Spirituality is something I’m not too familiar with but it is something that I would say is quite similar to the idea of a soul. There is no doubt that everyone has their own spirit/soul. Both a spirit and soul cannot be seen nor controlled, however an individual can do things in order to connect with it.

For example, Grey introduces the ideas of chakras in this unit’s reading. There are seven chakra’s going down the center of the  body and Grey states that these chakra’s are supposed to “mediate the energies of the auric bodies that surround and interpenetrate the physical body” (2001). Each chakra describes a different psychological worldview that goes from a material level to a spiritual level. The seven chakra, also known as the “crown chakra”, is the goal of yoga – the union with God (Grey 2001). This is the union of the highest spiritual source which means that an individual’s entire being is unified; which includes physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.

Another way that artist’s use spirituality is to see. In this unit’s reading, Grey also talks about Saint Bonaventure’s three eyes of knowing:

• the eye of flesh sees the “outer” realm of material objects
• the eye of reason sees symbolically to draw distinctions and make conceptual relationships
• the mystic eye of contemplation which is able to see luminous transcendental realms

Grey states that, “artists need to be able to see on each level in order to bring technical beauty, archetypal beauty, and spiritual beauty to their work” (2001). Artist may use these three eyes in order to build their artwork from a muse or evaluate and understand another artist’s artwork. This was very interesting and obviously the use of the three eyes of knowing is not exclusive to only artists. I believe that all viewers of art should utilize the three eyes of knowing in order to evaluate and understand works of art, just like artists do. Maybe if more people knew how to use the three eyes of knowing, then more people will be able to appreciate art in general. I feel as if art is a very complex subject. There are many artworks that people look at and just think “What is this? What was the artist thinking?” – they just don’t connect with the piece and don’t understand the underlying meaning that the artist was trying to convey to the viewer.

References:

Grey, A. (2001). Art as Spiritual Practice. The Mission of Art (1st ed., pp. 205-233). Boston & London: Shambhala.