Art and reflection
Many years ago, as a fledgling artist, I attended a workshop with several other women on an island in Maine. I was so intimidated by the whole process of “doing” art and being critiqued in front of all those others, that I was overcome by a frustrating bout of “artist’s block.”
I called an experienced Christian Scientist, whom I’d known for some time, and explained the situation to him. To my surprise, he said that while I am involved in creative work of this kind, I’m actually loving. I wondered how I could be loving while sitting in the middle of the woods or at the water’s edge all by myself. Wasn’t loving an action involving others?
However, the thought that creating a painting was a form of loving stayed with me, and that afternoon I sat under a big fir tree depicting its beauty in a colorful pastel. The week proved productive, and I had no further trouble enjoying my work on the island.
Looking back, I realize the message my friend gave me could be viewed as a glimpse into the deeper meaning of the word reflection, which one dictionary defines in part as “any state in which the mind considers its own content.” It occurred to me that to reflect can be viewed as the act of considering mentally or becoming aware of something. This prompted me to develop a better understanding of myself as the reflection of God as Mind, infinite divine consciousness.
I reasoned that God’s thoughts are always available to us. So, as we lift our creative endeavors to affirm that His influence is present in our thought, we align our efforts with the divine.
God's loving is our loving; God's creativity is our creativity.
This was clarified for me by a passage in Mary Baker Eddy’s book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: “The substance, Life, intelligence, Truth, and Love, which constitute Deity, are reflected by His creation; and when we subordinate the false testimony of the corporeal senses to the facts of Science, we shall see this true likeness and reflection everywhere” (p. 516 ).
We, as part of God’s vast and reliably good creation, constantly reflect those qualities in everything we do, including art. God’s loving is our loving; God’s creativity is our creativity. Reflection starts and stays with the divine Mind.
Recently, while out doing artwork in Maine and enjoying the beautiful landscape, I realized that those vistas stretched out before me were an expression of God’s beauty, and were already mine to share.
Reflection, after all, is key to the creative process. The only activity going on anywhere is the divine Mind’s expression of—and our reflection of—all of its beautiful ideas. Maybe this is what impelled the Psalmist to cry: “Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it” (Psalms 90:17 ).
I might add that some of those pieces from that Maine workshop were eventually sold, and my art career quickly developed in many new directions—in fact, flourished, as I maintained that connection between art and reflection in many other aspects of my daily work, too.
About the author
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