Beauty in Traditional Arts - Sarah Magalhães

Revelation and the function of Beauty  in Traditional Arts  By Sarah MagalhãesToday we will becontemplating on Traditional Arts. To awaken the sense of beauty, I have selected a few passages from Art From the Sacred to the Profane: East and West, writings of Frithjof Schuon, edited by Catherine Schuon and extracts from the chapter:  TheDegrees of Art in  Esoterism as a Principal and as a Way.   I propose to elucidate the function of revelation in the artistic process of a practitionerof  traditional arts and to answer some important questions related to the role of art and Beauty in human life as receptacles of Truth. To express the ideas discussed through a visual medium, a traditional Bharat Natyam dance performance will follow at the end of this presentation.? What is the most effective way to communicate Beauty, the vehicle of saving Truth?? What is the most appropriate way to convey the metaphysical nature of things through the beauty of forms? ? How can we provoke the same state of contemplativeness in the other by realizing a“contemplative disinterestedness” in the act of creation ?? How can traditional art  become an "upaya", a "provisional means" to convey metaphysical truths ?  These questions are relevant for any field of traditional arts. There are many aspects ofsacred expressions  such as writing, recitation, calligraphy, painting, architecture, sculpture, clothing, pottery, dance, music…  My experience, in particular, refers to the sense of the sacred in the art of gesture and sacred dance. However, the practitioner of any field of traditional art and the appreciators of art will find resonance with the ideas discussed here.Introduction:Traditional artproposes in its mode of operation an homogeneous worldview, being  an integral expression of the social,religious, ethical, practical and spiritual dimensions of existence. Thus, thiskind of art is a natural expression of life. It has the power to hold togetherseveral streams of a specific culture and to express its true values. In ourpresent times we no longer have the traditional framework of existence, butstill the blessings transmitted by tradition allows the serious seeker in thefield of art to experience its essence. Art, conceived in a traditional way, encompasses all aspects of life, expressinghigher values, revealing truth and metaphysical wisdom. In this context, artassumes a very different role from the superficial modern approach in which artis considered mere entertainment or just merchandise. On the other hand, thetraditional approach to art is that of a metaphysical and religious phenomenon,which is intrinsically connected with Revelation. Art is thus, none other thana channel for revelation of the sacred content of a particular religion. Beingrooted on  symbols provided byRevelation, traditional arts  has afunction related to esoterism as it reveals the metaphysical and mysticalmeanings inherent in the cannons established by tradition. Thus, the creativeprocess  is an experience connectingearthly existence with transcendence; encompassing man’s personality as a wholein which the Unified Reality beyond forms, once realized in  depth becomes gnosis, where intellectionmeets Revelation. As in themedieval conception: "Ars sine scientia nihil est”, which means that thepractice of art without knowledge is nothing, establishes that the creativeprocess must be rooted in knowledge, reason and established principles. Thecreative activity must be guided by three principles: intuition of metaphysicalrealities, understanding by which the intellect grasps the universal symbolismand “sciencia”, the skill necessary to realize the work.  Thus, this kind of art requires discrimination, rigor of practice and dedication totradition, as it includes specific knowledge and definite principles to bemastered. Likewise one acquires a skill of realizing the union of the knowerwith what he knows, which allows, spontaneously, the activity of creation tohappen.The artist has tosurpass himself through the mastery of the artform in its aspect ofcontemplation and action. Art becomes an exercise of purifying the mind by thecontemplation of divine models, leading the mind back to its original Reality. In this processthe artist realizes his own essence, or what he should be or become, expressinghis ultimate purpose in life. Creation is thus a sacrament as saysCoomaraswamy; a necessity of life and its mission is to express, throughbeautiful forms, spiritual values, whether these are cosmic aspects, savingtruths or liberating beauty. I quote Schuon: “Sacred art isfirst of all the visible and audible form of Revelation and then also itsindispensable liturgical vesture. The form must be an adequate expression ofits content; in no case should it contradict it, it cannot be abandoned to thearbitrary decisions of individuals, to their ignorance and their passions.” “No art in itselfis a human creation; but sacred art has this particularity, that its essentialcontent is a revelation, that it manifests a properly sacramental form of heavenlyreality, such as the icon of the Virgin and Child, painted by an angel… or suchas the statue of Shiva dancing or the painted or carved images of the Buddhas,Bodhisattvas, and Taras.”             Avalokiteshvara, bodhisattva of Mercy, Nepal, c. 12th century In this iconographic image,  we can note that theweight of the body of the  bodhisattva isslightly moved to the left leg allowing the right foot to be lifted up over theground, suggesting the possibility of liberating oneself from the samsarikearthly existence. What is the mosteffective way to communicate Beauty, the vehicle of saving Truth?Beauty is adirect expression of Truth. In order to restore the fall inherent in existenceand to convey the saving Truth,  thecontemplation of aesthetic expressions manifesting celestial intentions isindeed an effective way to awaken the sense of divine Beauty.  Thus, the true purpose of art  is to become a support for the contemplationof God. Consequently, the beauty expressed in the artwork is above all that ofthe soul of the artist, alchemically transformed by the creative process, andfinally exteriorized in his work.  Any beauty hasthree aspects in all: truth, goodness and bliss, as shown in the Hindu formula:Satyam Shivam Sundaram.  The worth of thework of art will reflect the qualities of truth, beauty and goodness of God’screation. Something universal which can be felt by the heart, which has ameaning, but is not understood by reason alone. The aesthetic influence whichemanates from such artwork conforming to truth, beauty and goodness provokes acontemplative state of mind as it reverberates in the heart like theremembrance of our origin. The beauties ofthis world can exteriorize the soul attracting to its objects of perception.However, there is a possibility of appreciating an external object as a meansof  spiritualizing  beauty. This is the mystery of“Exteriorization in view of Interiorization” as thought by Schuon, inwhich  the sensible beauty, which wouldexteriorize the soul, becomes a spiritual access to the heart  by the attraction of the inward pole, orGod’s grace.       Far from this perspective, is theaesthetic pleasure that emanates from most of the modern and profane artwork,which is a kind of forgetting of the stress of life in an irreverent way. Suchcreations are often inspired by the subconsciousness of the artist. This freeinspiration being disconnected from the quest of truth, only expresses thepsychological states of mind of the artist, revealing the narrow scope of hisindividuality.  I quote Schuon:“Sacred art ismade as a vehicle for spiritual presences, it is made at one and the same timefor God, for angels, and for man; profane art on the other hand exists only forman and by that very fact betrays him.”On the otherhand, in the light of the Philosophia Perennis, the understanding of atraditional artwork becomes a path to reveal the mysteries of the Universe, theuniversality of existence.  We come backto the land of the spirit and to divine Beauty.I quote Schuon:“It is thespiritual element or the connection with what transcends the element of beautyin the world, that reveals the roots of beauty itself. Beauty as uncreated,before manifestation is Divine Beauty and this is the root of manifestedbeauty.”“It is importantto understand, first of all, that the purpose of art is not a priori to induceaesthetic emotions, but to transmit, together with these, a more or less directspiritual message, and thus suggestions emanating