The importance of Art

Art is spirituality democratized.

For much of human history, religion and spirituality belonged to holy men, priests, or shamans. The common man could access a higher consciousness only through the filter of the clergy—a one-way channel to the Divine.

The Protestant Reformation—and, more crucially, the printing press—may have loosened those gates for Western Christianity, but art is the truest expression of spiritual egalitarianism.

Through art, whether music, painting, or sculpture, we find a connection to something greater than ourselves. Something unknowable. Call it the Divine, the Universe, or God—the name doesn’t matter. Words, after all, are human creations, limited by their nature. Art transcends those limits.

When we sit down to create, we tap into that which lies beyond our senses. You may hear the notes of a song, but without feeling them, they remain just notes. You may see the brushstrokes in a painting, but a Matisse or a Basquiat is not meant to be seen—it is meant to be experienced.

Creative pursuits do more than develop the mind (though there is ample evidence they are neuroprotective); they expand the soul. They remind us of something timeless, something unshakable, something infinite.

I’m not here to tell you what to believe, or even what I believe. But if you, like me, have spent much of your life believing in nothing, art might just be the connection you’ve been missing. It may be the path to higher consciousness that has been waiting for you all along—a path no one can take from you.

And this is the beauty of art: it has always been there. Silent. Patient. Offering its hand to anyone willing to reach for it.