The Power Of Art To Shape Inner Perception And The World

How often have you listened to music and noticed that those sounds influenced your mood? Or how often have you visited an Art exhibition and realized that just the fact that you were exposed to that Artwork broadened your horizons, and had you think in ways or of things you haven’t thought of before? Or how often have you entered previously unvisited realms of imagination through the means of these fantastic objects called books, and you were mesmerized by the ability of the author to build a world and take you along on that journey?

This is what I call The Power of Art to Shape Inner Perception and the World.

To be honest, this subject is so complex, that I could write a whole book on it. I shall refrain myself though, and contain the main ideas I’d like to refer to, in this short article.

The Purpose of Art

Let’s start from the beginning: Art takes many forms, be it music, literature, painting, film, architecture, etc. Regardless of the form, Art has a certain purpose.
Speaking from my own point of view as an Artist, it is a form of communication from the inner realms of the psyche to the outer collective world which we all experience.

Each artistic act serves as a medium from the inner to the outer. Or, if it is an artistic act that is absorbed, from the inner to the outer to the inner. Nevertheless, with the purpose of clear communication, and most often, with the purpose of influence.

Let’s take architecture and interior design as an example. Have you noticed how a certain architectural structure or interior design composition has influenced the way you feel or the thoughts you think? I most definitely have. I’ve been very privileged to have different culture-scapes open their doors to me and I’ve come to know this to be true:

Art shapes the way you think and the way you feel.

The Power of Art

Art has tremendous power: not only through the physical structures which surround us (which we may choose or not), but also through the sheer vibratory waves that may be sent our way through artistic means. Music. Words. And, in a more difficult to grasp way, the translation of energy via visual compositions that our eyes and brains and hearts interpret as images, but which are moving vibrations, and which do have an influence on our inner perception, and yes, also, on the world.

If you look throughout the History of Humanity, it is obvious that Art has always played an incredibly important role. From the paintings in the caves to propaganda posters, to speeches where the power of spoken word has influenced human consciousness in such a way that it created social movements, Art has always played an important role in human existence.

Art shapes the way we see ourselves. It also shapes the way we see the world. Art points us towards the most important elements of our human life. And it is also Art that points the way in which our life shall develop. It is a testimony about the way people live; and it also influences the way they live.

Art is creative self-expression in its purest form. It has the power to change us from the inside, or as Jeanette Winterson once stated, “True art, when it happens to us, challenges the ‘I’ that we are.” Art has the power to create worlds. Worlds of the psyche, worlds of imagination and physical worlds, too. And it is my sincere hope that, as a Society, we treat this power with great reverence, unequivocal ethics and encouragement. For it can hold the answer to many of our personal and collective challenges.