We Are Spiritual Beings.

Only those artists who are tuned into your premise will be concerned....
With my Judaic series, each painting is accompanied by a full text, including translations and my interpretation as educator and artist.
http://www.art-marleneburns.com/images-and-texts.html

Stained glass is the theater of the Church.

We Are Spiritual Beings.

... ah, another thread flirting with usurping.

So, allow me to flirt thusly: The word, "spiritual", refers to the idea of a spirit - something conceived as non-material, somehow floating in non-existence, yet existing too - quite a contradictory conundrum from the get go, in my way of thinking.

I, therefore, do NOT accept the premise, and propose an alternative for EQUAL consideration:

We Are Material Beings , and our material is glorious.

Robert,
that would be a great topic for a different thread...I think you should start it! ;)

Must say the concept of being "Spiritual Beings" sounds fairly religious to me.

Marlene B.,

Even without the words, yours is a very good visual series. Nicely done. This shows that the idea of "a spiritual being" obviously can do some artistic good.

Surely we are weather we believe or not, science indicates we have a spiritual partition in all of our brains.

I used to use the word, "spiritual", in what I thought was an innocent way, .. in other words, devoid of any specific religious meaning, ... more attuned to a sense of being aware of a universe that is infinite and eternal beyond any one mortal body. But then I took a close look at the root of the word, "spirit", and decided that claiming such innocence is difficult, because the word necessarily involves believing in spirits, by definition, and I do not.

So, I had to abandon my once innocent outlook on this word, in order to be more grammatically correct in my discussions.

... a "spiritual partition" ... is that a scientific term?

Robert, we all have our methods. ....

Ronald, you might be surprised to realize how many people claim to be spiritual but are not religious and outright deny any religious affiliation...perhaps some will weigh in.

Robert,
the true importance of that series is the accompanying texts...without them, them are just pretty abstracts.

You might be right Marlene but in the belief that the spirit exist at all is the basis of most religions.

and that would work if the thread started out as a religious thread...but it didn't.....
Let's hear from those who consider themselves spiritual but not religious and perhaps, you will understand the difference

Think it did, sounds a lot like Reincarnation to me.

Very good source on the subject
http://www.pbs.org/program/closer-to-truth/

BTW, extraordinary imagery, Michael!

Ronald, I'm not going to argue with you cuz i have things I'd rather do..reincarnation is an idea that lots of people believe in without believing in anything else religiously.
I'm gonna bow out and make room for more contributions. Continuing this dialogue will only look like trolling.

It's interesting that so many people over the centuries can get deeply emotional and excited about our essence being a NO thing (spirit), and yet we cannot get equally excited about our essence being a SOME thing (material).

Why is material not something to be happy about? Why is material strapped with such disgust in some circles of thought? Why is material not worthy of worship to an equal degree as spiritual? Why is a NOthing elevated above a SOMEthing, when THINGS or STUFF is the human sensory feel of what reality is?

This is the sort of attitude that underlies all my art, ... specifically my various FLUIDISM series, which you can find in my galleries here at FAA.

To stay on topic, then, I can say that art reminds us of our MATERIAL reality and the grand nature of this material. I would say that any spiritual reminders that art might convey, then are delusions that humans read into this art.

Perpetually changing material is the foundation of reality (a foundationless foundation, so to speak), and a real sense of reality is in tune to this perpetuity of change in things. Some people believe that an unchanging essence underlies these perpetual material changes (the spirit), but I suggest that the essence itself is perpetually changing too. This is even more magnificent than an immutable nonbeing, again, in my way of thinking. My fluidism art reminds me of this.

I do not accept the premise of trolls either. (^_^)

What do you call a troll that is always present? ANSWER: A contributor.

Consequently, Marlene B., you could never be a troll here.

Very interesting discussion. Thank you too all the contributors thus far.

It's interesting to consider that perhaps spiritual is material but taking material to a level of understading where it's not inanimate but alive. Meaning their is consciousness within the material substance all around us. That to me would be a spiritual understanding of material.

I think words have limitations and that's where we fail to agree.

A special thanks to Robert Kernodle for taking on the role of fighting against the biggest misconception . That there is a difference between material and spiritual. Spiritual and material must be alike. As above so below. The difference is in our level of consciousness.

THANK YOU Drew for the comment on my Art. It's quite a sad image.

Spiritual = religious. And yes, we are spiritual beings trapped in jars of flesh.


How can art remind us? Art can have a double meaning beyond the aesthetic.



How can we use art to remind others?
We all have a right to speak but not a right to be heard. Reminding others is the frontline of the war against ignorance.




and What is the best use of this knowledge in art?
To make the invisible, visible.

Spiritual experience and physical reality are yin and yang.
One is necessary for the other to exist.

Joe Burgess
jb-imagery.com

@Marlene: Let's hear from those who consider themselves spiritual but not religious and perhaps, you will understand the difference

I will raise my hand very, very high.

Chuck Staley Concept Art

Read "Murder on the Six O'Clock News"

Read "Southern Planter"

We are spirits in the material world

The only thing you need to know about being spiritual?!

Unfortunately this is religious

I know that it refers to relating to or affecting the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things. but souls are purely religious beliefs.

synonyms: religious, sacred, divine, holy, non-secular, church, churchly, ecclesiastic, devotional