I was thinking about what Glenn Gould said about the purpose of art when walking around the sturdy structure of the Westbrook Music Building in a sunny afternoon. The Westbrook Music Building, home to the School of Music and Dance of the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, seemed to hum a quiet consonant interval to counterpoint sunshiny May afternoon’s slow breezing overtones. I began to chant a silent note to harmonize with the essence of this musical building and to reflect on the state of wonder and serenity.

The purpose of art is not the release of a momentary ejection of adrenaline but rather the gradual, lifelong construction of a state of wonder and serenity.