perception • research • creative
ESSAY – ART, MORALITY AND DIVINE WAYS OF SEEING
When encountering works of art we often limit ourselves to quite literal ways of perceiving and understanding them. We ask ourselves who did it, what is it made of, what did they believe about it, etc., but is there more to it? The philosophers of antiquity understood different kinds of interpretation to be possible, going from physical and external aspects but also further towards inner and spiritual kinds of perception. Knowledge of these different levels was seen as a valid path and method for moving from knowledge of the 'visibles’ to knowledge of the ‘invisibles’…
In medieval Christianity there was a process of reading scripture called ‘Lectio Divina’ meaning ‘Divine Reading’. In brief, this required initial reading of the text with pauses for prayer before a focused meditation in order to realise the full understanding. From this brief description we can see that the experience would be quite different to ordinary ‘reading’. The Neoplatonic philosopher Proclus explained the different levels in relation to statues, which in antiquity were widely accepted as revealing certain spiritual energies under the right conditions. First, the statue was understood literally, i.e. as made of marble, metal or wood. Second, the statue was understood to represent something, a particular belief, deity or virtue. Thirdly and most crucially the statue was understood to become a reflection of something. Finally, at the fourth level, the statue became identified as directly participating in divinity itself. At this level the viewer might encounter such miraculous visions as have been reported at various times in history.
At the first literal level we get to know the material nature of a work of art, its size, shape or colour. Second, we come to know the beliefs and opinions held about it, such as the figure shown represents the Goddess Venus, who expressed an ideal of Love and Beauty for the Romans. The level of being able to grasp that the thing we are looking at can represent something else is called allegory and an allegorical level of understanding. What is important to note here is that both the literal and allegorical ways of understanding remain external and as philosophers we recognise that inner and more subtle dimensions of life are also important; which begs the question, what next?
At the third level something of an entirely different register occurs, which the philosophers of antiquity called the ‘moral’ sense. At this point what we are looking at begins to mean something to us, it reflects something that we resonate with. The symbolic threshold arises and symbolic literacy is important at this level. Seeking this kind of understanding means allowing the work of art or object to become vital to us, allowing it to reveal its meaning to us. When we allow works of art to ‘dialogue' in this way, there often occurs some kind of realisation, usually of change… The moral level is the turning point from which the fourth − the most mystical and remote for us today − can spring and leap into the fullness of illumination. In antiquity this level was called the intuitive or anagogic.
Literal and allegorical levels of understanding are useful because they give structure and ground our interpretations, informing and directing our moral insights. However, moving to encounters beyond the external, we must allow something of ourselves to participate during the moment of viewing. To enter the moral sense we must allow a part of ourselves to be called forth by the work of art or object. This requires courage because it usually invites us to an inner message of transformation. In more universal terms, perhaps any moral understanding of life is chiefly traversed by this kind of courage. A popular medieval verse said “The letter teaches you the facts, allegory what you should believe, morality how you should act and anagoge what to hope for…” May our encounters with art give us some courage for moral action and inspire in us once more images of Goodness and Divinity to hope for.
Siobhan Cait Farrar
London 2024.