Spirituality Through the Sublime
in Art and Design


"Certain things stick to your core -- they stick to your imagination. There is a constant need to come to terms with them (KunstSpektrum 2011, 0:01:33)." In an interview with art enthusiast Charlie Rose, the famous American sculptor Richard Serra recalled memories from childhood that he described as anchored obsessions. In those memories, he recounts himself as a 4-year-old kid walking miles down the San Fransisco beach and being fascinated by spatial differences - more precisely, by basic concepts of distance in relation to time simple thoughts as what is on your right, what is on your left and how those elements affect human perception (KunstSpektrum 2011, 0:00:50 - 0:02:00). By understanding that spirituality in children may be qualified as an "inexhaustible web of meaning interrelatedly connecting self, other, world, and cosmos" (Myers, 1997, p. 109), we can attest that the experience that Serra encountered as a pre-schooler can be deemed as spiritual. Due to the ontological nature of his encounter, most of his craft centers on studying such experiences and concepts through their recreation in precise environments through steel and lead (KunstSpektrum 2011,00:00:00-00:53:33). Creatives have used different mediums to emulate such experiences in art before. One example of such endeavor is "The Great Day of his Wrath" by John Martin in 1851, which explicitly tackled ideas of spiritual transcendence through the concept of the sublime brought a few years earlier by Edmund Burke in 1757 (Tate 1998). To emulate such an idea, John Martin followed aesthetic frameworks drafted by Edmund Burke in "A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origins of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful" to trigger inner obsessions and emotions in the hopes of prompting the sublime (Tate 1998). By following this idea, this essay explores the conditions and frameworks in which spirituality can be applied to art and design practices through the sublime.

                     While spirituality may obtain various definitions and vary based on someone's worldview, spirituality may be globally defined as a search for meaning, transcendence, wholeness, and purpose
‍(Cole 2011,05). In Christian tradition, for example, concepts such as human servitude, human discipleship, sin, incarnation, and many others are at the core of the development of the Christian narrative (Sheldrake 2014). These concepts emerging from the Old Testament, New Testament, and Hebraic scriptures serve as guides for one's spirituality. Ideas such as theosis, quests centered towards reaching the divine, and quests for the sacred - capitalize on those literate artifacts to establish frameworks in which one practicing the religion may operate (Sheldrake 2014, 100). While acknowledging that these practices center around the beliefs of reaching the divine / reaching the light, they inherently "serve" the holy trinity, which remains an abstract concept that nourishes an individual's spirituality (Forster, McColl, & Fardella, 2007). By applying frameworks established by religious institutions, materials, and history, Christians aim to be in tune with their spirituality and fulfill a purpose to be closer to God (Sheldrake, 2007). Christian spiritual practices remain one example of many that exist - whether these practices manifest themselves through religious premises or personal conditions, they may all be identified through a shared variable - emotion (Paloutzian and Park 2005, 235-241). With different frameworks of spirituality being present sacred emotions are part of the main constituents of spiritual experience (Paloutzian and Park 2005, 235). The term "sacred emotions" typically refers to feelings considered religious or connected to spiritual experiences (Paloutzian and Park 2005, 235). These emotions may include awe, reverence, wonder, and devotion, and religious or spiritual practices, objects, or beliefs may elicit them (Paloutzian and Park 2005, 239-243). Sacred emotions, often seen as being positive, are associated with a connection to something greater than oneself (Paloutzian and Park 2005, 235-243). Following the previous thought, these emotions do not necessarily occur in contexts that intend their summoning but rather when a specific context, environment, or situation meet the required conditions and qualities for such emotions to occur (Paloutzian and Park 2005, 235-243). For example, "The Starry Night" by Vincent van Gogh describes the experience of looking up at the night sky and seeing the stars and describes the experience as both beautiful and awe- inspiring (MoMa 1995). In essence, even if spirituality and spiritual experiences remain elements relative to one's existence, beliefs, and origin, they can be identified through emotions such as awe, reverence, wonder, and devotion (Paloutzian and Park 2005, 235-243).
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                     Following the idea of recognizing spiritual experiences through emotions, the artistic world has long developed theories and frameworks focused on eliciting such feelings. Forefronting this movement Edmund Burke's theories on the nature of the sublime and the beautiful are explored in his important work in the field of aesthetics, "A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful" published in 1757. Burke argues that the sublime and the beautiful are two distinct aesthetic experiences (Burke 1757,182). The sublime is associated with feelings of awe, fear, and grandeur, and the beautiful is related to feelings of pleasure and harmony (Burke 1757). By providing examples of art and nature that he considers sublime and beautiful based on his variables, he describes the psychological effects of Teglas 4 those aesthetics on the human mind. Through his framework, obscurity is one of the conditions that can contribute to the experience of the sublime (Burke 1757, 76). The concept's association with feelings of awe, grandeur, and majesty and encounters with something vast, mysterious, or difficult to comprehend can elicit such feelings (Burke 1757, 76-82). In this sense, obscurity can contribute to the sublime experience by providing a sense of the unknown or the unknowable, which can be both fascinating and intimidating(Burke 1757, 76-82).
For example, the vastness of the universe or the complexity of a natural ecosystem may be considered sublime partly because of their obscurity, as these phenomena are so vast and complex that they defy our understanding (Burke 1757, 76-82). Similarly, a work of art or literature that is abstract, complex, or enigmatic may be considered sublime because it challenges our ability to comprehend it fully (Moma 1995). These specific emotions can directly be related to religious experiences due to their standard emotional outputs and inquiry toward the unknown and incomprehensible (Paloutzian and Park 2005, 235-243). Set conditions have been put forward to trigger the sublime such as passion caused by the sublime in nature, terror, obscurity, and power (Burke 1757). These conditions have objectively been explored in the artistic world by artist painters such as Philip James De Loutherbourg's "An Avalanche in the Alps" , John Martin's "The Plains in Heaven", and many more (Tate, 1998). While these paintings remain descriptive representations of the conditions Burke put forward, philosophers such as Immanuel Kant related the concept of the Sublime to the quality of Ontology in his work "Critique of Judgment" (Kant 1790). Similar to Burke, he defines the sublime as a feeling of awe and admiration inspired by objects or phenomena that are vast, grand, or overwhelming, arguing that the sublime experience is rooted in our innate ability to recognize the limitations of our understanding (Kant 1790).

