Surprised by the Spirit

For me, the surprise of the Spirit manifests itself in all areas of human imagination. Frankly, God exists in our imagination or God doesn’t exist for us at all. Areas where we see the fruits of the Spirit in the human imagination are especially in education and the arts including music. It’s no accident that artists described themselves as being “inspired,” literally meaning “in the spirit.” Through this manifestation of Spirit we are endlessly surprised and delighted. We begin to see the world, events and relationships in different and unexpected ways. This is what makes art and education so transformative. We are pulled out of our limited way of seeing things.

But God or the Spirit exists beyond our imagination. The world is God’s pallet. Look around. Beauty, surprise and awe are everywhere. Reality delights and astonishes us. But we have to be willing to gaze on it with truly open and loving eyes.

Even the worst and the ugly can be seen as beautiful through the artist’s eye. For example artist Chris Jordan created this gallery Intolerable Beauty: Portraits of American Mass Consumption as a way to help people see the tragedy and devastation of our consumeristic and materialist lifestyle.

Look around today. Spend some time looking out the window. Listen carefully. What beauty and art is presented to you? Drink it in.

You may also like Stars and Spirit Sightings.