The importance of art in growth in consciousness

By Nico Cost for GlobalSouth.co

Art is a driver of human evolution. That’s how important it is. It does not matter what exactly art is and what is or is not art, but our own experience of art causes us to become aware of our Self in The Whole. We step out of ourselves, as it were, out of our body, out of our thinking and connect with the collective, the collective consciousness.

The thinking human being may find this exaggerated and too far-fetched. The feeling man understands this and thus goes one step further. When we surrender to life, we are art. Art of living. Art is a means to connect us, to ourselves, to others and to everything. Our senses play a small part in this. Our whole body surrenders to the soul which then extends into the whole universe.

Did you read my words with your thinking or with your feeling, with your head or with your heart, with your thinking or with your whole body? In the case of the first, you are happily curious and open to ideas. In the case of the second, you actually already knew and your body has started vibrating with a pleasant feeling. That’s what art does, too. Art makes contact with your subconscious and your body.

ESO’s Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) has captured this unusual view of the Helix Nebula (NGC 7293), a planetary nebula located 700 light-years away. The coloured picture was created from images taken through Y, J and K infrared filters. While bringing to light a rich background of stars and galaxies, the telescope’s infrared vision also reveals strands of cold nebular gas that are mostly obscured in visible images of the Helix.

What is art to one person may be junk to another. It’s personal. Tastes differ. Some art is art to many. It is not about a value, that is something of the mind. You can’t put a number on it. Anything can be art, but we can also pigeonhole it. Texts. Images. Music. Movement. A classification according to our senses. Thinking. Seeing. Hearing. Feeling. A combination of them.

What touches you most and most deeply? Is it a text or is it a sound? Is it a vista or a dance? It is very personal. Do you behold it or are you part of it? Do you stay in your head and think or do you let it all go and become totally absorbed in it? How do you respond to art? How does your body react? Are you aware of it? Animals and plants do not create and experience art as humans can.

Man has been given the ability to create art in order to become more conscious with it. Just like we were given an ego in order to survive. Just like we were given our thinking in order to become consciously aware. Nature does not make mistakes and therefore what we have been given by nature has a purpose. Man can realize himself. Self-realize. Become more conscious.

Art connects the Earthly world with the Spiritual world. We can think about art and we can experience it. Escher’s drawings capture the imagination. You can try to understand them intently. You can also just get goosebumps. Some people like music with lyrics and others prefer to listen to the sounds. Deaf people feel the vibration of music in their bodies. Blind people experience music differently.

We make little conscious use of our ability to use art for growth in consciousness. We think that we become conscious by thinking. That we become conscious by taking in knowledge, by understanding and being able to explain much to others. These are also important things in our lives, in evolution, but wisdom comes mainly from hunches, the touch from the unseen world.

Einstein mainly used his intuition to get breakthroughs in his discoveries and inventions. Our thinking is the analyst. Our gut is given what we need. Both are important, but what do we put to work each time? The remarkable thing is that our thinking indeed has to work, while our feeling takes no effort at all. Yes, just putting that thinking on pause for a moment is a difficult task.

Find art. Be still. Behold. Feel. What fits you? Can you feel your body responding to the art? Images. Music. Dancing. No text for a while, because that’s mostly fodder for that thinking. Practicing feeling. Experimenting with art. Know that everything is energy and that vibration has the greatest impact on the body. Music without lyrics can have enormous impact. So can dancing yourself. The body goes “on”. Pure connection.

Understanding my text accomplishes nothing unless you seek the experience. Therefore, I invite you to practice and experiment. Some videos below as examples. Try to feel what your body is saying. For a moment don’t think and don’t analyze. Merge with what you see and/or hear, unification. In your own way. When humanity learns this, then we can take a big step. Actually, everything depends on this.

Get to know your body. Get to know the power of your body. In fact, the body is much more intelligent than our thinking. Our body “knows” and our thinking has to put effort into everything. Our thinking is cloudy and conditioned, while our body is purely natural. Our body does an incredible number of things independently, even those things we can also think about but don’t have to. Learn to feel and use your body.

The art of life is learning to consciously use what we have all been given. Becoming consciously aware. Use the art around you. Behold art. Make art yourself. Life is one big experiment and it extends many times beyond your thinking. Thinking is important, but it is not everything. Thinking and feeling should go hand in hand. Use both equally. Integrally. That is art of living.

Kitaro – Close your eyes and let the music flow through your body.

Wim Mertens – Take in the images and feel part of the world.

Omar Akram – Be one with nature, you are as beautiful as what you see.

Snatam Kaur – Body and Earth are one.

Oona & Gage Brown – Are you operating the camera?

Auckland Symphony Orchestra – Don’t stay still.

Kim Ye-ji – My music taste is incredibly broad, anything can be art.

Practicing once does not make an art. Lots of fun, I grant you that.