Tag: art

To Be an Artist is to Make One’s Life a Work of Art

View or listen to the latest Richard Urban Show video and podcast:
God in the Public Square-Interview with Philip Sharp.

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1802

The historical Fall originated from a
wrongful marriage centered on a false
parent. As Adam and Eve fell during
their youth, the corruption of youth
began in the Garden of Eden. They
sowed the seeds of corruption of the
youth. Owing to that, the whole ideal
of God centering on Adam’s family was
completely shattered. Seeds planted just
like that will grow, and in the Last Days
there comes a time in which their fruits
will be borne. There is no one in the
world capable of preventing the corrup-
tion of the youth. America itself cannot
stop it, but instead has become the field
of free sex, homosexuality, and lesbian-
ism. It is a complete mess. Can all these
things be stopped by American educa-
tion and religion? Such things cannot be
blocked by America’s political and eco-
nomic power, or by military power. They
can only throw their hands in the air.
Then who is capable of solving these
problems? Only God is. Since they were
planted by false parents, the motive for
committing sin was humanistic. Since
the false parent, Adam, erred and messed
everything up, and as he fell in ignorance,
the restored Adam must understand the
truth completely on earth. He can make
Satan surrender by understanding the
details of God’s secrets, what the goal of
His standard of perfection is, and what
manner of wrongdoings the devil perpe-
trated. (302-222, 1999.6.14)

Cheong Seong Gyeong 1055

In order for the first son’s family to
thrive, the family members are to accept
and conscientiously practice the estab-
lished family rules and etiquette that
come from their ancestors. People whose
attitude is “Those rules have nothing to
do with me” cannot be the offspring of
that family. Such a person cannot be the
heir of such a family, even if he is born
as its eldest son. (21-252, 1968.11.24)

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Chapter 4

God’s Creation and Human Creativity

Creativity and Art

1.The Spirituality of Art

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Human beings are meant to inherit the creative nature of God and participate with God in His great work of creation. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Creation 5.2.2)

A culture develops from words. It begins with speech; then the words are written down to become literature. Then they are expressed in paintings and other works of art. Art and culture are thus expressions of the invisible word. This is the principle of creation through the Word, emerging as visible form and substantial existence. (107:317, June 8, 1980)

Songs, dancing and art are ways that human beings respond to God’s joy and laughter. On the other hand, without love, singing, dancing and art are to no purpose. The core of art is love. For the love of the world God comes down and resonates with us through singing, dancing and art. (225:128-29, January 5, 1992)

When professionals in the art world seek for something profound and need inspiration, they fall back on their religious background. That is why the culture of art developed centered on religion. Take Christian culture, for example. If you have a chance to travel in Europe, visit the Vatican. You will see the essence of European culture in each work of art. (198:281; February 5, 1990)

Art is worthless unless there is profound emotion in the background. A great work of art should be capable of arousing deep emotion, whether one views it today or a thousand years from now. A painting that can stimulate such a feeling deep in our hearts is called a masterpiece. (142:274-75, March 13, 1986)

To be an artist is to make one’s life a work of art. Children’s education should be imbued with art. A wife should be an artist of the emotions in the way she honors and shows appreciation to her hus-band. I believe that it is a greater art than the paintings that hang in museums. The greatest value of art is to beautify and elevate love in the family. (100:139, October 9, 1978)

Human beings value love more than anything. Have you ever heard of animals creating art or lit-erature? The theme of great literature is simple: the joys and sorrows of love relationships. Great literature is good at describing love—in history, in society, in ordinary life and in the future.
Next, great literature is good at using metaphors, for instance, a majestic river evokes love flowing into eternity… What better way of describing the beauty of love than using nature’s metaphors? God created all things in nature to stimulate our sense of love. All creatures are woven together with love.
A masterpiece of literature has as its central theme a love which connects all of the beauty and wonder of nature—the heavenly bodies, the beauty of rivers, mountains, trees and flowers—all of which come together to stimulate the expression of human love. A novel may be well written, but unless it expresses the beauty of love, the reader easily loses interest. The central theme of literature is always how to manifest the human passion of love. Poetry is no exception; poems just use fewer words. Young people in particular are sensitive to poetic feelings and are readily intoxicated by the emotions evoked in poetry and literature. They are responding to the universal human desire to relate to love. (94:60, July 3, 1977)

How can peoples from diverse nations and languages share their feelings in a short time? It cannot be done with literature or fine arts. It can be done only through song. A song, though short, can express all kinds of feelings and capture anyone’s heart.
What songs make us the happiest? Songs that praise the most precious Central Being of the universe. They attract the greatest attention of all beings, including all things in nature. When we sing God’s praises in the evening under the setting sun, we can move God’s heart to empathize with our emotions. Therefore, when you sing, do not sing casually, but place yourself in the positions of the composer and lyricist and feel their emotions. Then sing with a heart to praise God.
Some songs are joyful and some songs are sad. When you sing joyful songs with a joyful heart, you harmonize with Heaven and rejoice alongside nature in the garden of joy. When you sing sad songs, you should open your chest as wide as possible and sing loudly in order to melt the world’s griefs and clean up the world’s sorrows. (270:11, May 3, 1995)

The End Aim Should Be God’s Glory and the Recreation of the Mind

View or listen to the latest Richard Urban Show video and podcast:
God in the Public Square-Interview with Philip Sharp.

