New art forms emerge through technical innovations and when cultures collide.   The discoveries of Greek statuary and architecture catalyzed the Italian Renaissance of the 15th and 16th centuries, as translations of the ancient Greek philosophers helped fuel the Neo-Platonic revival of those times. Oil painting was a new medium which overcame the dry feeling of fresco and tempera by the layering of jewel-like glazes. Reflecting on the Italian Renaissance, from the vantage point of the 19th c., Schopenhauer felt that a new renaissance, an even bigger renaissance in Western culture would occur through the integration of spiritual culture and wisdom of Asia. Today, the simultaneous impact of so many technological innovations and divergent world cultures is spawning a hybrid multicultural art. Popular music is filled with sounds from cultures sampled from all around the globe. Musicians from afar have collaborated with musical strangers and created a new World Beat sound. This trend can only increase.

We live in a time of unprecedented global culture. From Cave Art to the latest in contemporary art fashion, artists have access to the vast legacy of visual art. The art of every continent has been published in some form. Without too much effort the strange gods of all cultures can inhabit our imaginations, simply by viewing their images in museums, books and magazines. What lessons can we derive from this unique perspective? Lesson number one is that for nearly every culture, art has been a spiritual and unifying force in the human community.

Artists at the dawn of the 21st Century have the unique opportunity to create a universal spiritual art. This art will be born from visions of the unity of all mystic paths and the re-emergence of sacred archetypes in the collective unconscious. The spirit of the times will choose artists sufficiently prepared for this task. The challenge to an artist today is integrating the vast visual legacy of human culture with their own deepest and highest personal insights, distilling that into works of art and making a living at it.

The unearthing of Paleolithic Cave Art in the twentieth century reveals that Art is a mighty instinctual force implanted in the hearts of people. Art is a culture's collective mind. Art is not a mere amusement, distraction or investment. Though the artist, their art and the viewer are all impermanent, art can provide evidence of contact with the universal creative force beyond time. Art has a function and a mission to interpret the world, to reveal the condition of the soul, to encourage our higher nature and awaken the dormant spiritual faculties within every individual.

Art can be a form of worship and service. The incandescent core of an artist's soul, a glowing God's eye, infinitely aware of the beauty of creation, is interlocked with a network of souls, part of one vast group soul. The group soul of art beyond time comes into time by projecting symbols through the artists imagination. God's radiant grace fills the heart and mind with these gifts of Vision. The artist honors the vision gifts by weaving them into works of art and sharing them with the community. The community uses them as wings to soar to the same shining vistas and beyond.

Translucent wings teem with eyes of flame

on the mighty cherub of Art.

Arabesques of fractal cherubwings enfold

and uplift the world.

The loom of creation is annointed

with fresh spirit and blood.

Phoenix-like, the soul of art,

ressurects from the ashes of isms.

Transfusions from living primordial traditions empower the artist.

Shaman, yogi, devotional prayer

all break through with the visionary cure, Take the artist to the heights and depths

needed to find the medicine of the moment, A new image of the Infinite One,

the God of Creation

Manifesting effulgently,

multidimensionally,

With the same empty fullness

which Buddha knew

And the same compassionate healing

that Jesus spread.

Krishna plays his flute

and the Goddess dances

And the whole tree of life vibrates

with the power of love.

A mosaic and tilemaker inspired by Rumi

finds infinite patterns of connectivity

In the garden of spiritual interplay

As the World Spirit awaits its portrait.