After I read the title, Only the Lover Sings: Art and Contemplation, I ordered the book immediately.
Josep Pieper was a German Catholic philosopher whose work has made a resurgence as of late, particularly with insights such as the following regarding the decline in our ability to see:
Man’s ability to see is in decline.
Searching for the reasons, we could point to various things: modern man's restlessness and stress … or his total absorption and enslavement by practical goals and purposes. Yet one reason must not be overlooked either: the average person of our time loses the ability to see because there is too much to see!
There does exist something like "visual noise", which just like the acoustical counterpart, makes clear perception impossible. What, then, may be proposed; what can be done? [Pieper proposes two steps, first abstain, then create]:
[Abstain]: We already mentioned simple abstention, a regimen of fasting and abstinence, by which we would try to keep the visual noise of daily inanities at a distance. Such an approach seems to me indeed an indispensable first step but, all the same, no more than the removal, say, of a roadblock.
[Create]: A better and more immediately effective remedy is this: to be active oneself in artistic creation, producing shapes and forms for the eye to see.
Nobody has to observe and study the visible mystery of a human face more than the one who sets out to sculpt it in a tangible medium. And this holds true not only for a manually formed image. The verbal "image" as well can thrive only when it springs from a higher level of visual perception. We sense the intensity of observation required simply to say, "The girl's eyes were gleaming like wet currants'" (Tolstoy).
Before you can express anything in tangible form, you first need eyes to see. The mere attempt, therefore, to create an artistic form compels the artist to take a fresh look at the visible reality; it requires authentic and personal observation. Long before a creation is completed, the artist has gained for himself another and more intimate achievement: a deeper and more receptive vision, a more intense awareness, a sharper and more discerning understanding, a more patient openness for all things quiet and inconspicuous, an eye for things previously overlooked. In short: the artist will be able to perceive with new eyes the abundant wealth of all visible reality, and, thus challenged, additionally acquires the inner capacity to absorb into his mind such an exceedingly rich harvest. The capacity to see increases."
— Josef Pieper, Only the Lover Sings