Art & Truth: Allies for Our Times

With the intensity that seems to be building in the world today, I find myself having more and more of those moments where I have to put the brushes down, take a step back and ask myself, what is even going on here? What am I doing as an artist? As a human? What am I making in this world? I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. I think we need such periods of reflection, especially in these times of rapid change and instability. I don’t have to tell you how crazy things are. We do things like look at videos of UFOs (sorry, UAP) and wonder if they are real or AI.  It’s enough to say we live in a world where things are not what they seem. Questioning everything is no longer just the job of artists or scientists, no longer reserved for existential meltdowns -  It’s something we all have to do every day. 

There are definitely times when the state of things makes me want to throw my phone in the trash and walk off into the woods. However, I usually decide it’s more productive to just accept these abundant opportunities for self-reflection. When we can’t take things at face value, we are forced to look at our own perceptions, our own beliefs, and go deeper into things… When we can’t take things for granted, we are forced to seek truth. Art may turn out to be an important ally in that endeavor. 

While the word itself indicates artifice on some level, humanity has always looked to art to reflect back to us the truth of who we are. Today, art  is emerging as a defining element of our species, a sacred mirror that illuminates human experience in contrast to artificial intelligence. We look to it, as we always have, as evidence of our better nature, of our connection to something greater than ourselves. In this context, it is also important to remember that what we ask of art is what we will receive. If our demand of artists is to produce wall decoration or crank out shallow content to survive, then that vital distinction will no longer hold, and we will not create anything that stands out from the slop. Our responsibility now is to seek out and support art that is gives us truth - for our own sake and for that of the artist. AI is calling us to task on this. It won’t replace art entirely—just the art that doesn’t go deep enough. In this way, art and truth will not cease to exist, but they will become increasingly rare - and it will be up to us value them. 

As our responsibility for seeking truth continues to grow, we need to be aware of where to find it and how to nurture it. Here is a reminder of some of the greater wellsprings at our disposal, and how art can be the key to accessing them: 

1) Nature 

Uncertainty makes us seek solid ground, and the only real ground to be found is in the understanding that we are part of nature. We can tune into this through our five senses. What can we hear and feel? What colors and patterns do we see? Art helps us ask these questions and become more aware of our experience. When we zoom in to the smallest details through observation and attention, we see the interconnectedness of all things, the beauty of the world. We we zoom out, and realize the vastness of the sky and our delicate earth suspended in within it. We see the truth that we are a tiny speck in the cosmos, that things are happening on a much larger scale, on a much greater timeline that we can even perceive. Nature always holds the truth of who we are. The one place we can stand is in knowing that everything is unfolding, good or bad, as governed by the greater forces of the universe. 

2)  Creativity 

You might think that creativity is all about the imaginary, the unreal. But the creative process calls us to  listen inwardly and become receptive to what is true. Creativity doesn’t come from the thinking brain. It comes from the soul. As Julia Cameron states in one of my favorite quotes, « Art is not about making something up, but getting something down. » Making art and engaging with it helps us practice the skill of listening to the soul, of going beneath the surface into the deeper parts of our inner world to feel into the truth we can’t access any other way. Creativity is our connection to the divine. 

3) Connection

Even in a world where there is so much conflict, I still believe that we find truth through a sense connection with other people. Yes, relationships can be fraught, and of course we find truth when we sit alone with ourselves. In the current state of the world, isolation can definitely feel like a relief. But think for a minute about how it feels to genuinely connect with someone - whether it is just sharing a laugh with a stranger in the supermarket, or opening up to a friend and having them deeply listen and understand you in that moment, or how it feels to come to the aid of someone in need. When you think of what it is like to feel really connected to another person, you know truth is there. Art reminds us of this. its capacity to reveal all the messy, vulnerable, and complicate parts of ourselves. It invites us to believe that we can find truth in each other, and in our shared experience as flawed humans, all wondering how to handle the mystery of being here. 

I suppose you could argue that the real truth of anything is beyond our understanding, beyond our capacity as humans to ever grasp. But it is still always there. Even with our limitations, truth with a capital T is still what we think of as the guiding force in our lives. When we can’t know it with our minds, we sense it in the body.  We know the truth even when we don’t want to know it, and even when we are not able to act on it. All we can do is try to stay connected to Truth as we navigate the illusion that is this life. Art is an ally that helps us find it.