I find it sad at times to observe that my artist, musician, and literary friends seem to run the opposite direction as soon as they hear or see any hint or appearance of Jesus’s presence in their midst. With poor vision distorted by old fears, it is the Christian version of Jesus they see, the one they likely grew up with, who inspires anti-abortion protesters to become terrorists, and fundamentalists to abhor advocates of gay marriage; not the Jesus we love in the Urantia Book (The UB). People of the arts also fear that their self-expression, their art is threatened, that it too will be negated, devalued, perhaps destroyed by a religion associated with the Master.

   The UB seems to sympathize and show some understanding for the feeling, though from a somewhat different perspective: “Modern men and women of intelligence evade the religion of Jesus because of their fears of what it will do to them—and with them. And all such fears are well founded. The religion of Jesus does, indeed, dominate and transform its believers, demanding that men dedicate their lives to seeking for a knowledge of the will of the Father in heaven and requiring that the energies of living be consecrated to the unselfish service of the brotherhood of man.” (195:9.6, pg. 2083)

   Jesus tried to correct a misperception that serving God and man required one to adopt the religious career of an evangelist, or minister of some kind, “Fail not to remember that the will of God can be done in any earthly occupation. Some callings are not holy and others secular. All things are sacred in the lives of those who are spirit led; that is, subordinated to truth, ennobled by love, dominated by mercy, and restrained by fairness—justice. The spirit which my Father and I shall send into the world is not only the Spirit of Truth but also the spirit of idealistic beauty.” (155:6.11, pg. 1732)

   Idealistic beauty, hmmm … now there’s a goal for an artist to strive for! So let us look at how the noble occupations of artist, musician, poet, painter and the rest are supported and encouraged to make art that guides our civilization to a higher purpose.

   “The domains of philosophy and art intervene between the nonreligious and the religious activities of the human self. Through art and philosophy the material-minded man is inveigled into the contemplation of the spiritual realities and universe values of eternal meanings.” (5:4.4, pg. 67)

   “The high mission of any art is, by its illusions, to foreshadow a higher universe reality, to crystallize the emotions of time into the thought of eternity.” (48:7.23, pg. 557)

   Einstein once wrote, “In my view, it is the most important function of art and science to awaken this [cosmic religious] feeling and keep it alive in those who are receptive to it.”

 (fr. Science and Religion, 1930.) http://www.sacred-texts.com/aor/einstein/einsci.htm

   “Art faces the same problem now … that it did then: namely, how to generate and articulate what Kandinsky called "the all-important spark of inner life," . . . As he said, "It is the core of spiritual experience." (Donald Kuspit)

   “Beauty, art, is largely a matter of the unification of contrasts. Variety is essential to the concept of beauty. The supreme beauty, the height of finite art, is the drama of the unification of the vastness of the cosmic extremes of Creator and creature. Man finding God and God finding man—the creature becoming perfect as is the Creator—that is the supernal achievement of the supremely beautiful, the attainment of the apex of cosmic art. (56:10.3, pg. 646)

   “To send light into the darkness of men’s hearts—such is the duty of the artist,” (Robert Schumann)

   “Art proves that man is not mechanistic, but it does not prove that he is spiritually immortal. Art is mortal morontia, the intervening field between man, the material, and man, the spiritual.” (195:7.15, pg. 2079)

   “In a secularising world, art has replaced religion as a touchstone of our reverence and devotion,” Alain de Botton. Perhaps what Monsieur de Botton said might still be true today but in an enlightened age to come, art and religion will combine forces to evolve a higher reverence for the Supreme, and friendship with the Creator, the greatest artist of all. 

   “Literature, music and art are the first and most sensitive spheres in which this spiritual revolution makes itself felt. They reflect the dark picture of the present time and show the importance of what at first was only a little point of light noticed by few and for the great majority non-existent. … they turn away from the soulless life of the present towards those substances and ideas which give free scope to the non-material strivings of the soul.” (artist, Wassily Kandinsky)

   Keep the faith in that “Spirit of Idealistic Beauty” bestowed by Michael, our local Creator Son! From “a little point of light noticed by few” we artists can make a lighthouse to guide the travelers home.