Category: Unit 7

In my own personal opinion, spirituality takes on the role of captivating all internal motivators, and this set of qualities is unique to each individual. It is easy to associate spirituality with a specific religion or belief system, but I think straying away from this generalization is necessary in today’s world. Everyone has different beliefs and acts upon a different set of values, so having one definition of what makes up the spirit is not possible. Spirituality is what drives all humans to be the best they want to be. This is also unique to the individual and explains why people find pleasure and success in all different realms.

 

All humans have spirituality, but not all humans follow a set of religious beliefs, therefore spirituality must be different than religion. Additionally, I think that religion is something that must be taught and shared between people, but spirituality does not have to maintain these qualities. Rather, spirituality may be intrinsic and able to exist without requiring instruction. Likewise, spirituality is unique to every individual, whereas a religion is a shared set of common beliefs. That is not to say that two spiritualties cannot closely resemble one another, though.

 

Personally, I find that creativity and imagination go hand-in-hand. Creativity is taking what already exists, whether it is an abstract idea, a physical object, or a combination of the two, and reinventing it or seeing something new within it. People possess and practice different levels and intensities of creativity, but I do believe that everyone possesses some bit of creativity. In addition, people are also capable of practicing creativity in an infinite number of ways – some may choose the more traditional methods of painting or drawing, whereas others many exemplify their creative sides via dance or song.

 

As a science major, I find it difficult not to define the source of creativity as something other than a fine-tuned network of neuronal pathways within the brain. I think that creativity is a balance between nature and nurture, in terms of development, and I think this explains why people exhibit different creative capabilities. Creativity comes from within – it is an intrinsic trait – but extrinsic factors are able to influence and cultivate it. I do think that creativity comes from the brain but is heavily dependent on experiences involving the senses.

Upon first skimming the content for this week’s assignments, I assumed that the topic of “Creative Spirituality” was going to link art and religion, but while diving into the content, I realized that it was not so much related to religion. This was my first eye-opening experience for this week. After reading Grey’s article, I returned to a statement made in one of the first pages that seemed to hold great depth and it reads the following: “In order to see the object deeply, the viewer must first distinguish it from the field of many material objects, then, fixing the attention on that one thing, the viewer senses its rhythms and harmonies both formally and conceptually, leading to complex and subtle sensations of pleasure mixed with awe as the unique spiritual radiance of the art and its subject are appreciated” (p. 74). Although lengthy in words, I found this conglomeration of ideas to envelope this subject of “creative spirituality.” Earlier in the excerpt, Grey offers a quote from Oscar Wilde, commenting “One does not see anything until one sees its beauty” (p. 71). Immediately, I found myself asking, well what if it is not a beautiful object? Grey went on to answer my question by negotiating a category of “superficial” seeing, which is only significant in the realm of survival.

I also found it interesting that Grey, too, touched on the idea that art reveals an aesthetic reaction, or pleasure, when being viewed (p. 73). In addition, she often returns to the senses when describing an aesthetic reaction, like when she remarks on the three eyes of knowing as described by Saint Bonaventure. In connection to this, Ann Hamilton’s explanations of her aesthetic experiences combined the senses of the mouth with those of the eye. She placed a small camera into her mouth that would record the world around her whenever her lips were open. This allowed for an alternate form of “seeing” the beauty in objects. She noted that this experience made her feel very vulnerable, but like she often strives for, these moments allowed her to make visible what was not visible in an “experienceable way” (Sollins et. al, 2003).

 

Grey, A. (2001). Art as Spiritual Practice. The Mission of Art; 1^st Edition. Boston & London: Shambhala.

Sollins, S., Dowling, S., tatge, C., Shaffer, D., Ortega, E.L.M., Atlas, C., Anderson, L., PBS Home Video. (2003). Art 21: Art in the twenty-first century. United States: Art21, Inc.