Creativity & Spirituality : Alex Grey & Andrew Cohen

one of the things I always wanted to know was how what did what does God feel like what does God feel like as the Creator or as the creative principle it feels ecstatic right it feels like Ecstasy but it also feels like great urgency for me uh uh the artwork is a portal to a Mystic Dimension at its greatest you know sort of uh potential it's a Priceless evocation of the uh Timeless uh uh being it's it's God came into form through van go or something like that in that Primal uh art moment it's actually Priceless you can't you know you can't pay enough money uh to uh uh you know you can't possess it with [Music] money there is a creative force that is also a spiritual Force there's been a denial um it and which always shocks me that uh the Arts themselves which deal so much with imagination and the uh inner flow of of Consciousness could have bought into the materialist Paradigm but nevertheless uh surprisingly uh at least not not just the Art Market itself but many artists uh have gone through the same kind of painful alienation and we know that 20th century art has reflected this kind of existential crisis where there uh has been uh seemingly a world bereft of a spiritual reality of depth yes for many and uh we can see that some of the most uh I guess well regarded art of the recent past uh from pop art um on has dealt with with the surfaces of things and is dealt with the material uh obsessed Humanity well which is a reflection of postmodern values of narcissism and materialism right that's what's that's what the Arts a reflection of yes lack of depth [Music] exactly and also we can go into the whole nihilist uh uh malstrom and and look at the self-destructiveness of humanity and those who would read the papers and to get an idea of who we really are uh might uh be making art about that kind of uh negative and self-destructive uh world so it's important for art to provide a an adequate mirror to the entire spectrum of of humanity and of our world but uh there has it has been to the neglect in some cases of the uh pointing out the higher [Music] possibilities when you were speaking about for example with the postmodern nihilism uh of course there is there's a lot about the creative process from the very beginning that has been very messy you know I mean it's important to understand the entire creative process from the very beginning has not been very peaceful and the you know when God decided to create the universe wasn't a a peaceful lovey-dovey event from the whole from the very beginning we could you could even say that the that the Big Bang was an was an act of incredible violence from a certain point of view and as uh you know and as stars would Collide into each other there would be enormous explosions there was tremendous conflict and chaos but out of the creative conflict and Chaos higher compounds emerged that eventually over very billions of years made it possible for you know for life to emerge and I think it's very important for us to all to understand that the creative process at every stage is is inherently full of conflict and chaos but what's driving the conflict and chaos is is that original creative impulse which when you awaken to it when you experience it it's it's inherently and absolutely good it's the nature of love with a capital l but not uh not personal romantic or sentimental love it's it's a it's a kind of it's a radical impersonal love that doesn't recognize individuals or anything personal it's it's it's searing overwhelming and so when we begin we when we can begin to see that the that the creative process itself is uh is that that it's full of conflict but the conflict itself is inherently creative okay and you have to you have to see that the creative process itself is messy it's mid meanders we go here and we go there but if you stand back far enough you can see that there is evolution there's development there's TS there's directionality and and then when we begin to recognize this and then begin to apply our own uh intelligence our Keen intellect and intelligence and understanding to the process what we can then do is begin to actually take responsibility for it and begin to guide it through our own you know through the power of our own will through the power of our own awareness and ultimately it's something we can begin to come together in and then what we begin to come together in and as is the creative principle itself we it begins to awaken within us and and when we when that's a when that's a not only an idea but in a conscious living experience that we begin to share with each other our Rel relationship to Life Changes in a very dramatic way and I think that really does uh respond to the nihilism to the postmodern nihilism and flatness and deadness that you were speaking about in the most direct way because it it compels us to take responsibility for the inherent goodness that created us and that is driving us right now [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] 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