Art and Divine Inspiration

Recently, I saw a wonderful episode on Oprah where she interviewed Michael Jackson. In it he made a profound statement which she passed over but I replayed 3 times. He believed art is a bridge between the human and the divine.


I wish Oprah would have delved into his thoughts on that subject more inquisitively because I believe this was the essence of the man and thus the essence of his art.

I heard the wonderful author of Eat,Love,Pray, -Elizabeth Gilbert talk recently about this concept of divine inspiration. She gave a brilliant TED talk where she eloquently showed how humanity before the Age of Enlightenment believed heavily in divine inspiration. Before man came to believe himself as God, mankind, and especially artists believed inspiration was bestowed, or given divinely, instead of manufactured out of ones self.

See her speech www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genious.html This knowledge encouraged her by taking pressure off herself to perform. One is either endowed by the gods or not.

She is not alone in this thought. All the great artist believed in inspiration by the Divine. Rodin said, "Great works of art say all that can be said about man and they convey that there is something more that cannot be known. Every masterpiece has this quality of mystery."

At the same time, success, as well as genius, is usually based on preparation. David Ogilvy, that savvy and successful advertising genius stated, "Discipline is the heart of creativity". In other words, luck favors the prepared. Michelangelo said, "If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn't seem so wonderful at all."

So if discipline is the heart of creativity, where does the divine come in? I believe the answer lies in ones passion. Hard work born out of passion equals inspiration. All of the great artists love what they do, and usually have a natural talent for it. The challenge is identifying and pursuing ones passion.

However, when one is in survival mode, pursuing passion is not a priority. It's one of the reasons art programs are so important in public education. Art nourishes the soul which is just as important as the body.

As art programs get pushed more and more to the wayside and the economy makes it harder for artists to focus on their craft, art appreciation in the school system and as a society needs to be nurtured.  Perhaps then more artisans can be developed, and subsequently we as a society can be divinely inspired.

Janet Carlen