1 Corinthians 16

19 Greetings from the churches in Asia.

Aquila and Priscilla, together with the church that meets in their house, send greetings in the name of the Lord.

Isaiah 61
21 Your people will live right
    and always own the land;
they are the trees I planted
    to bring praise to me.
22 Even the smallest family
    will be a powerful nation.
I am the Lord,
and when the time comes,
    I will quickly do all this.

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Chapter 4

God’s Creation and Human Creativity

Creativity and Art

Artists, scientists and inventors take after the creativity of God. The universe was created beginning with an idea in the divine Mind, followed by the expenditure of energy to make that idea a reality. Likewise, artists and scientists give all their heart and effort to create a new existence that manifests the images and thoughts in their mind.
This section focuses on the arts, and so includes alongside scripture some selected passages from famous artists reflecting on the meaning of their art. Yet, creativity is not the sole possession of these elite personages; we find creativity in the athlete who plays exuberantly for the love of sport, in the merchant who finds better ways to market his wares, and in children as they dance and sing. Father Moon, who has established ballet companies and art schools and who himself loves to sing duets with his wife, is cognizant of the role the arts can play in creating a God-centered culture.
Topics include: art as harmony of opposites, art’s emotional core and emotional power; the muse, or spirituality of art; and the problem of art and values.

1. The Spirituality of Art

All art is concerned with coming into being.
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 6.4 (Hellenism)

Life is art.
The whole life of man is Self-Expression.
The individual is an expression of God.
We suffer if we do not express ourselves.
Precepts 1-4 (Perfect Liberty Kyodan)

We composers are projectors of the infinite into
the finite.
Edvard Grieg

The sole and end aim of figured bass should be
Nothing else than God’s glory and the recreation
of the mind.
Johann Sebastian Bach

True art is made noble and religious by the
mind producing it… the endeavor to create
something perfect; for God is perfection, and
whoever strives after perfection is striving for
something divine.
Michelangelo

Be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in
psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and
making melody to the Lord with all your heart.
Ephesians 5.18-19

And whenever the evil spirit from God was upon
Saul, David took the lyre and played it with his
hand; so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and
the evil spirit departed from him.
1 Samuel 16.23

Men can be evil—more evil than their animal
brothers can ever be—but they can also rise
in the ecstasy of creation. The cathedrals of
England stand as monuments to man’s worship
of what is above himself.
One does feel proud to belong to the human
race when one sees the wonderful things human
beings have fashioned with their hands. They
have been creators—they must share a little the
holiness of the Creator, who made the world
and all that was in it, and saw that it was good.
But He left more to be made.
Agatha Cristie

In eloquence there is magic, in knowledge
ignorance;
in poetry wisdom, and in speech weariness.
Hadith of Abu Dawud (Islam)

If I create from the heart, nearly everything
works; if from the head, almost nothing.
Marc Chagall

Let our artists be those who are gifted to discern
the true nature of the beautiful and graceful; then
will our youth dwell in a land of health, amid fair
sights and sounds, and receive the good in every-
thing; and beauty, the effluence of fair works,
shall flow into the eye and ear, like a health-giv-
ing breeze from a purer region, and insensibly
draw the soul from earliest years into likeness and
sympathy with the beauty of reason.
Musical training is a more potent instrument
than any other, because rhythm and harmony
find their way into the inward places of the
soul, on which they mightily fasten, imparting
grace, and making the soul of him who is rightly
educated graceful.
Plato, The Republic (Hellenism)

Art Has Its Limits

Numbers 4

4 The Lord told Moses and Aaron:

2-3 Find out how many men between the ages of thirty and fifty are in the four Levite clans of Kohath. Count only those who are able to work at the sacred tent.

Richard:  God wants us to have specific and measurable results in our ministry work.  Visionroot produces great tools to help you do that:  http://www.visionroot.org.

Mark 2

12 The man got right up. He picked up his mat and went out while everyone watched in amazement. They praised God and said, “We have never seen anything like this!”

Richard:  Miracles do happen!

Let Us Halt in Our Steps and Behold the One Who Is Protecting Us

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
March 8, 1959

Psalm 121

You may not be so well aware of this fact, but history is moving toward some destination. It is ceaselessly flowing toward the one unified world of the ideal. This is not an arrangement made by human beings or something human beings have accomplished. This flow moves forcefully in spite of our ignorance of it. Since it has the power to surround us, move our minds, and steer the course of our nation and world, and since we are on our way toward the world of our destination, we cannot help being a part of this great procession. You should reflect once more upon your being subject to this unalterable fate.

In this flow, where is our path heading? Is it to the left or the right? Is it vertical or horizontal? When we consider this flow, we find that we cannot boast about any self-centered success. The same thing holds true, even if we are delighted in the great world of the arts.

A person has value as the subject in sight of the entire universe in a reciprocal relationship with it. Therefore, until we can achieve the kind of success of which we can boast in the presence of the creation, there is no way we can alter that flow of the heart. The path we must walk is one. We set out from this amazing and great world of relationships and pass through a world of relationships before arriving at our destination. There we can fully manifest our original value and proudly stand in the presence of the Creator. Hence, we must understand that in their innermost hearts human beings long to be such victors and attain such joy and freedom. Continue reading “Art Has Its Limits”