Sarah Nuber-Ong Text-2

In reading the Ong text one example of an oral culture that experiences art through a process is the Navajo Indian culture. Many visual patterns exist in Native American art, architecture, prayer, stories and ritual processes (Gill 24). In Native American carving, the carver sculpts the material to release the form that already exists in the material, rather than sculpting it to his own ideas. In doing this, the act of carving is art that is experience through a process rather than just an object. Ong states that in order to recall memorable thoughts without any knowledge of writing one must do their thinking in mnemonic patterns, and this makes it easier to recall thoughts orally. Ong states,

“Your thoughts must come into being in heavily rhythmic, balanced patterns, in repetitions or antitheses, in alliterations and assonances, in epithetic and other formulary expressions, in standard thematic settings, in proverbs which are constantly heard by everyone so that they come to mind readily and which themselves are patterned for retention and ready recall, or in other mnemonic forms”(p. 32).

The whole process of arranging thoughts into patterns is art that is experienced through a process, if the words were just written down they would not have as much meaning as they do when arranged rhythmically.