Life is mostly a flow of necessities; in developing consciousness, human beings were able to separate themselves from all other animals; they were able to consider their actions, and to step outside of their instinctual programming. They were able to stop and savour experience. In short, consciousness allows us to enjoy being alive.
Like film, music, literature, comedy, sport, and countless other unnecessary activities, art is a way of experiencing and enjoying the world. We love these things because they allow us to step outside the flow of the everyday, and to stop and look around. It is all too easy to miss life, and to forget that we only live once. In allowing us to think about ideas art is, at its simplest, just another way of reminding us that we are alive.
