Sacred or Profane?

When we as human beings consider Art, whether we recognize it or not, we are faced with two very fundamental questions.

Which question we ask reveals a great deal about us as individuals and in fact, may very well reveal our souls.

Secular art, that is, most especially that art that speaks of the physical world and the reality of humanity, even by its method of creation asks the fundamental question:

 "Where do the shadows fall?  Where does the shadow lie?" 

In that form of art, it begins with light and is darkened to reveal the shadows that give form and nuance to the subject.

Sacred Art, on the other hand, as in, most specifically, Iconography, begins in the darkness and asks the question,


"Where is the light?  From whence does the light emanate? How are we drawn to the light?" 

We should use this as a spiritual barometer. Are we most drawn to the shadows or to the light?

Do you know that it is IMPOSSIBLE to look at the shadows that encroach upon us when we have fixed our gaze upon the source of the light?

That is why the Saints, and Christ Himself, tells us to focus our gaze upon Him, and Him alone, for only if we focus on Him can we avoid the shadows that seek to trap us through misleading questions and lying shadows.