Experiencing health and life through art can enhance the overall quality of existence for an individual, regardless of his or her age, state of life or perceptions. Every person, no matter how artistic he or she may feel, can stand to gain personal insight from the process of creating. Building new things in any fashion is always an introspective experience. The most astounding fact is that the unseen can be made both tangible and visible through this process.
It is first important to understand that true creation begins in the subconscious. This can be seen even in the earliest drawings of a child. When the imagination is able to run free and a child can articulate emotion and experience on paper, what can be seen are inner fears, turmoils, questions and even imaginings that remain hidden on the conscious level. Thus, although the young artist may not know that he or she is inherently afraid of wild things, these are what fill these papers.
As the artists ages, the fears and questions become more complex. For this reason, the resulting artwork becomes equally complex. The benefit of creating at this later stage of life is that the creator can then recognize the physical manifestations of the subconscious workings for what they truly are.
Those who take the time to use clay, pastels or any other medium will not always have this experience. This is because there are more superficial emotions that block the voice of the inner mind. For instance, fear, self-consciousness and other like feelings are likely to rise to the surface. People become more abashed of what others will think of their creations and there is no room to build, construct or emote freely.
True art must be free if it is to take its ultimate form. The artist must be able to go about this process absent of superficial or false emotions. This allows the creator to interpret the voice that speaks from the deepest parts of the mind and from that which remains always hidden in the busy, tangible and rational world.
Even from a spiritual perspective there can be real and identifiable truths in this. God, having been recorded in many ways as being a part of all things and in all things, is commonly understood to be closely connected or reachable from this deeper and indefinable area of the mind. Perhaps this is why spiritualists reach out for this spiritual being through meditation and contemplation. Prayer is often a quiet word that is spoken more internally than externally. In this line of thinking, the artist can bring his or herself closer to God through pure creation.
There are thus, two main benefits from this type of working. The first is than man can learn more about the deeper and hidden portions of himself. When a person can see the self for what it is, this same individual becomes far more adept in growing into the true self by consciously making improvements.
The second major benefit of health and life through art is that there is a greatly increased ability to accept the spiritual self and the God that is connected to this being through the very process of creation. With these two advantages working together, man can both surrender and pursue simultaneously. The result is a health that can only be gained by surrendering conscious pain and fears and by the diligent pursuit of the ultimate creator and way of creating.
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