Article December 5, 2011 Issue

Soul-thinker

A painter's perspective on the creative process.

By Herb Jung

“God saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good” (Gen. 1:31). I have always loved that Bible passage, and often in my work as a professional artist, and guided by the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, I replace the word good with beautiful! This brings unfailing inspiration to the many hours I spend in my studio.

Sometimes I ask myself: “Does the all-knowing divine Mind make a distinction between when I paint or pray? Does Mind take note of whether I’m a businessman, Christian Science practitioner, tennis player, or artist?” Human opinion tries to make divisions and distinctions from one activity to another when, in truth, there is none. “We are all sculptors, working at various forms, moulding and chiseling thought,” wrote Mary Baker Eddy (Science and Health, p. 248), which to me suggests that creative thinking is what really counts. 

Studying Christian Science has helped me to see that the highest art can be expressed in all our labors—art in the classical sense, which embodies and celebrates expertise, eternal truth, good, beauty, and grace. Mrs. Eddy’s definition of divine metaphysics also encompassed the metaphysics of art when she wrote, “Metaphysics resolves things into thoughts, and exchanges the objects of sense for the ideas of Soul” (Science and Health, p. 269).

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