Pavel Smutný – Jiří Škodák:

Spiritual art – way or target?

View of the painter and theologian

The word spirit evolved from the original word breath (revitalizing breath). The base of the word dheno coheres with the Greek God denotation Theos.

By spirit we understand thinking human consciousness. It is possible to comprehend it as a live spirit which brings new ideas – as an inventor or a researcher. We also speak of human spiritual properties by which we understand not only the artistic and intellectual gift, but also the ability of imagination which are connected with them.

By mental human abilities we understand the ability of an individual to judge ponder a definite activity and to this is needed the already mentioned imagination.

In connection with the term spiritual we mostly speak of religion, of matters concerning ecclesiastic or better church framework – to this belong spiritual songs, spiritual paintings, but also holy orders as a profession and function.

Earthly existence of man essentially brings with itself a constant agitation which is contingent on the desire of  come – back. This desire is inseparably connected with searching for the actual goal and that is a task which requires spiritual effort, responsibility of awareness for every expression, have control of oneself and wisdom in leading, the fruit of which is to meet with real freedom in the world of means that in this understanding lead to the goal.

Man as a individual is an individual structure into which we include all that man is and what he becomes through his activities and all the significance of his existence.

Every individual quantitatively qualifies out of matter – the form modifies matter to the specific purpose of being. The form in man is spirit and therefore a rational way of existence gives particular perfection to man – man is not only an individual but a personality as well, and that an ontological personality which may develop into a moral personality, artistic personality or a personality noted for further kinds of activities and abilities. Likewise the intellectual mode of a personality is determined by form.

Spirit in man is actus as a determining principle of human personality. Therefore the intrinsic spiritual activity reveals in man a spiritual principle of its own, which as an actus is capable of penetrating the cores of things and understand them and their sense, because all determinations in a thing which are given by a form, are a reflex of spirit and of its activity (as a regularity, consistence, direction to the goal).

Man is and lives through spirit. Individual life is subject to activity (connection with the German verb konnen = can, wish or know) and even a relation to things and people, and therefore it can benefit or harm community, it can be realized in community and bring much good and benefaction in art and technology.

In this connection it is necessary to mention the eros as a principle of human creativity. Every activity of man springs up from his substance. Therefrom come all sorts of activities to his satisfaction. Natural activity expresses in two ways: agere (ideas) – facere (acts). To create (agere) involves inner activity, facere (act) denotes an activity coming out of the object and the thing changing in some way and giving it an outer form. In art it is artistic creation. Man is naturally an active being, creative. It is natural that man loves activity and creativity, in him there is eros – that is natural inclination towards activity.

Here we get to the question of the goal of human life and the means which lead to it. Every act and every art and decision has its goal to which it aims and which is naturally achievable. The goal of things is for human activity to attain well-being. Man seeks his appropriate well-being.

None of the goals he desires and which he searches for with all his activity is ultimate: they are only the means to the higher and only out of them the best good can be the last goal (spirit-dheno-God-Jahve-tao). Such a goal can be only one and that both in individual good and through the whole human life. As a perfect good such can be denoted that we seek for itself, for its value. Every other is only a means to a more profound one.

Aristotle denotes as the best good happiness, and with this all people agree. Man cannot wish more than that. We search for happiness for happiness itself, never for another other purpose. Other things as e.g. honor, excellence and delight man can choose for themselves, but because of imperfections and incompleteness in them we seek in them happiness itself. Thus they only are a means which is to take us to the goal. Those who keep sticking to them are cornered or they move in circulus vitiosus.

According to its definition happiness is achieving of the ultimate good. It is self-sufficient not only in its own ego in which life is limited, but it requires community as well. And all that makes life desirable belongs there. Life is indicated not only with material shortage but above all with spiritual shortage.

The good is by its character active, it inspires activity, tendency and desire in order that it may be achieved. It takes possession of the whole man and utilizes everything by what man lives.

Free will presumes intellectual reasoning and judgement of reasoning for what man should decide. At the same time reason is not determined to only one possibility, it on the contrary finds out that there are more mediums towards goal achievement and hence even more of possible ways of behavior. Free act is not necessary, it is not forced, it is not determined by previous conditions. They can influence, but not force.

Liberty consciousness means consciousness of spiritual power. It is a sign of ability to decide freely and to be responsible for one’s act. Will power is stronger than the power of passion, because it is spiritual. The real liberty is the property of will, to which belongs ability to love – to wish the good and enjoy it.

The view of a composer and music scientist
 

In the following five items I briefly comment general conclusions which follow from contribution of Jiří Škodák for artistic creative work and theoretical profession which appraises it.

Every real art has a spiritual dimension. Therefore in broader sense every really artistic creative activity can be observed as a spiritual art. If we use the term spiritual art in its narrower sense, it should take place in keeping with structures of the word “ spiritual “ already mentioned by my colleague – to stress its narrower relation to religious inspirational sources, which it expresses through the aim both of text or pure music.

If art really is to be a spiritual affair, it must not fossilize in the position agere (art for art, technique means, way), but it must be directed to facere (art as a mediator of higher values - transcendency , God, Goal). Consequently – art cannot exist without content and form: it is however essential to understand both as a means, as an instrument aiming at a goal. The real spiritual art does not exist without a goal, to which all its components not only conduce, but from which they emanate as well.

If we as Europeans take spirit in a sense of Christian tradition as a principle which the Holy Spirit liturgy words “all restores and fills, and speaks to people in all languages”, it is necessary to understand art as the expression of the action of this Spirit which according to the Bible It breathes where It wishes. Or : every real art has to come out of this base and lead to it as to its goal. The Spirit however expresses itself in different times in a different way, and thus it is impossible to raise to its level any purely technical or philosophical principle. From this follows the requirement of tolerance and listening to the breathing of the Spirit which manifests in different works of art differently. The only way to disclose the wealth of spiritual gifts is to reveal the individuality of man and creator and its manifestation in art.

The mentioned difference of artistic expression manner can be also justified by the difference of ways of works of art reception, which ensue from the given psychological facts of every individual. Spoken in another way: a unique real communicatory form does not exist and even cannot exist. Spiritual art cannot be limited to only one style, to one or several limited ways of technique and thinking. On the contrary, human substance requires that works of art address different people with different language. It is however clear that the real works of art come out of the one origin and they, too, point to it. The real artist is then even a real human being, his life and substance reflects in art which is a spiritual message and as that it should through meditation lead to a real happiness.

From what was said we can conclude that the only criterion for genuineness and spiritual essence of a work of art is its efficiency to address a concrete man and affect his soul (compare the stressing music as a language of emotions in Smetana or Janáček), which finds in it its roots, because its spiritual essence is identical with his soul’s self. From this point of view there is no sense in defending with long speeches, expert analyses and with references to poor education of perceivers such work which is not understood at least by a part of perceivers. That is to say, if it does not rise from really spiritual roots, it even cannot point to spiritual extension and likewise not resonate with human soul.

Maybe these facts are held for a matter of course by many readers. If we however view the current situation not only in the so called spiritual art, but in art in general, we find out that the application of these thoughts definitely is not a matter of course. What we lack is a sincere humbleness, out of which follows tolerance and willingness to listen to someone else, which however must include the will to a dialogue and transformation of one’s own. There and then it is possible to transform the world by art, of course if it is not replaced by only the way or the goal. Various means or noble ideals do not yet create genuine art. Only their mysterious union it creates, which in accordance with understanding of individual spiritual path of every individual forms the way to the Goal.