides, the fruit is green and has an oval shape. Due to its organic nature and the presence of a seed, the avocado can grow again even after it falls from the tree. The avocado for self-concept, therefore, expresses the natural ability of an organic product to continue its self-development without any external input hence redeveloping itself in the public eye. Besides, the concept infers to the capacity of a single seed to bring forth more fruits in the future. The ability of self is expressed, therefore, in the avocado's attempt to build itself to prosperity even after falling. Similarly, the avocado idea of self is similar to human behavior on earth. Humans want to build families where they can give birth to others like them and increase in number. Besides, the desire to develop in other areas of empowerment, such as education, self-presentation, among others, are essential methods of creating a brand in society. Similar to avocado, the nature of humanity is to desire growth and superiority in the future.

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Contrasting the Avocado Account With Artichoke Idea of the Self

The Avocado view of self-states that humans' inner self cannot be changed even after peeling the outer skin (Mitchell, 2015). In this case, the avocado view approaches the inner self as independent of life experiences. Therefore, humans remain the same in the inside, despite of the different life-changing situations that they have undergone. In most cases, the inner self is described as the soul of a man.

On the other hand, the Artichoke approach sees human beings similar to onions. In this view, human beings lack a core nature that defines them. Instead, humans can change their character based on their experiences. However, there exists a similarity between the two views of self: artichoke states that humans can withstand external pressure and sustain their character regardless of their current situations.

The Avocado Self and Art as Representation

According to Mitchell (2015), the concepts of artichoke and avocado appears in different genres of artistic work. The series "Power" excellently expresses the ideology of avocado. The series features Omari Hardwick as Saint Patrick, whose character asserts that of the avocado. In the series, people are sensitive to what the society perceives of then, and therefore a lot of emphases is placed on the outward look. One of the major themes in the series, therefore, is how people can fake their personality using external appearance. Since the first appearance in the film, St. Patrick takes on a clean outfit and appears to be a man of pleasant demeanor, unlike the other characters such as Egan and Starks. To the audience and the society, St. Patrick is an honorable person, sober, and determined as depicted by his outward look. Due to his outward appearance, St. Patrick can hide his involvement in drug trafficking, unlike the others. In this case, the avocado approach can be used to describe how the outward looks gave St. Patrick a different personality to the public, while in reality, he is a drug dealer just like the others.

In a case where the avocado approach would be used to judge personality in the Power series, then St. Patrick would be judged as a nice person. However, deep beyond the good physical appearances, lies his true nature. Just as different types of avocados will be of different outward appearances but still have seed within, such as the case with St. Patrick. Although the other characters in the series are judged outrightly as drug traffickers due to their outward appearance, they are as similar as St. Patrick, as they engage in drug trafficking and even murdering anyone standing on their way.

The Artichoke Self and Art as Transformation

The artichoke approach states that people have different layers and that the outward look cannot decide an individual's true nature. It is this ideology; therefore, that best describes the character of St. Patrick in the series "Power." The artichoke ideology of humans having layers as onions are applicable after the drug trafficking character is revealed, and St. Patrick is exposed as the most significant drug trafficker in the town. The approach, therefore, focuses on the use of material possessions such as wealth and clothes as a determinant of an individual's character. As described by Salmon (2012), relying on a tangible property is similar to viewing an onion as a single layer. Instead, the author states that human nature can be deceiving, and hence humans should be approached through the artichoke approach.

It can be argued that art is mimesis, which functions to redevelop the existing elements in society differently. Art as mimesis, recreates the universe by making it beautiful and improves existing objects to develop a fictional reality whose relationship with nature is non-mediated (Mitchell, 2015). To Aristotle, mimesis occurs in humans and nature and is decoded in humanity's creativity. Therefore, mimesis allows humans to understand the world as it is and recreates something else. On the other hand, Aristotle argues that the ability to connect nature and human creativity is one of the major distinguishing characteristics of mimesis. The center of artistic expression in humanity, therefore, is connected to nature by mimesis.

Additionally, mimesis is critical to the ultimate connection between nature and art. Mimesis takes over at the point where the individual decodes the piece of existing object that they would desire to recreate. Then, the artistic nature of an individual is then controlled by mimesis to recreate the object into an imaginary other. Mimesis, therefore, captures the human emotion and represents it in a way that the audience can relate and get psychologically attached to the art. As stated by Aristotle, art acts as a therapy as it brings out the imaginative ability of an artist to achieve a connection between nature and creativity.

Art and Philosophy

As described by Mitchell (2015), the role of philosophy is to examine the truth and set the rules. Besides, the author states that philosophy attempts to identify relationships or connections between the found facts and reality. Additionally, it examines the ideologies in existence to determine whether they are true or false. On the contrary, art is based on laws, facts, and procedures discovered through scientific research. Therefore, art contains the reviewed facts on a particular topic. In the recent past, however, philosophical concepts have been visualized into art, which has come under much scrutiny. Although existing literature such as Silverman (2017) describes of how philosophers have attempted to rescue art from being philosophized with the philosophical hypothesis, the trend has somewhat increased.

In art, the message is conveyed by evaluating the existing object and creativity. In particular, art relies on the individual's cognitive perception towards the object, which is expressed in different colors, words, images, or even physical forms such as wooden or metallic carvings. Therefore, art and philosophy are connected due to the use of reflective communication. Hence, humans can express their reflective inner feelings and thoughts in both art and philosophy. As described by Silverman (2017), both philosophy and art can express social, religious, and creative substance. Therefore, artistic works are derived from philosophical questions, while their expression is reliant on the artist's emotional connection.

In art, the exquisite aspect is based on the artistic connection to the truth rather than in philosophy, where expression of such facts is adamant to its purpose. Therefore, philosophy will tend to apply theories in an attempt to improve its factual framework and validity. Due to this approach, philosophy is actualized through meditation. The theoretical knowledge, however, is conceptualized by validating the criteria used in a particular event. Art, on the other hand, takes the ideologies and recreates them by attaching emotions and personal interpretation of the truth. Hence, the main of the art is to create a relatable understanding of the truth to the intended audience. Therefore, it is the engagement of the human brain that connects both art and philosophy.

Descartes' suggestion that certainty of articulation can only be assured by the input of logic and critical thinking is an agreeable concept. Based on Descartes, philosophy focuses on the presentation of facts, while critical thinking evaluates whether the facts are applicable in the real world. The applicability of the truth validates philosophical concepts to that particular situation. In this case, the truth or the conceptual theory must be proven by critical thinking. In philosophy, logic is not sufficient by itself; neither is critical thinking. Instead, the logic should be backed by critical thinking.

According to Keats, Schelling, Nietzsche, and Heidegger, art is the description of logic. Therefore, rationalism is not constant, as different artistic expressions are meant for different audiences. Besides, logic is personal. Thus, the various forms of expressions of a common fact are due to their own experiences or approaches to reality. However, some arts are able to personalize the truth better, such as music. For instance, artists can use voice intonation, emphasis, among others, to express their emotions than painters can. Besides, art can be used to make people listen and observe, hence making a difference. As art is based on truths, it is possible to make a difference in aspects such as love. However, art is limited by culture, and religious believes as attitudes might differ from one culture to another. However, art can depend on international elements such as color psychology as most colors are multicultural.

References

Mitchell, H. B. (2015). Roots of Wisdom: A Tapestry of Philosophical Traditions, 7th Ed. Cengage Learning.

Salmon, M. H. (2012). Introduction to Logic and Critical Thinking. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

Silverman, H. J. (2017). Postmodernism: Philosophy and the Arts. New York, NY: Routledge.