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The Need for Art

  • Writer: Christian D'Andre
    Christian D'Andre
  • Aug 9
  • 5 min read

Last week, I wrote about the relationship between truth and fantasy. This is a rabbit hole I want to keep going down. I love the inspiration that comes with legitimizing the imagination. I feel like we talk about art like it’s a load of hooey, like we need to focus our attention on something practical, like having a career or learning about world war 2. Those are cool, but what if they're the end results? What if they come to life in far more vibrant ways when we are filled up with creativity and imagination? What if art, while not particularly “practical,” is the thing that we need deep down to make the practical function? 


I picture the whole thing like a spring. Something has to start waay down below to build enough pressure and stuff to make it up and out with enough force to make an exciting goosh! Ok, I actually don’t know anything about geysers or water or anything to know if I just said something accurate or not. Don’t come after me if I just made an idiot of myself, just roll with it. But you get the idea: you gotta have something deep going on to have the shallow things work. 


Inspiration is one of those deeper things. The drive to keep sprinting when the track feels long, the will to send you barreling through the finish line when you might be tempted to just barely poke it. Maybe you need that spark to look for something more in your life, to make time for something that’s anything but practical. Because what may not be “practical,” or “helping you survive,” may make your survival efforts worthwhile. It may be that you’re actually nourishing your very soul. 


I’m reminded by a quote by some dude named zig ziglar, who reminded us that inspiration doesn’t last. But, then again, neither does bathing. That’s why we recommend it daily. Some of y’all don’t get enough showers, and it really shows. More of us, though, don’t get enough inspiration, and that’s even worse. We need to stay driven and committed to something in life. We need to have that zest, that spark that beckons us onward towards our destinies! 


What if we had some intentional inspiration time? I want to say whip up a playlist for when you shower, but I’m scared to ask how many of you will just be missing two goals, then. I do think something should happen daily, though. We poo-poo those who mindlessly watch TV, but what if we sat down for something that really meant something to us? What if we found something that lit that spark inside of us, driving us to be more than we were before? 


Inspiration starts with a goal. Something you want to do in your life. Maybe you just want to get through the day. Maybe you have so much on your plate that just surviving it all feels like a miracle. That’s fine. But let someone help you. Let someone step in to give you a little push to get you through. Every day we should be tapping into our drive to paint our lives in living color, not just black and white. 


The question I feel myself asking is “how do art and inspiration fit into my life as a Christian?” Oftentimes, I feel like talk of putting things at the altar and picking up your cross keeps me bogged down. I almost get the feeling that life is supposed to feel like a crappy burden. What happened to having dominion? What about taking the raw materials of this world and making something unique and original out of it? Can not the painter paint and the musician play? What does the Bible, and ultimately God, have to say about being creative? 


A lot of people want to use it as a platform to preach the gospel. I’m ok with that idea, but not in the way we use it nowadays. Christians should use art to help people get to know God and goodness, but we limit ourselves if we just talk about God with our words. Movies and music, for example, are about far more than just lyrics and messages. They’re about getting inspired to do good and to be better, not worse. Art is all about getting to know God in a lot more ways than one. 


It’s funny, over my time growing as a Christian, my tastes in music and movies have shifted, but not in the ways you might expect. I don’t listen to just worship music or spend all weekend rewatching the Narnia movies. No, it’s broader than that. I find I like stories that wrestle with good and evil; that expose the conflict and try to find the right path anyway. I like music that isn’t about chasing a nice face, but about staying home and enjoying the company of the one you’ve been steadily growing with for the last ten years. These artists don’t have to be Christians and their ideas may or may not be inspired by the works of the bible. But if I associate good feelings with good things, I’d say we’re doing pretty good. 


But that’s the scary thing: what is a bad thing, but a good thing taken too far out of context? Isn’t that what Joaquin Phoenix’ joker taught us, that empathy lets us permit some pretty evil stuff if we let it run wild? A valid question! That’s where art can articulate the difference between getting to know virtue and getting to know God. God is a combination of all of the virtues. Take one out completely and you don’t have God, you have good. 


Maybe that’s the real difference between art made by the Christian and art made by the secular man: the Christian seeks to know God on a deeper level. He tries to understand God not through some shallow means of his intellect, or to regurgitate the words of his pastor, but to have an encounter with God on a personal level. I wonder if God gave us our capacity for art to help us connect with him in some new and exciting ways. I wonder if there’s something to be said for that. 


After all, isn’t that how we bond with others? Don’t we feel a little closer to someone else after seeing a movie or listening to a song together? Heck, even if we’re just in the same room experiencing the same museum or doing the same workout, don’t we feel a little bit closer to them? I have felt iffy about saying this for a while, but I often feel closer to God through writing about movies. They reveal deep truths about my life and God’s place in it. Even scary stuff like 28 years later has moved me in ways I didn’t think were possible. Life is weird like that, I guess.


But our first step is to really tap into our art-senses. We need to appreciate what feels good, as much as we hate trusting our “feelings.”


Geez, that’s a whole separate topic. 


So take note of what feels good, what sits right with you. Explore the territories of the art world and give yourself permission to get curious with that child-like wonder again.

Until Next Time

May Peace be your Guide.

1 Comment

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Guest
Aug 15
Rated 4 out of 5 stars.

Thank you for this inspiring post. You are right, so many times we are too pragmatic in our approach to art, but in reality it's an expression of who we are, who we long to be and who created us. Thanks again.

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