The Via Positiva and the Arts – Part Four

The Via Positiva and the Arts

In this essay I complete the picture of the Via Positiva by examining the creative arts in more detail. The modern world places great store on human creativity, often finding in it and its productions a mystery of almost religious dimensions. It is obvious indeed that the creativity of not just artists but also scientists, engineers, and all the other disciplines that contribute to a modern democratic world, is to be highly regarded.

And, despite the postmodern efforts to discredit the idea of creative genius, contemporary society lavishes praise on creative individuals, in obvious ways through celebrity culture, and in quieter ways through the judgement of history and the often posthumous recognition of outstanding talent in all fields of endeavour.

I will concentrate in this essay on artists and their creativity, a creativity which we all recognize to have something akin, in its heights, to spiritual ecstasy. In the Neoplatonist Renaissance vision of the Florentine Academy, such creativity had its source in proper contemplation, and its productions spoke of spiritual truths…Click here to read the rest of the article (to download the PDF, ‘right-click’ and select “save as”)