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ABOUT
Exploring
Spirituality in Art is a more or
less monthly discussion (blog) created
by James Bennett (Bennecelli) about
art which has a spiritual message. This
includes all forms of art: painting,
sculpture, poetry, drama, music, dance,
crafts, etc.
James
Bennett, BFA, MFA, has worked with sacred
texts extensively and has created a suite of
77 images based on the Hebrew Bible (the
Tanakh), and 24 images from the Christian
New Testament. He is an award-winning artist
and teacher and has written numerous how-to
art books including Calligraphy For
Dummies as well as several works
of fiction. His current artwork, "Luminous
Streams," brings together elements of
nature, music, and dance and is spiritual in
content. His abstract paintings are noted
for their beautiful colors and value in
meditation. His website is bennecelli.com
Participate
in the conversation
Copyright, James Bennett, 2022
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November
12, 2022 What Is Spirituality? Part
1
One of
the clearest, most cogent descriptions of
spirituality that I have found was written
by Dr. Maya Spencer, PhD, professor at the
Royal College of Psychiatrists in Great
Britain. I'd like to quote sections from
her monograph and add my comments.
She begins with the following statement:
"Spirituality
involves the recognition of a feeling
or sense or belief that there is
something greater than myself,
something more to being human than
sensory experience, and that the
greater whole of which we are part is
cosmic or divine in nature."
My reaction is positive from the beginning
where she states that spirituality is
related to "a feeling or sense or belief."
I like the fact that she is leaving the
door open for the individual to define the
terms. It is clear to me that she
understands the spiritual experience and
the difficulty in describing it in words.
(That's the reason I use art!)
She continues by telling us that she
believes spirituality involves the
recognition "that
there is something greater than
myself, something more to being human
than sensory experience."
Obviously she is writing about her
personal experience which is in keeping
with the subtitle of her monograph, A
personal Exploration.
I am also impressed that she lets us know
right from start that this experience is
something that is beyond the realm of the
five senses. That has been my experience,
but it causes me to wonder if she will
deal with the problem of how the spiritual
experience defies scientific validation --
it cannot be proved or disproved. As we
all know, many experts in the field of
psychology contend that this experience is
just a fabrication of the imagination. I
believe that is a problem that needs to be
addressed. I'm interested in learning her
thoughts on the subject.
She continues, "Spirituality
means knowing that our lives have
significance in a context beyond a
mundane everyday existence at the level
of biological needs that drive
selfishness and aggression. It means
knowing that we are a significant part
of a purposeful unfolding of Life in our
universe."
This is a powerful statement. It connects
the spiritual sense with all of life in
the entire universe! It also says that
this sense is "knowing" -- not just
suspected or sensing, but actually
knowing. She uses that word twice!
The third paragraph says: "Spirituality involves
exploring certain universal themes –
love, compassion, altruism, life after
death, wisdom, and truth, with the
knowledge that some people such as
saints or enlightened individuals have
achieved and manifested higher levels of
development than the ordinary person.
Aspiring to manifest the attributes of
such inspirational examples often
becomes an important part of the journey
through life for spiritually inclined
people."
Compelling statements. On the one hand, I
know that I have had deep spiritual
experiences, and I want to dive more
deeply into spirituality, however, I do
not feel that I qualify as a saint or a
uniquely enlightened individual. I am
certainly a spiritually inclined person,
and I do aspire to manifest the
attributes, but I don't see myself as
being more advanced along this path than
others.
I suppose we each have to find our own way
while at the same time encouraging one
another.
If you'd like to read her entire
monograph, here is the link: https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/docs/default-source/members/sigs/spirituality-spsig/what-is-spirituality-maya-spencer-x.pdf?sfvrsn=f28df052_2
I'd like to continue looking at Dr.
Spencer's piece next time.
October
20, 2022 Spirituality
- Creativity - Imagination
According
to that great resource of knowledge,
Wikipedia, the term “spiritual experience”
(or “religious” or “mystical experience”) is
a concept that originated in the 19th
century and was popularized by the American
philosopher, William James. James’s famous
book, The Varieties of Religious
Experience, is considered to be
the classic work in the field.
These experiences can be powerfully moving
and are often claimed to be personal
encounters with God or gods, or real contact
with higher-order realities of which humans
are not ordinarily aware. However, it is
very difficult, if not impossible, to
describe these experiences. They are
entirely visceral and beyond verbal
description and frequently linked to
creativity, invention, and artistic
inspiration.
William James identified four
characteristics of these experiences. They
are:
Transient – the experience is
temporary; the individual soon returns to a
"normal" frame of mind. Feels outside normal
perception of space and time.
Ineffable – the experience cannot be
adequately put into words.
Noetic – the individual feels that he
or she has learned something valuable from
the experience. Feels to have gained
knowledge that is normally hidden from human
understanding.
Passive – the experience happens to
the individual, largely without conscious
control. Although there are activities, such
as meditation (see below), that can make
religious experience more likely, it is not
something that can be turned on and off at
will.
