Having shown the depth of spirituality in the artistic impulse, Hazrat Inayat Khan now speaks about the importance of art in the life of ‘ordinary’ people. The previous post is here.
So we see that whether our road is right or wrong depends on our appreciation of the artistic side of life, or on our lack of it. But by saying this, one does not wish it to be understood that everyone must necessarily practice to become an artist, or learn some branch of art. It is only to say that there is a spark of artistic faculty in every soul. There is not a single soul who has not got this spark. Some have more, some have less. Yet that spark does not have to be used by everybody to that extent which is called “artist.” No. But we must exhibit and utilize that faculty in our everyday life. A person with the artistic faculty is sure to show it in everything he does, even in dusting a room or keeping it tidy, or in keeping a machine in order. In all these directions can a person show art. One does not require a palace before one can begin to manifest art. If one really has the love for beauty, one can show the artistic faculty in quite small things.
Besides this, there is the fact that the soul manifests outwardly that which it holds inwardly, so that it is the beauty which man has within himself which he expresses without. Man shows his artistic faculty in his manner towards his friend and towards his surroundings. A person who has no sense of art is called “rude”, “inconsiderate”, “thoughtless”, “foolish”, “simpleminded”, “crude”, “coarse.”
A person does not need to have much money in order to be able to express his art. He can express it in various circumstances. He may be the poorest man in the world and yet he can express the beauty of his soul in whatever state he may be placed. Beauty will not be hidden. One shows one’s art in one’s words. When one is in business, or in the family, or among friends, one does not know how many times during the day one hurts the feeling of others; one does not even notice them. Even though one were very learned or experienced, the lack of art would still manifest. Even a loving, kind, and good person will never be able to express the goodness which is hidden in his heart, if art is lacking.
When Jesus Christ taught in the Sermon Upon the Mount, “Blessed are they who are gentle, who are meek, humble, poor in spirit,” what lesson does it teach us? It is this lesson of art. The lesson is, “produce in one’s personality.” Even so-called artists, musicians, poets, painters, if they have not fostered art, if art is not impressed on the soul, and if the soul has not expressed the beauty of art, they do not know art; they are profane; they claim to be something they are not.
Having thought much upon this subject, and being specially interested in art, I have come in contact with artists of different countries both in the East and West. It has always proved that those who have really attained some greatness in their art were those who showed glimpses of art in their personality. It showed in the words they spoke, in the way they received me, and in the manner in which they spoke with me: their tenderness of heart, their friendliness, their interest in my affairs. Every sign of art could be seen in such personalities. Even if not an artist literally, a painter, a singer, a poet, whatever the real occupation, it does not matter as long as one has realized beauty in that occupation, and has perceived beauty around one, and has collected around one all that one finds beautiful. All this must be expressed in return, and it is that which is true art.
To be continued…