                     The development of the sublime from Kant's ontological perspective enables a more extensive discussion centered around Material Agency and design practices. Material agency is the ability of material objects and artifacts to act, influence, or cause a change in the world or a person through ontological and epistemological conditions (Kirchoff 2009, 205). This concept is closely tied to the broader idea of agency, which refers to the capacity of an agent or actor to make choices, take action, and exert control over their surroundings (Kirchoff 2009, 205). In the context of the sublime, material agency can be seen as the ability of particular objects or artifacts to evoke experiences of awe, admiration, or reverence in the viewer or user (Kirchoff 2009, 205; Kant 1790). Through the use of specific technologies, patterns, materials, and techniques and through the focus on sensorial experiences, designers apply previously developed aesthetic and spiritual frameworks . For example, certain works of art or architecture may be designed in such a way as to inspire a sense of the sublime in the viewer. The use of materials, forms, or techniques that are particularly grand, vast, or overwhelming in some way can contribute to an object's sublime qualities and prompt the previously mentioned feelings in the participant (Burke, 1757). Additionally, the use of symbols or other visual cues associated with the sublime, such as images of the natural world or references to the infinite or the transcendent, can also help evoke a sense of the sublime (Kirchoff 2009). Overall, the concept of material agency is closely linked to the experience of the sublime (Kirchoff 2009, 205; Kant 1790). The ability of material objects and artifacts to act, influence, or cause change in the world or the user can be seen as contributing to their sublime qualities and can help to evoke feelings of awe, admiration, or reverence, which in essence directly relates to sentiments tied to religious experiences (Paloutzian and Park 2005, 235-243; Burke, 1757).
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                     In conclusion, spirituality and art can be intertwined through the concept of the sublime. In the framework where spirituality may be defined as a search for meaning, transcendence, wholeness, and purpose (Cole 2011,05), we can see that spirituality art and design are combined through the common variable of emotion. This essay has explored the conditions and frameworks in which spirituality can be applied to art and design practices through the sublime by referencing experiences and works from artists like Richard Serra and John Martin. Serra's work, for example, explores spirituality through his childhood experiences and his understanding of spatial differences. Similarly, John Martin's work, "The Great Day of his Wrath," tackles ideas of spiritual transcendence through the sublime. By examining these works, we can see that spirituality art and design, can be linked through the emotions that they elicit, such as awe, reverence, wonder, and devotion. These emotions, also found in religious contexts, can be seen as sacred and evoked through the right conditions and frameworks. In this way, spirituality and art can be interweaved and provide a way for individuals to connect with something greater than themselves.
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