The Spiritual Quest of Art: Music as Symbol of Consciousness

Summary

What is the role of music and art in our society ? This article explores the different ways we create music and art, suggesting a distinction between utilitarian and symbolic art that has a powerful effect on culture. The article maintains that music created as symbol is an expression of the consciousness of the artist and culture, and provides greater benefit for the society because it enables the deep contemplation of universal archetypes that develop and evolve us and our communities.

Music is an aural, bodily, and social experience, something created, performed, and participated in, that never becomes fully tangible in the world. It seems we all know music very intimately, having interacted with it our entire lives, yet, we forget how mysterious music really is. Music is a force that has certain qualities: the potential to embody personal and cultural meaning, and to evoke contemplation of the unknown. This latter element makes music into a symbol that has spiritual significance. Let me explain.

In “Symbols of Transformation” (1952), Carl Jung suggests that symbols are the language of dreams that give us access into the hidden parts of our unconscious selves, aiding personal growth, development, and uncovering the archetypes functioning in our lives. From Jung’s perspective, the symbol has two core qualities, first, it is a natural product of the psyche which is expressed without conscious awareness, and second, it has a dual quality, in that it expresses an overt and covert meaning.

The symbol is not a sign. A sign stands for something in a one-to-one relationship. For example, a ‘stop sign’ at an intersection means to stop and nothing more. A symbol may have an explicit meaning, but is differentiated from a sign by its quality of having multiple hidden meanings that are not completely obvious at first, but which are revealed through contemplation. The Christian cross is such as symbol, which stands for the death of Christ, yet is also a symbol of contemplation for Christians that conjures up a multiplicity of other personal, social, and cultural meanings. This symbol is powerful enough to have lasted 2000 years because it has the power to evolve with the times, providing new sources of meaning and contemplation for its followers.

As the culture changes, the meaning of the symbol evolves because it is a representation of the deeper consciousness of humanity at large, and thus, evokes the archetypal currents at play in the world. The artist and musician play a critical role in societies to create art that depicts the unconscious hidden trends, ideas, and perspectives emerging from the social consciousness. This is an unconscious process that the artist prepares for though lifetime of study in his or her art. It emerges from an internal image presented to the artist as if from a mystical realm. In African Dagara societies, the artist is revered and feared, for they are considered magicians able to bring forth unconscious symbols into the world (Malidoma Some 1994). The artist is valued because they infuse their art, not with superficial signs, but with pathways into the deeper recesses of the unconscious, the otherworld, and into the hidden aspects of society and culture.

The role of music and art has dramatically shifted in the West with the rise of materialism and the degradation of religion and its sacred music, leading to the commodification of music and art into purely aesthetic objects, often without any deeper meaning or as aids to contemplation. Shifting from symbols to signs, much music and art has lost its mystical and psychological quality, with musicians and artists forfeiting their spiritual role in society to become makers of expendable, interchangeable, and short-lived ‘content’ for the masses.

How do we recover music’s symbolic nature ?

For music to be considered a symbol it must have two qualities: firstly, it must be an expression of a deeper part of the artist, and second, it must reflect culture and lead to a multiplicity of meanings. If we analyse the art that has stood the test of time, we will see it has these two fundamental qualities because these works evolve and shift with the times, constantly evoking new meanings for their audiences. A symbol is mysterious and asks us to participate in it through contemplation, so that we are simultaneously exploring our inner selves, the culture at large, and our relationship to the cosmos.

The artist who creates such works is converted from one who expresses a personal emotion, an antidote, or story, into one who expresses an eternal archetype. Ananda Coomaraswamy describes this distinction between symbolic and objective art, where symbolic art conveys deeper metaphysical meanings, while objective art tends to focus on form and aesthetics for their own sake. Symbolic art is created for the community and has a sacred function, whereas objective art is created for the market and serves the tastes and whims of the individual.

