The Value of Art

  From Seasons of The Soul…

If beautiful art does not express moral ideas, 

ideas which unite people. 

Then it is not art, but only entertainment.

People need to be entertained in order 

to distance themselves

from disappointment in their lives.

Immanuel Kant

Cited in Calendar of Wisdom

An artist is one of two things: 

He/she is either a high priest, 

or a more or less smart entertainer.

Giuseppe Mazzini

Growing up near Boston and spending my first two years at BU and then later coming back to Boston for my next two master’s degrees, I tried to include time to visit and “take in” the beauty and knowledge of its fine museums.  Whenever I had some free time or felt I was in need of solace, quiet, or some new inspiration, I would go to the MFA or to Isabella Stewart Gardner Museums. That practice continued through the first years of ministry, until I left Boston for good.

     My preference (and I know some would say my prejudice) is for representational art, historical images, and evocative pictures that would tell me a timeless story. So, of course, I invariably would wind up in the ancient art sectors, with my favorite places being Renaissance art or Christian inspirational artworks. 

(I would often meander into Asian art sectors too!

     There could be a difference between art for the mind, and art for the soul; between art as information and art as inspiration; between creative intelligence, and psychological expressiveness. 

     Given that I am far from a trained art critic, my categories are open-ended questions, and I have given myself full permission to “like what I like” and that my bias, or those preferences are for Myth and metaphor, symbolism and wisdom teachings.

     Looking back, it only makes sense as my studies and interests were attracted to certain kinds of artwork, and would later be definitively allied to my favored approaches in working with clients. Studies in archetypal psychology, interfaith spirituality, esoteric tools and practices, would become central for me during ministry and now beyond, into my work as a spiritual life coach.