I see creativity and spirituality as very closely related. Not that all spiritual people are creative or indeed that all creative people are spiritual (I can see many a drunken artist vomiting in horror at the thought). More I see the relationship as one of purpose. Both activities aspire to bring meaning into our lives. And, of course, through the ages art and religion have been deeply connected.
Art and spirituality, it seems to me, occupy the void created by human beings’ consciousness of their own mortality. They stand between us and the terrible darkness of non-existence. Our art, in its absolute non-utility, imitates the gods we increasingly fail to believe in.
Enabling and encouraging more people to be creative is to shatter the priestly control of the arts. Everyone has a place at both the spiritual and artistic alter. The pompous and arrogant would deny access. Others would deny themselves–in fear or ignorance. This is impoverishing. The spiritual or aesthetic expression of all souls enriches us all.
In the great sharing, our fear of the void becomes transformed into a wonderful beauty infused with unknowable meaning.
butchart, 4 months ago
Thank you for this eloquently worded journal. You have put into words what many of us feel. Plain and simple it should be our new credo. Thank you again…. you’ve made my day start out well….............................b
Tom Godfrey, 4 months ago
Brilliant! totally agree. Another gem Pilgrim
kathleen
,
4 months ago
a beautiful and quenching sentiment Sir… glad your writing some more! :-) hope all is well…
Ushna Sardar, 4 months ago
I gree!
Wendy Slee KMA, 4 months ago
how beautifully and powerfully written….
you have spoken such truth here….
Russell Holder, 4 months ago
Distancing ourselves from God, I can see how you would take up this position. To choose to see a connection with creativity and spirituality independent of God hardly gains us purpose, let alone meaning. As you have said, our “fear” transformed into “beauty” with “unknowable meaning.” Fear is just a lack of faith… and will stand in our way, sulking on the edge of “the terrible darkness of non-existence” between God and us. What gives us meaning is to give God the glory of our creativity, honoring Him… as it is a gift to man to enjoy, to understand the state of being human. I hope you’ll attempt to understand a viewpoint that differs, and doesn’t negate the passion for creativity we all share here at Red Bubble!
photos40, 4 months ago
To me the 2 are closely related in the respect that one cannot exist without the other. Because the Bible states….. Through God ALL things are possible. But to each his own opinion.
Julie Langford
,
4 months ago
Wow – great words Martin – you should add this as a written entry :)
Pilgrim
in reply to Russell Holder’s comment,
4 months ago
Russell
I absolutely delight in trying to understand the viewpoints of others. Many will see spirituality and creativity as much more directly link than I express (but sometimes feel) and many others will deny the connection. I think it is a great and wonderful conversation to have. For many aesthetics has become a new religion. And others would see the potential for religion without art. Exploring the connection between the two is a bountiful thing.
Jessica Tremp, 4 months ago
yup
Melinda Kerr, 4 months ago
It’s all about creation. God and man. That’s how we know we’re related :)
G. Merrick Jus..., 4 months ago
Pilgrim, I very much agree with you on all points, and I have always felt that color and inspiration, as well as faith and a hold on something magnificent beyond ourselves, are the warmth which allow otherwise cold, scrambling beings such as humans to exist. Along my way down these responses, I also came upon another anchor in the storm, divergent views. The difference in the way each one of us perceives things’ relation to one another, cross ethereal country, planet, system, and universe alike, is an inherent, intricate, indescribable web – a web which holds people above the darkness of abyss even when they fall to what would be thought absolute zero. When nothing, perhaps even faith nor the creative vision appear to you in an instance, and thus the hands which we normally grab go misty and untouchable, we can still, in a final freefall, rely on the cross-wires of separate sights to save us. Some may call this serendipity’s fallback, many a God’s hand, but it matters truly naught, as the more things it is seen as being, the stronger it grows. To exit metaphor back into the direct, this is one of the keys to a project such as the divine aesthetic – the join of people, not because they are the same in most ways, but because in their united difference, their unique applications upon this earth, they can feed the hungry world in all ways it cries for satiety. And thus, we have the ambrosia…
Pilgrim
in reply to G. Merrick Justice’s comment,
4 months ago
Gordon, this is one of the most insightful things I have read in a while. It is so easy to be afraid of difference but we are only so when we are over-protective of ego. When we move beyond this then difference becomes something to celebrate. And we recognize that our connectedness to the web of the universe can allow us to be comfortable with each other and delight in the elements of separation as well as the threads of sharing. Thank you.
Del Millar, 4 months ago
We are indeed enriched through expression of the creative soul,
we can embrace nature in its expansiveness, feel connected
in heightened appreciation of our planet and relationships
with people, animal, plant world, and develop our capacity for
great faith and hope. Our beliefs we may share or differ upon,
but free of ego we free ourselves to be tolerant and above all
love with all our heart and soul.
Love strengthens and brings peace, and to use our God given
individual gifts, is to enjoy and live fully our journey, share
creative unity, link us all over the world.
nickowen, 4 months ago
I see my own work as linking art both with spirituality and sexuality.
I think these things are deeply connected to great art
Lizspittall, 4 months ago
Great stuff and when we come to that knowing, magic happens!
Dawne Olson, 2 months ago
I couldn’t agree more!