The artist who recognizes talent as an expression of divine Principle, rather than as a personal possession, has gone a long way in overcoming restraints and limitations in demonstrating his God-derived capability and individuality in his field of art. Concerning the recognition of man's nature, our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 264), "When we learn the way in Christian Science and recognize man's spiritual being, we shall behold and understand God's creation,—all the glories of earth and heaven and man."
Striving for and steadily attaining a clearer realization of the infinitude of Spirit and the immediacy of self-existent Principle, God, one finds that arduous programs of study progressively lessen, and that expression in every form becomes more spontaneous. He who relies on Soul, God, for his inspiration is no stereotyped artist. With the Psalmist he can say (Ps. 19:1), "The heavens' declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork." Abiding in the understanding of divine Love, one discovers that the motivating purpose of his whole existence is to glorify God in all he thinks, says, and does.
Those engaged in the fine arts are sometimes spoken of as moody, temperamental, extremely sensitive, and living in a dreamworld of their own. Often one hears an artist exclaim, "I cannot get an idea for my work until I am in the mood for it." The moods of the so called mortal are but imaginations of an imaginary mind. The real man, the image and likeness of God, has but one Mind, the divine Mind—omnipresent and omniscient. Man, the idea of God, is not a mixture of conflicting elements. He reflects only the characteristics of the divine likeness, is harmoniously related now and forever to every other idea of God, and blesses his brother man.
A declaration of Paul to the Ephesians (2:10) has been translated as follows: "God has made us what we are, creating us in Christ Jesus for the good deeds which are prepared beforehand by God as our sphere of action." That individual who is increasingly identifying himself as the expression of Soul becomes more and more sensitive to the beauty of Spirit, thereby losing sensitivity to mortal mind with its tendency to depress and isolate. To the extent that he identifies himself as the reflection of Spirit the artist's world becomes a realm of reality, not a dreamworld.
The sincere individual in every field of art yearns for that interpretation of his work which grasps his inspiration and message. True art emerges from Principle; divine Mind is the interpreter and Soul the illuminator. To glimpse the message intended by the God-inspired artist, one needs to lav hold on that spiritual vision which is the common heritage of all the children of God.
Our Leader was an artist in the highest sense of the word. In his book "Twelve Years with Mary Baker Eddy," Irving C. Tomlinson says on page 158: "Mrs. Eddy was a deep lover of beauty. She held beauty as symbolizing the purity, the loveliness of Soul. Beauty, she felt, was a quality of divine Mind which finds expression in one's environment, in one's appearance, and in every other detail of daily life. She instinctively appreciated the beautiful in art."
Thought dwelling in divine Love reflects the innumerable facets of Soul, expressing them in a present environment of radiant color and light. A dictionary gives an interesting definition of "color" as "an effect of reality and lifelikeness given by use of concrete words, graphic descriptions." Nowhere is the meaning of color more simply caught than in the words of a poet:
"Through heaven and earth
God's will moves freely and
I follow it,
As color follows light."
How absolutely devoid of color are acts performed with no thought of love! There is no real color in materialistic thinking and acting. The world of Spirit is a world of color, captured by and gloriously apparent here and now to those steadfastly gaining their native spiritual stature. The writer is constantly impressed with the color that flowed from the pen of our Leader, one instance of which is strikingly evidenced in the following passage from "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 331): "Midst the falling leaves of old time faiths, above the frozen crust of creed and dogma, the divine Mindforce, filling all space and having all power, upheaves the earth."
Soul's characteristics are luminosity, symmetry, vitality, exquisite grace, joyous rhythm, faultless harmony. As we hold thought to Soul, we shall think beautiful thoughts, not merely thoughts about beauty, and this makes the difference between the inspired artist and the mediocre one. God is the great architect, and man, as God's idea, eternally unfolds the graces of Spirit. As we advance in the understanding of this spiritual fact, we are able to reflect Him in a plenitude of attainments. The acknowledgment and realization of the holiness of beauty are demonstrated in constantly strengthened inspiration. Real art has no competition. Conceived as a divine idea, springing from Principle, art is divinely governed and directed, and fully expresses God's purpose.
The way of Truth is the way of freedom, and true art is an expression of spiritual freedom. Mrs. Eddy observes on the subject of art (ibid., p. 373), "Neither material finesse, standpoint, nor perspective guides the infinite Mind and spiritual vision that should, does, guide His children." In ringing words to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul said (II Cor. 3:17), "Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." Principle is the only source of man's thoughts and actions. As we consistently turn to Principle, we attain directness of approach in every pursuit, boldness in conception, and freedom in performance.
Flanked by those angels of inspiration, the life-giving truths contained in the Bible and the writings of his beloved Leader, the Christian Scientist in all fields of art is uniquely able to obey the Psalmist's admonition (Ps. 29:2), "Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness."
