The process of creating books has been an interesting opportunity to understand more fully what art is. It is not simply the product or the means with which beautiful expressions are created. To engage in an artistic project from the perspective of a spiritually inclined individual, is often to enter into a meditative process of communion with the Divine.
Art has the potential to be more than just a hobby, it can nourish the soul. “We get so caught up in the flurry of our lives that we forget the essential thing about art that the act of creating is a healing gesture, as sacred as prayer, as essential to the spirit as food to the body.” (Myers, 126)
This dawning realization arose of the process of creating art as a trance induction method; through which the ability is gained to become a channel or vessel for divine presence to move and nourish. In its creation, the art becomes the sacred vessel for channeling spirit. The book as a sacred vessel takes on an eternality in it’s holographic fractal context. Sacred text remains a portal or vessel for others to be touched by the source. The touched individual then enters into an openness to connect and create. The potential to become a vessel, to sacrifice the small self to the sacred, in the channeled actions is present. Some speak of this essence in the creation of art as a muse, as Bell Hooks writes there is an understanding of the presence of spirits in the process. Just as in life you can access all kinds of energetic tones in art; accessing all kinds of spirits. Art as well as, “Writing becomes then a way to embrace the mysterious, to walk with spirits, and an entry into the realm of the sacred.” (Hooks, 130)
Just as someone further developed on the spiritual path can engage dimensions of divinity with a mystical clarity, so too can someone more spiritually inclined access the Divine essence through this practice. Still at any moment anyone has access to the divine presence because that presence is samad (there is no place that it is not). With art it does not matter if you believe in God even if you are a non-theist you can reach a spiritual convergence in the art. This is why Buddhist calligraphers write a circle to symbolize sunyata or the void. However, if your consciousness is not able to drop into the zone (the space of emptiness), a place of naiskarmya (a state where you are not bound up mentally when completing your actions), you may feel like the results are less inspired.
“In the Beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.” The word has always held a power and a glory that far exceeds our understanding of it. Sacred texts recognized to have a formulaic significance that lends a potency to the utterance. Book making can become a ritual sacrifice to the power of the sacred.
The process of book making for me has felt very channeled. After flipping through countless magazines for words or images that drew me I discovered a title that was a major catalyst for my process. It became my lectio divina, a phrase that drew personal focus and assisted intimately in unpacking my creative current. Facilitating this heart centered reverent and intimate connection with the presence of spirit that effortlessly flows. "God is already praying in us. Through lectio, we make ourselves available to join this unceasing prayer already happening in our hearts.” (Paintner, 8) I find the concept of lectio divina to be very similar to the yogin’s bhakti or the Sufi’s rabbikya, heart centered (intimate divine convergence) activation. The phrase that connected aspects of my creative process forging a clarity, and focus of realization was ‘In Search of the Cosmic Dawn.’ My name Sahar means Dawn.
Often engaging art for me became a meditative process where I entered into the perspective of the witness. Upon experiencing an analysis of an artist’s repetition of an image as well as a fellow classmate’s statement that she was often recreating the same themes, I had an epiphany about art as an extension of our process of self realization. I realized the title ‘In search of the cosmic dawn’ spoke volumes about how what I was creating was a reflection of myself and perspective of reality. This in a sense granted me permission through ownership. As I claimed my art through this title, I was even more able to fully claim my artistry. Understanding bloomed that what I created as art was sacred as it was a result of divine communion or a manifestation of the nourishment from that same essence in creation.
Often engaging art for me became a meditative process where I entered into the perspective of the witness. Upon experiencing an analysis of an artist’s repetition of an image as well as a fellow classmate’s statement that she was often recreating the same themes, I had an epiphany about art as an extension of our process of self realization. I realized the title ‘In search of the cosmic dawn’ spoke volumes about how what I was creating was a reflection of myself and perspective of reality. This in a sense granted me permission through ownership. As I claimed my art through this title, I was even more able to fully claim my artistry. Understanding bloomed that what I created as art was sacred as it was a result of divine communion or a manifestation of the nourishment from that same essence in creation.
My developing artistic style is a self realization process. I worked in a collage style a kind of puja where I create a spiritual altar in which images, words, and patterns speak to how I see the divine essence in myself and experience of creation. The different symbols and objects hold a symbolic or archetypal significance to my spirit. Triangular tribal or geometric designs speak to my primitive but visual identification with the perfection of reality, the raw energetic tone of existence. The color burnt orange is significant in multiple spiritual traditions from Hindu siddhis to Chishti dervishes. It happens to be my favorite along with being a visual representation of the sun. Many Esoteric spiritual traditions consider gold (a color I favor in my artwork) a high vibrational color and material as well.
The different aspects of the Divine feminine, receptive to fierce, speak to honoring the potential for variance in diverse individual expression. Depicting the feminine as Madonna and crone, the Goddess as elemental and energetic exuberance in eternal potency. Images are used of sensual potency; macabre women as well as lovers which in part represents the integration of duality. All are sacred expressions. All speak to the aspects of creation I wish to bring more focus and honor to. By having images of divine personhood that depict people of color I am able to honor the dignity of each human soul (including ones who look more like me!) through inclusivity. Archetypes that reflect purity such as the Madonna recreated with variance, help to honor the generational suffering of people of color. Bringing my spirit animals into my art has been especially nourishing. Giving that aspect a face and a tone and the added color brings into my awareness the mythic tales, and transformative presence of symbol.
Exploring the ability to utilize the book shape to take my book art to another dimension. I created a large accordion book to portray it literally as the metaphoric altars it is. Also by utilizing the accordion style and adding branching off pages. From two dimensional to three dimensional, I designed my final book as sun shaped as with the interwoven solar theme of the book. The term Sahar, or Dawn, denotes the sun breaking through the darkness.
Transformative fire is a theme of my art collage creations. Embodying the yogic element of tejas, which describes a fire, radiance, fierce or potent tone of concentration. Often I have images in fire to denote change moments of transformational annihilation and regeneration. The sun has been a major personal symbol for me, as It has been for many people through a variety of spiritual disciplines and religious traditions. The sun has represented God and source energy for various traditions including the Egyptian Sun God Ra, and the Hindu Sun God Surya.
I am in the process of clarifying contemplative conundrums through the creation and integration of themes in my art book. I look forward to continuing to widen my understanding, and spiritual path through the artistic process and its potential to take me deeper. Penetrating as it is, to the state of my sub-consciousness and super-conscious mind.
I will share my artwork soon
Bibliography
Hooks, Bell. Remembered Rapture: The Writer at Work. New York: Henry Holt, 1999.
Myers, Tona Pearce. The Soul of Creativity: Insights into the Creative Process. Novato, CA: New World Library, 1999. P126
Paintner, Christine Valters. Lectio Divina--the Sacred Art: Transforming Words and Images into Heart-centered Prayer. Woodstock, VT: SkyLight Paths Pub., 2011. P. 8
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