Ask: Is practicing a form of art a way to experience God?

           “…I've read about painters, dancers, actors, etc., using their talents to discover something higher. Is any activity, especially art, simply a way to experience Our Source and advance our spiritual progress? I suspect many of us who read your blog enjoy and/or practice an art form…I know you have also published fiction.” – RL 

Nothing in consciousness causes an experience of God. But any activity, including art, can be shared with God’s Spirit (the Holy Spirit) in consciousness and can therefore be used as a means to grow your awareness of Spirit. And an experience of God’s Spirit may inspire creativity.

For example, the two works of fiction (find here) I published came through in the months preceding the shift in consciousness here from ego- to Spirit-consciousness. It was a time I call The Golden because the golden Light of Christ had come into my mind. This led to a burst of creativity, and although the experience was filled with Light and Love for me, as well as symbols that were meaningful for me at the time, Light and Love are not conveyed in the stories, which were about personal growth, not Spirit, nor are Light and Love conveyed to readers. So, the creative process was not a cause but an effect, and that effect was only temporary. It did not continue.

What often occurs for artists, and others who are expressing themselves in some form that is authentic to them, is they sense universal consciousness expressing itself through them, and sometimes this is confused with God because of a sense of expansion or of being part of something larger than themselves. In fact, every aspect of everyone’s life is an expression of universal consciousness. It is just that some who are doing what they feel they are “meant to do”, or who are moved to a creative means of expression, are often more in touch with that. But universal consciousness is not God. God is beyond consciousness.

So, it is likely some artists bring Spirit with them as they practice their art, some are inspired by Spirit, and others are experiencing only the expression of consciousness, whether they are in touch with that or not.

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If you have a question the answer to which you feel may be helpful to others, send it to Liz@acimmentor.com and indicate that you want it answered in this newsletter/blog.

Comments

Anonymous said…
In my understanding consciousness (the dreamer of the dream) is the actual cause of the dream figure's experience and the Course talks frequently of our need to reverse cause and effect because we experience the world as cause, when it is actually the effect. So, to my way of thinking consciousness is the only thing that can cause an experience of God, which of course would be the reflection or memory of God, because as you point out God is beyond consciousness.

That memory is awareness of a non-specific abstract thought which we then shape into our experience in the world of form.
8:20 AM
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