I partially owe my sanity to sitcoms. To sappy music, to pop art, to New York Times columns, to romantic comedies. Each of these artistic forms act as alternative universes, as life consultants, as stress relievers and pain soothers. If there’s ever something troubling me, I can sit down and watch “30 Rock” or laugh out loud to my favorite comedian.

It’s important to distinguish between using art–yes, I would say the show “How I Met Your Mother” is art–as an emotional crutch and using art as a strict identification of one’s self through the bands one likes, the movies one watches, the books one reads, etc. The former serves as a therapeutic consultation, the latter as a method of strict self-identification based on things that you like, not entirely based on who you are.

However, not only do these forms of art serve as stress relievers, but also as inpsirers, molders and transformers.

This issue’s column isn’t a way to tell you all of the bands that I like and how “hipster” I am, but to explore the importance of art as a source of inspiration, of insight and of advice. It doesn’t matter if your favorite band is Creed, that you love the “Saw” series or that you’ve read every “Twilight” book. What’s important is that those pieces of art serve as guidance that provoke thoughts and help you see your world from a different perspective.

And that’s one of the most valuable traits of art: the idea that each creation can mold a new perspective, a new outlook. The power that a book holds is incredible in that it can inspire you to be a better person and to encourage change and self-reflection. Movies, music, paintings and other artistic expressions all wield the same power, the power that can change lives, inspire brilliant minds and envelop a culture.

How would we see the world if there were no Picasso, no Raphael, no Van Gogh? Would our imaginations and eye for detail suffer? Would we be weary in using abstract thought? How about if there were no Beatles, no Miles Davis, no Justin Bieber? Would the idea of popular music be set back decades? Would we be less inventive, innovative and daring? The fact that three incredibly different artists can all inspire millions of people and cause them to think differently is an incredibly cool thing.

I know I did just put the Beatles, Miles Davis, the JBiebs in the same sentence, but that right there is the epitome of artistic power: it allows for relation to every single person, be it an avid jazz fan or a 13-year-old girl. I don’t know if I can tell you the number of people that have told me how Bieber’s near-$80 million-grossing movie “Justin Bieber: Never Say Never” changed their outlook on life. To see a seemingly average and talented kid make it “big” was pretty inspiring to them.

The event of seeing Bieber’s movie is no less pertinent or valuable than me being blown away by the band Someone Still Love You Boris Yeltsin in downtown Lawrence, in a general sense. In fact, we should honestly all be constantly in a state of awe, marvel and surprise at the wonder that art has on people. Art saves lives. Art creates lives. Art thrives and art dies, but it all affects someone. Or millions of people.

When I started recording songs, I would post them online with the thought that if just one person liked them, that I would be making a difference, that I would be helping, inspiring, entertaining someone. And that to me was more than enough, because the idea that I reached out to someone through a medium I love and somehow affected them was beyond cool.

Possibly the most relevant saying regarding this column is a lyric from Wilco’s song, “What Light.” I encourage you all to go listen to this song–it’s universal message really is beautiful–but more importantly, I invite you to look at art with a new perspective, a knowledge that art is a universal form of communication or inpsiration.

Whether sowing the seeds of inspiration or cultivating a mind, art is one of the most poignant, universal and affecting things in the world. So, I will finish this column with one of my favorite lyrics, one that I encourage you to consider deeply and let it sink in:

“And if the whole world’s singing your songs/ And all of your paintings have been hung/ Just remember what was yours/ Is everyone’s from now on.”