It is entirely appropriate that artists
should be producing work that is spiritually
inspired. After all, it seems entirely clear
to me that imagination, creativity, and
spirituality are somehow inextricably linked
together. Don’t you agree?
At least, that seems to be the conclusion of
the psychologists who have studied these
phenomena. It appears that when you find
evidence of one, you’ll find the other two
are present as well. And, contrary-wise,
where one attribute is somehow suppressed,
all three are suppressed.
I use the word “suppressed” because I
believe everyone possesses imagination,
creativity, and spirituality. The trouble is
there are many instances where people have
difficulty expressing these attributes
because something in their experience
(discouragement, ridicule, etc.) has caused
them to suppress these natural abilities.
This causes me to wonder if there are
influences at work in our culture today that
suppress these attributes -- especially
among the young people.
Christine Valters Paintner, Ph.D.,
co-founder of The Abbey of the Arts,
observed that “We live in a time when our
capacity for imagining is being thwarted by
television programs and video games that
encourage us to tune out of life and become
passive consumers rather than active
imaginers. We have become paralyzed by our
own busyness. Everything about our culture
encourages us to keep busy. We do not slow
down enough to really contemplate things and
listen to the ways we are being drawn to
live in response. The news gives us
30-second sound-bites that render us feeling
helpless, rather than empowering us to act.
Yet we live in a time desperately hungry for
new ideas and visions, new possibilities in
a world gone awry with war and ecological
destruction.”
I think that spirituality is present in all
works of true, creative art. I believe that
artists of all types working in various
media, are the ones who can best show the
way to a better and fuller awareness of our
existence and role within this wonderful,
multi-dimenisional ecosystem.
Let me know what you think.
October 17, 2022 Launching
Our Expedition
A few days ago, I wrote the
following statement on my facebook, What’s
on your mind, Jim? feed. Within a
couple days, it had received over a dozen
likes and generated a series of very
thought-provoking comments.
“With the focus on
materialism in our society for the past
hundred years or more, spirituality in
art has largely been shunned. However,
recently there seems to be something of
a resurgence in this area. I have
noticed increasing examples of abstract
art with a spiritual message. I see
spiritual elements not only in the
visual arts but also in music and dance.
In fact, my own art has taken a definite
turn toward more spiritual, more
meditative content. I think this is a
good thing, but I am curious to know how
others feel about this. I even wonder if
this is a subject that interests others
as much as it does me.”
Everyone who commented expressed a genuine
interest in encouraging spirituality in
art.
I thought that the conversation was worth
continuing. And so, this blog was born.
To begin, I believe that two questions
should be answered: What exactly is the
purpose and scope of this blog? And, what
are my credentials for presenting it?
The Purpose and Scope
I hope that the title, “Exploring
Spirituality in Art” is a pretty good
general description of what we are all
about. However, I suspect that some
further clarification would be
appropriate.
For one, I prefer that we stick to the
topic of spirituality as it pertains to
art, without getting sidetracked into talk
about organized religions. Indeed,
spirituality and religion, although
related, are two distinctly different
things.
My interest is art which communicates on a
viceral level, evoking a purely spiritual
experience which goes beyond words. People
describe this experience as feeling the
presence of an eternal oneness with all
that is.
For me, non-representational art does this
most effectively. For example, I
experience a sense of spirituality in the
sculpture of Isamu Noguchi that is quite
powerful. However, please don’t assume
that I only want to consider abstract art.
I want to be open to looking at all genres
regardless of our personal preferences.
In terms of scope, I would like to take a
broad view of the arts, encompassing
poetry, music, dance, and drama as well as
the visual arts. I don’t want to limit
this blog to just one area; I think
spirituality in art is too important a
subject to put limits on it. In fact, I’m
hoping that artists from diverse areas
will contribute to this discussion by
telling us about their work.
My Credentials
I feel thoroughly qualified to lead this
discussion. I not only have a Bachelor’s
and a Master’s degree in Fine Arts and
have been a working artist/teacher all my
adult life, but I have been
interested in the spiritual side of
reality since I was a child. I have
explored in depth a variety of spiritual
practices from the occult to Buddhism to
Judaism and Christianity. I am entirely
familiar with Anthroposophy and Theosophy,
having taught for two years in a Waldorf
school. I have created over 100 works
based on the Hebrew Bible and the
Christian New Testament. I have attended
charismatic Christian churches and have
witnessed speaking in tongues,
prophecy, and other “works of the
Spirit.” I have experienced explainable,
miraculous occurances throughout my life.
I have also been a prolific writer, having
written over twenty books, as well as
creator of several websites.
I believe that the spiritual is a vitally
important facet of reality – perhaps the
most important area for us at this time
when our thinking has been shaped so much
by science and by the allure of
materialism. I believe that the arts are
the best means for exploring, learning
about, and communicating this important
part of reality.
I believe that all religions are evidence
of mankind’s spiritual searching, and they
all contain truths which lead us to
understand that we are all one. They
falter when they engage in dividing people
into separate groups.
My own paintings, having been inspired
through a dream and created in a
meditative state, have a strong spiritual
message.
Please stay in touch – let me know your
thoughts. I look forward to a very lively
discussion.
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