For art to have a symbolic function, the artist or musician must spiritually evolve, which is a great life task, and includes sacrifice and pressure placed upon the creative. From this perspective, the mastery of music becomes a mastery of self, and the art which emerges begins to serve a spiritual function for both the musician and the audience. This idea may seem foreign within the current Western climate of music as commodity, where what is valued is the quick creation of music as content and its swift exchange for the next fad. But this modern reality does not need to stop musicians from exploring their artforms more deeply, from deriving greater personal meaning for their art, or aspiring to give greater quality to their audiences.

To aid this, Coomaraswamy distinguishes between utilitarian or sacred art. Utilitarian art is created for some specific function, such as content for social media posts, or as accompaniment to advertising or film. While sacred art is created for its own sake or specifically for a spiritual purpose. Such art is an expression of something deep within the artist that has no other objective except the love of its pure expression. This type of music or art evokes a desire for contemplation or devotion, and has the quality of a dream because it evokes multiple meanings determined by a vision or inner mental image.

This inner mental image is given to the artist at some point in his or her life, and provides them with an exquisite vision of an artform which has archetypal quality. The expression of this vision may take a lifetime to achieve, as the artist strives to develop the technical skills necessary to enable the expression of the mental image. This may be as a piece of music with a certain aesthetic and intensity, or an artwork that uses specific themes and techniques. This pursuit drives the artist until its full expression is accomplished.

It is far easier to create art that follows the trends, is quick to produce, and doesn’t require the internal toil, spiritual and technical development that the deep mental image demands. But the reward of the expression of this vision brings great joy for the artist and musician, and gives their work a very distinctive and original aesthetic. This is not due only to the nature of vision, but in aspiring to reach the originality of the vision, the artist must employ his own style and develop their own approaches, aiding the development of their originality. It sets the artist apart, so that their art is like no one else, and thus, they move against the flow of culture, out onto the fringes, sacrificing mediocrity for originality and freedom of thought and expression.

Their art may occasionally be in fashion or often totally out of step, but the movement of culture does not dictate the artists output, the inner vision does. This requires unwavering faith, sacrifice, and self-development, which are religious qualities thrust upon the artist through the vision, giving the quest a spiritual tone. The persistence and grit necessary to develop the technical and spiritual skills to complete the art imbue the artist with a unique quality of determination and persistence that enables them to succeed and supersede the cultural fashions and norms. Eventually the culture may come to them, and when this occurs, their art is embraced as central to culture rather than at the fringes. At this stage, rather than following the culture, the artist’s work dictates culture, telling the culture what’s hip, fashionable, and meaningful. The vision has emerged in its fullness, making the artist’s toil worthwhile for its ability to develop culture at large, which is brought forth from the depths of the unconscious and aids the development of society.

We see this with the great cultural artists who emerged from the fringes, their art was criticised at first, and eventually became part of the mainstream. Van Gogh, who sold few, if any, paintings until after his death, is an example of an artist following an inner vision that was contrary to the mainstream culture yet has succeeded in inspiring the culture. This longevity is mainly due to the spiritual quality and eternal nature of the art that radiates and inspires in a way that religion had previously.

In The Mission of Art, Alex Gray provides a look into the experiences that gradually shifted his art into an expression of the sublime and spiritual. His exploration of his inner self led him into various spiritual experiences which changed him. It was these personal experiences and his pursuit of the spiritual which converted his art into the mystical. It was the expression of a vision perceived through his spiritual pursuits which become the source of his art, giving them a unique quality, aesthetic, and universality that speaks to the larger consciousness in all of us. They encourage us to contemplate our own mortality, spirituality, and higher natures, which is the prime quality of symbolic art.

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References

Alex Grey, “The Mission of Art" (2001).

Ananda Coomaraswamy "Christian and Oriental Philosophy of Art" (1956), The Transformation of Nature in Art" (1934).

Carl Jung, "Symbols of Transformation" (1952), “Man in Search of a Soul" (1933), “Man and His Symbols" (1964).

Malidom Somé, "Of Water and the Spirit: Ritual, Magic, and Initiation in the Life of an African Shaman" (1994), The Healing Wisdom of Africa: Finding Life Purpose Through Nature, Ritual, and Community" (1998)