Inspiration

It is the soul which enables the artist to rise above the ordinary and the mundane and have a mystical experience and vision. The soul is a part of the Divine and therefore forms the manifestation of G-d in the world. The soul is not only the life force but allows humans to go beyond even spirit because the intelligence of human beings can reach beyond spirit, however high one's intellect allows.

The soul contains all beautiful spiritual concepts and everything which is sacred is acknowledged by the soul. When an artist creates certain images, he/she is making manifest that which is kept hidden in the soul. Rav Kook, the first chief rabbi of Israel and a great mystic, pointed out that art in Hebrew is omonut and the root of this word comes from emet, which means truth. Therefore, the root AMN (alef, mem, nun) forms the following words: aman (artst), omonut (art), neeman (faithful) and emunah (faith or faithfulness). The common meaning of all the above words is the revealing of that which is hidden in the soul. Art is therefore considered as coming from the soul and is therefore holy. Rav Kook, when explaining an artist's capabilities, said: "He [she] actualises the lines of his [her] soul."

The artist by using his/her imagination, his/her thoughts and feelings, which lie hidden in the depths of his/her soul, creates in material form that which lies concealed deep inside. The words faith and artist are closely related, as the artist has to have faith in order to bring out that which exists in his/her soul. Faith is the essence of the soul and from this faith comes art, poetry, literature and music.

Abigail Sarah Bagraim, Email info@abigailsarah.co.za

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 South Africa License