The Soul of Art

Photo by Ahmad Odeh on Unsplash

Can art make the world more peaceful? Can art remove every division and conflict in the world? This short article is written not to answer the two questions above, in the sense that we do not intend to give a simple "answer" to those questions. But to offer the principles that could be applied in order to get the best answer in the hope that they may be realized in the real world. 

Furthermore, two other questions could follow: What is the relationship between art and peace? What is art and what is Peace? These are two other questions that relate that we propose are related to our theme today.

We can say that art by definition is the creative expression of an artist that is rooted in beauty and beauty is a sense that touches our soul. Then peace is a consequence of the harmonization in the soul on the one side, and compliance with the principles of the Real on the other. When a work of art is born out of the hands of the artist he should be able to create a kind of atmosphere of peace around him as the effects of the peace of soul of the artist which is projected through his or her work and consequently realizes a sense of peace for admirers of the artwork.

While any Good art should be rooted in reality and serves as a mirror to reflect the unity between the artist and his work. Reality is nothing but the face of the Absolute behind all phenomenon. Now from the perspective of the artist when he is creating a work of art he brought at once in its artwork of a reality of his own soul, while the outside world looked to him as an object of his creation. But in this sense the work of art is never neutral, because the work of art in its highest goal should be able to produce beauty and "useful" to both humans and their world. Had everything made by human hands is are considered as an art, anger and hatred inherent in "a work of art" can we be tolerated and be considered beautiful. But this is contradictory and do not disclose the nature of the characteristics of a work of art. Because what makes the typical characteristics of an artwork is the extent to which it leaves a trail of beauty of the inner reality of the artist and the extent to which it is able to accommodate the reality of the world that becomes a reflection of the Absolute.

And God is the greatest artist and at the same time is the greatest scientist of the Universe according to some philosophers. The famous painting of William Blake's "The Ancient of Days'" shows the Demiurge who creates and measures the world with His hands. This shows that God when was he creates the world put himself as an artist and also a scientist who builds a diverse world which is manifested in reality. In the meantime we must remember that before the Renaissance, art and science were inseparable. These were the two types of human knowledge which also corresponds to the reality of the objective world. Science would not be contrary to art if scientists did not reduce the beauty of symmetry and proportion into "causes of accidents".

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Every artistic imagination of human beings should be able to be an imitation of God's imagination when He was creates the world. By this we do not mean that we occupied a position of Godhead when creating a work of art. But we should apply a method of appreciation of the most dependable that is as an appreciative subject when face to face with the artwork.

Then art will only bring peace when the art work is in harmony with the peace of soul of the artist, who is also in harmony with the principles out of which the God as the greatest artist has created the world. Because as an artist he is projecting to the outside world through a work of art what is contained in his inner world.

And when a work of art has brought peace and beauty in the human soul, it will also bring peace and beauty to the world around us.

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Paper ini dibuat untuk ALIA International Symposium in ASWARA Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia pada tanggal 25 - 27 Maret 2016.