Rupert Spira, twenty first century
mystic and teacher of nonduality, sees the “mystic’s job is to explore the
nature of reality, but more is required of the artist. He or she has to
simultaneously make manifest the ongoing results of this enquiry in form. So
the role of the artist is to provide a way that this presence can be approached
and experienced through the senses. The artist has to re-present our world of conceptualised
objects, separated and extended in space and time, as it really is. He has to
reinterpret our model of reality in line with direct experience and to convey
this ‘taste of eternity’. We could call this twofold activity contemplation and
creativity. Contemplation is the passive aspect; creativity is the dynamic
aspect. These are two inseparable aspects of consciousness.”
The
fourteenth century German mystic, Meister Eckhart,
believed that “God dwells within you - as you,” or “I can only be fully known
by becoming God.” Eckhart wrote
prolifically on the subject and was charged but never convicted of heresy for
his writings. His direct identification
with the divine can also be seen in the works of Shankara, James, Blake, Rumi and many great
saints and sages of the wisdom traditions.
Author Aldous Huxley
believed that most enlightened
beings also practice this philosophy. Within the God space in us peace can be
found, and here, mystical and aesthetic experiences and transformational events
can unfold.
The
nineteenth century artist and philosopher, Benedetto
Croce, believed this peaceful God space to be the spirit within us from
which we draw our inspiration. He tells
us that the externalization of intuition is secondary to its appearance in the
consciousness of the artist, and that the expression of intuition is meaningful
apart from the projection or form it takes in a work of art. With art as the embodiment of spirit through
intuition, we symbolize feelings, Nature, soul, God.
The role
of the artist, then, is to bring the other, or viewer, to that place in
consciousness through the form presented – into Nature, soul, feelings, God,
where we can be, ourselves, inspired, and feel ourselves a complete microcosm
of life’s macrocosm. In this way, we
connect with and become our own aesthetic holon, nesting with all others in
unity consciousness.
What do
YOU think?
Artwork by Ron Isom Many thanks.
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