I heard this comment on a TV program: “Our minds are like parachutes, they only function when open”. That is what we should be working on, to open minds to other possibilities than those we assume are truth. To respect that other people have a different way of seeing things. I don’t react to people talking of their believes even if I don’t share them, but I react strongly when people disrespect other believes and prejudge them without knowing what it is about, or try to convince others that they have the ultimate truth.

I don’t know how it can be done, but maybe this idea of working to bring many different believes together, even the most controversial, and letting each one explain their spirituality without being attacked, could be a way of opening minds. Then, from there, we can talk of the things all have in common and how Art points to this common things, trying to find an artistic language that talks to everyone over the believes and over cultural limits. I believe that even when an artist use their own cultural or religious iconographies, if their Art talks of the common spiritual values, will reach and talk to all people. But what are those common values?

Augusto Cabrera.

Augusto,

I think that the main reason I want to be a part of the Renewal Arts movement is that I embrace your

idea of working to bring many different beliefs together ... and letting each one explain their spirituality without being attacked.

I happen to have a very strong faith.  I am a catholic Christian—a group not neccessarily associated with openness and acceptance.  Maybe this lack of openness is the outcome of fear—and not an unnatural fear, if you think about it.  I could easily come to the conclusion that my beliefs might be diluted if I take on board ideas and practices from other groups of believers and non-believers.  If I have faith in the Christian gospel—and am utterly convinced of its truth in all things and in all ways—then it could be reasonably argued that I need pay no attention to the values and practices of other faiths. My gospel is the complete truth.  Yours isn’t.

To think this way, I feel, would be a terrible loss for me.

I must recognize that the heart of Christianity is the belief that God created us in love, in order that that we love Him and that we love one another.  To disregard any part of God’s creation is to shut out part of my love for the Creator.  To relegate anyone to the role of second-class citizen simply because they have a creed which is at variance with mine, is a contradiction of my faith.  Love should and must surpass all other considerations.

I want to be a part of Renewal Arts because it is a way into the thoughts and practices of artists who may feel no empathy for my Christian beliefs.  As a Christian, I must accept with love the work that all artists of every stripe offer as selfless gifts to a world that so often rejects them without care or consideration.  Renewal Arts is the doorway through which rejection by an uncomprehending world becomes acceptance by those whose values exceed the merely temporal. If this is Renewal Arts mission, the movement will grow strong and healthy. It will have an impact for good in a world divided by those who would live in the isolation of their various creeds—and claim exclusivity where the Creator asks very opposite of us.

Once through that doorway of acceptance, Augusto, I think you’re right.

… we can talk of the things all have in common and how Art points to these common things, trying to find an artistic language that talks to everyone over their beliefs and over cultural limits. 

You ask what are our “common values”? I think there may be just one overriding common value, that of love.  The artist loves his work because it is born of in inner truth that burns in his soul.  The artist shares his work because of an all-consuming need to share that truth with his fellow-man. He permits the world to share his vision out of love, because only through purity and selflessness can he say anything of value. 

I am suddenly struck by the fact that without any intended reference to the Frank Buchman’s principles or ‘absolutes’, I happen to have cited love, truth, selflessness and purity as the central attributes of artistic expression.  All the more reason, perhaps, why the work of Renewal Arts should find its expression within the traditions of Initiatives of Change.

I would totally agree with that. Perhaps inviting people from different cultures and religions to explain it for those who know little about them? In school we are taught about various religions, their teachings, beliefs etc, but it is not the same as people from those religions explaining it. If the person is talking about it from experience, you can begin to understand why they believe these things and why they live that way. Once there is more understanding, prejudice tends to die out. Hence I usually seek understanding if I find myself begining to dislike a person.

What you were saying about that artist loving their work; I would say that if the artist did not love their work than at some point it stopped being art. That would be a very sad thing to happen to an artist, and thats one of the many reasons that I love RA, because it shows people how to love their mini creations. Doing this, and sharing that artwork with these people from different countries, backgrounds, cultures and religions, as you said, is like a language of our own.

I like the question you end with Augusto, what are the common values?
For me, I think love for the other person (which helps us to face things we may fear) and a joy in adventuring into our own creative world and that of others. In this we can experience the glory mystery and beauty of what the creator has made.
We need all the colours in the rainbow not just a few.

Hi All It’s a little quiet over here… So I thought I’d just add some new food for thought

There was a Conclave in India in March entitled Challenges of Change and one of the topics discussed was “Session Bollywood: Can art overcome hate?” Before you run away screaming on seeing the word Bollywood and Shah Rukh Khan, who was one of the key speakers there, please take a look at the two quotes:

“Art doesn’t change the bad situation but art can change us, turn us around, give us a new sense of freedom where we can breathe a space that won’t last forever but can so deeply refresh us that we are able to reenter the battle of uncertainty and hatred knowing that pain and terrible things are not the only reality, God’s great creation contains both good and bad, love and hatred, beauty and loss, suffering and joy so perhaps the first trick to living is to recognize not deny the presence and power of both darkness and light through life.

And the third trick teaches us if we do fall down as we probably will many times, just get up and start over and keep going. So, art plays this crucial role of recharging us, to keep walking on life’s uncertain path of hatred. My topic is not just about art and hatred but about religion. I think you will all agree with me that lot of these uncertainties and hatred that we see around the world is linked to directly or indirectly the manifestation of religious viewpoints, misinterpretations, misrepresentations and just plain misreading and misguidance. I got all these on Internet, the thoughts are of other people but I truly feel them.

A gentleman in Japan has said art is the mother of religion because the root word of religion stems from the Latin word religere which means unifier. Works of art and beauty in nature are awakener and stimulator that satisfy deepest emotions. Religion is the overall connector of all the myriad different pieces of life, sometimes contradictory pieces and sometimes good and sometimes bad pieces. All are subjective preferences in one universal peaceful whole. Have you ever made a choice in appreciating a piece of art? Whether you like it or dislike it because it was done by a Hindu or a Muslim. When I was young I did not say I am not listening to Michel Jackson because he is of Christian faith. And now wow it sounds good because he is now Mikhail.”

I’m quoting all this not just because I am hugely fond of Shah Rukh Khan - doesn’t it all fit in our discussion? Our work? Even commercial actors can be on ‘our’ side

If anyone is interested in the whole speech (it’s very long), here is the link (don’t get discouraged by somewhat jocular first two paragraphs!). Enjoy!

http://conclave.digitaltoday.in/conclave2009/speechtranscript.php?id=2651&issueid=33