Liberation Through Artisitc Expression

The artist is a special human being, in touch with a world that many of us have lost touch with. It would seem as if it is the divine unconscious within that springs to life through the work of the creative artist. Truth and beauty are somehow conjured from the void for the benefit of all humanity ever after through the gifted instrument of the artist. Artists divine the mysteries of not only their own inner conscience, but of the broader collective unconscious, intuiting the gems hidden deep within, birthing a higher order of reality, building a bridge to some unknown dreamy shore. The creative artist of every medium gives utterance to an authentic and direct revelation of the divine. They seem to be in touch with the invisible, that which dwells just beyond the reach of our common perception as their works unveil the mysteries alive in the hearts of each one of us. The images, sounds, and movements perceived anew by the artist give us different ways of seeing and interpreting life, offering a fresh stream of renewal for humanity. When we listen to or look at their work it is as if an undiscovered path opens for new thoughts, perceptions, dreams, and experience; the skies open and the universe is reborn. “It is the great dream which has always spoken through the artist as a mouthpiece.” (Carl Jung)

Art comes to life where the creative individual meets the divine. One might say the same thing about genius. A work of art is the point at which the conscious world and unconscious world meet and become one. The creative process, of any stripe, unites the personal with the transpersonal, the transitory with the eternal, where the eternal becomes synthesized into the ephemeral. Art is the result when a creative impulse is liberated; I sense that the entire universe is the result of the liberation of the Creator's first impulse. In the likeness of our Creator we continue to give birth to the world through a divine artistic expression. The artist renders the formless qualities behind the objective world so that all may discover that which has been unseen. The artist creates a masterpiece and in the process recreates him or herself to become the masterpiece itself. Did Shakespeare create Hamlet or did Hamlet create Shakespeare? Both, of course. It is the egg that lays the hen that lays the egg...

Liberation through artistic expression is the path which leads us towards a deeper relationship and ultimate union with the depths of our unconscious side. Do we all possess creative powers or are we possessed by them? To awaken the inner artist we each must surrender to being taken over and moved by something far greater than our ego. The creative process involves a concentration and deepening of experience as we open ourselves in new ways of empowerment to translate our ever-expanding discovery of ourselves into a new dream. An artist’s creative power lies in a willingness to not cling to a fixed point of view, but to allow him or herself to be open to new experiences and new forms of expression. Art expands the world by showing us new dimensions, all the while enriching and expanding the consciousness of all humanity. “A work of art is something new in the world that changes the world to allow itself to exist.” (Martin Heidegger) Art is magic that must find its way into the world. One of the most tragic outcomes of repressed creativity and unexpressed art is the devious unfulfilled neurotic that suffers his symptoms upon humanity.

We are all special human beings. Each of us is an artist, even if undiscovered. The world around us is our crowning achievement. May we all find liberation through the artistic expression of the divine within.