To have faith in a literal sense is to know that you have the truth. When you are full of truth -you know you are right. In a spiritual way -you are sure of where you stand.
In an artistic way -you are confident -and express yourself with a certain intent. To have will -is to be responsible (to respond) in the process of illumination. To be faithful -is to not hesitate before creation. To have no inhibitions or misgivings is to always begin at the beginning. Faith in this way -is the purest artistic forming. Even if the subtle light is reluctant to be shaped -one woos and courts it by being authentic and genuine. Only the truth is worthy of consideration. To have the truth is to have faith. In outsider art -we are confronted with an anomaly. What is expressed is a variation -something that cannot be predicted.
The truth in itself is also ever surprising. It arises out of a contrariness -and a wayward spark. It goes against the grain -and often involves a sort of risk or adventure. There is no way to know you have the truth unless you know you have faith. Artistic will is founded on such an inclination. To be sure of your art is to know you are speaking -out of the circle of self. This is when you realize that one must stand firm -and not be moved off the mark. You lean against the rock of your conscience and speak -only of veracity and principle. This kind of artist does not cheat his audience -he is respectful of their point of view. He does not underestimate their intellects.
To have purpose is to unlearn everything you have learned. One must squint your eyes -in order to see the stars. One must oppose the outside world -to go in the opposite direction -in this journey the only way is to go within. The cup of the heart must be scraped clean of grime -the mirror must be wiped clean of dirt. In this way we come to see -and we have faith. This is the method of direct knowledge -whereby we see into metaphor and symbol. To think in a literal manner is to interpret things falsely. In the savior’s parable of the sower – the seeds in the deep soil would grow into meaning. To see deeper -is to let the seeds fall deep into your heart. And so we see only glimpses of revelation -yet we are able to know things -if we go beyond.
Faith is not a thing of religious hope. It is art and literature -and it involves a lot of work -to build a house of soul -by emulating light. In this way we give and keep giving -in an artistic sense. We imitate God’s creation -by creating. To sanctify and to make holy -is the process of creation. We are divinely intoxicated by the poetic -where ugliness is turned into beauty. The poetic (as William Blake said) is the spirit of a higher power. We are enlarged in this way -as we shape what is malleable. We are infused with the fire -and the coldly, numbed emotions melt away to give us sweet passions. The smoke rises from the candle -and its essence is like the thoughts in our heads. The fire is the divine source -the smoke is what arises out of it. Let our faith bring us forth in the eternal moment. Let us be surrounded by the seasons -feeling such desire. Let us form words and images out of this hunger. Let us be aware -only of truth -and truth’s beauty -and thereby be moved by faith.
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