What makes the artist a spiritual creature?
The truly inspired artist is more than a person who has acquired technical skill. The gifted painter, musician, poet, sculptor, or other creative person may become a vehicle through which a spiritual idea takes physical form. The artist may never achieve fame or recognition, but for the sincere artist the metaphysical process remains much the same.
The process begins with a vision, or an apprehension of the plan. An idea enters consciousness with unusual force and becomes something the artist feels compelled to express. It may arrive as an image, an impression, a feeling, a sound, or an overwhelming idea. Whatever its form, the artist recognizes something not yet manifested.
It becomes the ideal.
The artist cannot convey this ideal unless there is sufficient ability to give it form. Without developed skill, the vision may remain only an idea in the mind. Technique is therefore necessary, but technique alone does not create inspiration. It provides the means through which the inspiration can descend into form.
Once the idea is apprehended, the artist enters into a deep concentration upon it. There is a withdrawal into the stillness of self. Too much chatter, distraction, or interruption makes it difficult to gather the inner resources necessary to create something of significance.
The artist must become one with the ideal.
This concentration is similar to meditation, although the artist may never call it meditation. Anyone completely focused upon a creative plan experiences something of this condition. Attention becomes so absorbed in the work that ordinary awareness of self begins to disappear.
The ego is no longer the important consideration.
The work becomes important.
The artist becomes receptive to that which is seeking expression through the work of art.
The idea must then move from the mental level into the emotional nature. An artist is usually deeply connected emotionally with what is to be created. Emotion supplies the drive, movement, and intensity needed to carry the idea toward manifestation. The artist does not merely think about the work; they desire to bring it into existence.
Finally, the idea reaches the physical plane.
The painter begins to paint. The sculptor works the stone or clay. The composer gives sound to the musical impression. The writer searches for the words. What began as something intangible is gradually brought into material form.
This is the creative process: the descent of an idea from an unseen source through the mind and emotions until it can be manifested physically.
When the work is completed, the artist usually wishes to share it. Art is communication. Something perceived inwardly by one individual is offered outwardly so that another person may see, hear, feel, or respond to it.
In this way, the artist becomes not only a vehicle but also a messenger.
The artist receives an impression, translates it through individual consciousness and skill, and brings it into a form that can be shared with others. The message may be beauty, harmony, conflict, sorrow, joy, truth, or some glimpse of an ideal that cannot easily be expressed in ordinary language.
For the spiritually directed artist, this sharing becomes a form of service.
The life of the creative artist therefore resembles other aspects of spiritual practice. In meditation, the source is contacted; through inspiration, an idea flows; through concentration, it is held steadily; through emotion, it receives the impulse toward manifestation; and through physical skill, it is finally given form.
The artist serves as the intermediary between the unseen idea and its visible expression.
For a moment, consider your own creative experiences. What has it been like to write music, compose a poem, create a painting or sculpture, design something, or bring into existence an idea that previously existed only within your mind?
Was there a point when you became so absorbed that you lost awareness of yourself?
Was the work, for that moment, more important than the person creating it?
Perhaps it is at such moments that the artist most clearly becomes a spiritual vehicle—the personality withdraws, the ideal takes precedence, and something from the inner life is permitted to enter the world through creative expression.
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