Angelica Kajiwara

Charlotte Mason insists that “all education is divine,” because it springs from and rests upon our relation to Almighty God, and finds its culmination in “that personal knowledge of and intimacy with God in which our being finds its fullest perfection.”1

The idea that we are created in the imago Dei is a familiar concept to most believers, but often, we forget the promises wrapped up in that gift. Shaw argues, “In art and creativity we make visible to others the beauty and meaning God has first pictured, or introduced, into our imaginations. In that sense we are each a small extension of the mind of God.”2 If only one could imagine the beginning of the idea of earthly creative output as derivative of the Creator of the Universe. Regardless of the immediate feeling of complete inadequacy, even a spark of that idea bears eternal weight and creative freedom and peace. Shaw’s response to the instant inadequacy is to “cry “Help!” and ask the Holy Spirit to guide my listening, my thinking, my creating, into channels that will bring me to the heart of truth for the work.”3 So, what does it mean to be creative because we are created in the image of the Creator? 

It starts with Beauty that forever directs anyone in contemplation of that beauty to the Divine. “That beauty is never “skin deep,” but always revelatory of goodness and truth. Beauty releases light into our awareness so that we’re conscious of the beauty of the Lord.”4 And it starts with the realization that because we are created in the image of God, “we participate in creative intelligence, giftedness, originality.”5 Yes, we are creative. We can accept that promise with confidence, and trust that God has a plan for the creativity he gifted. 

Finally, we must willingly and in connection with the divine helper, the Holy Spirit, create from a gospel-centered worldview. As followers of Christ, we can rest in Milton’s idea that, “The end of learning…is to repair the ruins of our first parents by regaining to know God aright, and out of that knowledge to love him, to imitate him, to be like him by acquiring true virtue.”6 Aesthetic education serves as the vital link in this restoration, turning the acts of learning, creating, and contemplating into true communion with God.

Human Creativity as a Derivative of the Divine

Who among us has downplayed their creativity or firmly stated their lack of it? That simply is not true because it is part of God’s promise. His original design was a world brimming with imaginative potential, a gift bestowed directly by the Creator. “God made us human beings in his image; we participate in creative intelligence, giftedness, originality.”7 We participate as co-creators because of who he is. Our innate desire for Beauty is “given from a Source beyond us.”8 It is there, in our divine design. And because the world God intended was perfect, we are also designed for order, but the Fall broke that order. “It is the function of all art to give us some perception of an order in life, by imposing an order upon it.”9 Art draws us back to or nearer to the Divine. The ruins of the world starkly contrast with the virtues found in art, which mirror God’s character and original design. “We find in art qualities the world often lacks: “human significance, human order, reason, mind, causality, boundary, harmony, perfection, coherence, purity, purpose, and permanence.”10 By reaching for this inherent sense of harmony and permanence, the creative act becomes a homeward pull, drawing the soul out of the world’s chaos and nearer to the heart of the Creator.

The Eternal Significance of Creativity

Because we are made in God’s image, “The nature of art…is that the artist makes a body of work and this body of work shows his world view.”11 Just as Romans 1:20 speaks of how God reveals himself in creation, so do artists reveal themselves in their creations. “Art is one of the means by which man grapples with and assimilates reality.”12 Creativity is not about escape for the artist. At its core, human creativity is the very tool we use to process and understand the ruins and the glory around us. If we better understand God through his creation, it follows that we might better understand our own place within his design through our own.

In this light, the creative act becomes an “instrument of encounter, at the service of life”.13 It is not art for art’s sake. It is art for the sake of forging a path that takes the artist nearer to God. The creation, contemplation and active participation in Beauty, literature and the arts, becomes sacramental. It points to so much more.14 While the modern age often disposes of the arts due to the nonutilitarian nature, a deeper look at the human spirit reveals a hunger for artistry and beauty that cannot be ignored. Literature and the arts are not the unnecessary pursuit of an idle moment; they are a deep-seated spiritual need.15 Beauty is perhaps one of the few things that constantly calls the “twisted” or “empty” soul back to God.16

Freedom in the Shadow of the Creator

Accepting that human creativity is derivative of the Divine, and the eternal significance of that creativity shifts the focus from ownership to stewardship. Henri Nouwen said, “Writing is like giving away the few loaves and fishes one has, in trust that they will multiply in the giving. Once we dare to “give away” on paper the few thoughts that come to us, we start discovering how much is hidden underneath…and gradually come in touch with our own riches.”17 We give back what God gave, and in doing so, we grow nearer to him and cultivate the gifts that come from him. He allows us to commune with him through creativity. “The messages of beauty…they print themselves like pictures on our imaginations and do their transforming work in us, reminding us, if we are aware, of the One behind the messages…it is God’s grace in action.”18 Because of the imago Dei, and the eternal promise of creativity that became reality the day God breathed air into Adam’s lungs, redeemed humanity, and even those that choose not believe, can step out in faith, guided by the Holy Spirit, and trust in their stewardship of Beauty. Trust that the God of the Universe will guide their efforts back to him and reveal more about the gifts he gives. He will meet us in those moments and allow us to participate in co-creation. 

A Sacred Stewardship: The Educator’s Call to Beauty

“The pace of modern life and its comfortable cocooning leave little occasion for encounters with real beauty. It is every adult’s responsibility to provide such occasions for young minds around them, through contact with nature, with history in the making, with great art, with wonderful people”.19 If we accept that aesthetic education is a primary vehicle for communion with the Divine, then providing these encounters is not a pedagogical luxury, and decidedly not a part of the curriculum to be cast aside, but a sacred duty. We must never gatekeep wonder. By introducing students to the order, purity, and permanence, we are effectively inviting students out of a modern cocoon filled with fragmented attention and deafening noise broken into three second videos, and into a restorative communion with God. Francis of Assisi said it best: they will become able “in things of beauty [to contemplate] the one who is supremely beautiful…if we succeed in sending others in search of beauty, it may indeed lead them to that infinite Ocean where wonder becomes awe, exhilaration, and Unspeakable joy.”20 In this pursuit, our goal for aesthetic education becomes a reality: the restoration of the soul and the quiet, persistent pull of the heart nearer to its Creator.



Bibliography

Mason, Charlotte M. No School Education. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1904.

Ryken, Leland. The Christian Imagination: The Practice of Faith in Literature and Writing. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2002