Lose yourself.

My suggestion that the work of art for the christian ought to be grounded in Spirit should not be misinterpreted as an overspiritualization of the artistic process. Rather, i am issuing a call for christian artists to begin to understand that their art is not simply the work of an individual (most readily signified in our culture by how we attribute films to to a 'filmmaker' when we all know it is a community project), but that it is the 'work of the people' (etymology: Liturgy).

It is pure Spirit in that it is the divine grace of Jesus that moves and nurtures our creative Spirit, which itself is a divine gift. Meister Eckhart (12th century german mystic) says, 'the eye with which i see God is the same eye with which God sees me.' That being said, the artistic responsibility is not merely ethereal; it is on-the-ground flesh-and-blood praxis--and this is never simply the work of the individual. Even the solitude of the monk is informed by the community of the mystical body of Christ.

So for us as artists to be manifesting the work of the Spirit, it is not simply a passive waiting for God to show up and move our hands. No, it is not unlike what the ancient Chinese refer to as 'wu-wei', or non-doing. This non-doing is the highest and most pure expression of doing; and i cannot emphasize enough how this concept cannot be grasped by the intellect alone. To do so would surely leave us frustrated in a creative paralysis. Wu-wei is characterized by utter absorption in the task at hand. In other words, we appeal to prayer in order to dissolve the dualism of subject/ego 'I' and object/art 'work'. This applies not only to the relationship between artist and art, but to every personal relationship that we will ever forge, regardless of how fleeting or superficial it may seem. Radical and sacrificial love is no less than complete solidarity and interconnectedness with all of creation; and this is precisely the communion that is a prerequisite for creation. This, of course, is evidenced in the consumation of marriage, but more importantly, in Genesis 1. When God speaks creation into existence, he speaks in the first person plural: 'Let us create humankind in our image...'

Thomas Merton gives an excellent illustration in The Way of Chuang Tzu, a book of poetic takes on the writings of Chuang Tzu. This is called The Woodcarver:

Khing, the master carver, made a bell stand
Of precious wood. When it was finished,
All who saw it were astounded. They said it must be
The work of spirits.
The Prince of Lu said to the master carver:
"What is your secret?"

Khing replied: "I am only a workman:
I have no secret. There is only this:
When I began to think about the work you commanded
I guarded my spirit, did not expend it
On trifles that were not to the point.
I fasted in order to set
My heart at rest.
After three days fasting,
I had forgotten gain and success.
After five days
I had forgotten praise or criticism.
After seven days
I had forgotten my body
With all its limbs.

"By this time all thought of your Highness
And of the court had faded away.
All that might distract me from the work
Had vanished.
I was collected in the single thought
Of the bell stand.

"Then I went to the forest
To see the trees in their own natural state.
When the right tree appeared before my eyes,
The bell stand also appeared in it, clearly, beyond doubt.
All I had to do was to put forth my hand
and begin.

"If I had not met this particular tree
There would have been
No bell stand at all.

"What happened?
My own collected thought
Encountered the hidden potential in the wood;
From this live encounter came the work
Which you ascribe to the spirits."

In closing: the responsibility of the artist is first and foremost prayer. Not the type of prayer that is simply a dialogue, or worse, a monologue with God. Nor is it earnestly praying for ideas, inspiration, or worse, success. It is nothing short of a total life of prayer (1 Thess 5:16-16) that has no attachments to anything short of the kingdom of God (Matt 6:33). It is the prayer that has no concern for the 'vocation' of artist, much less the work of art, apart from the larger tapestry of Christ's body. It is the prayer that pursues beauty even to the filthiest slums in the most remote parts of the world (God bless Mickey, Sarah, and Ellen!). It is the prayer of devout faithfulness that understands that once we put our hand to the plow, we are not to look back. We are absorbed into the kingdom of God, all while the kingdom is absorbed into us (Luke 17:21).

Someone might then say, 'how do i know the will of God so i may participate in it?' My hope is that we may begin to see that this is the wrong question. We'll explore this further in my next post...