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Art Awaiting the Saviour
by:Dr.Ali Shariati
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful, Friends, Ladies
and Gentlemen:
YOU MIGHT feel that art, whatever form it may take, is a complex subject
which requires proper specialization to speak about it and that one who
attempts to talk about it must necessarily be an artist himself. You and
I both agree that I cannot consider myself to be one. But on the other
hand, my words here on art are not of the kind which are common these days.
They differ from other talks given on this subject or themes in which one
has to deal with the particular area of his specialization.
There are some sciences which are oppressed in our society. They are
oppressed in the sense that they have no particular owner. The reason they
have no owner is because they do not have a set of clearly definable rules
and limitations. At any rate, my words on art here are not of this kind.
I am not speaking here as a specialist on the subject of art, but rather
as one who is interested in knowing about art.
My words will represent my own point of view. They have, at one and
the same time, an aspect of specialization as well as an aspect that is
quite general and related to humanity. In this sense, it is contrary to
some of the sciences which become so specialized that they become exclusive
and others are not allowed to express an opinion about them. This is true
of physics, chemistry and mathe- matics.
But art addresses itself to all people while at the same time it requires
a skill and a technique. And yet, it is more than that. To a certain extent,
the knowledge of it requires education and involves training. But I am
only speaking here as one who has been addressed by the art of my own time.
It is from this point of view that I will criticize and express my views
as to why art is as it is.
To begin with, we are considering the problem of art because we are
an eastern people. A part of our people relate to some of the great civilizations
of mankind. Slogans accepted by all the Asian and African nations today
are, 'We must stand on our own two feet,' 'We must nourish ourselves from
our own original, cultural resources. We must return to ourselves. We must
pull ourselves out of our state of stupefaction of having passively sunk
into western cultural values and models. This is only the starting point.
Some think that it is enough to realize the fact that we should return
to ourselves and our own character. No, this is only our point of departure
and our slogan. We must immediately answer the question, 'What is the self?'
What is it that we are referring to when seeking to return to our culture?
Unfortunately, in a society whose fate is fixed, stagnant and immobile,
the fate of meanings is just as miserable. When a problem or an idea is
proposed, it often meets resistance without having been understood, heard,
known or recognized properly. It is put down not only by reason, knowledge
or words, but through other ethical ways and means, as well.
If a person tries to turn his back on the question, he or she will sink
even further in. If one is hard-headed and stands and resists at any price,
then one becomes the idol of fashion. When fashionable, it then becomes
vulgar to the degree that the person will regret it completely.
The idea of 'returning to self' has now become such that the people
who first suggested it, with great difficulties in some coun- tries, are
now prepared to pay any price to acquit themselves of the blame. Returning
to self has now become equivalent to the revival of superstitions, frozen
traditions, fanaticism and a return to the uncivilized, indigenous traditions.
Returning to self means to return to one's own character. It means to
breathe with the spirit, seeking the constructive, active and progressive
aspects of culture which have, in the past, created societies, civilization
and urbanization. It does not mean to return to problems which have, through
time and according to needs, died, and are now extinct and dead matter.
It never means to explore meanings, feelings, emotions, ideas and philosophies
from the begin- ning of time and exhibit them in our modern museums.
We should rather return to ourselves as the reality and truth demands,
to our national and ethnic character. We should not do so with an attitude
of racism or because of being attached to blood or land, but only because
of our relationship to humanity. To return to that character means to gain
independence from the attacks of foreign values. Meanwhile, one of the
most immediate and genuine responsibilities will be to fight against superstition,
archaic values and all the elements which blind and weaken a nation and
its insight and keep it from creativity, modernization, progress and continuous
change. A return to self does not mean a return to the old, worn out ideas.
But the question remains, which culture is it that we should know? Which
culture is it that we should revive in order to receive inspiration from
its creative and constructive spirit? Return to self is all right, but
what is this true self ? Answering this question presents an immediate
problem. We should no longer pose the question, 'Should we or should we
not return to self or to our own culture,' we should now, know ourselves.
That is, we should start a scientific search. We should seek an up-to-date
outlook in our choice of sources and resources, whether human, scientific
or cultural and one of them would be the arts.
Contrary to the judgment reflected in the mind of our dormant generation,
we are neither weak nor poor in our arts, deeds or manifestations. We should
forget standing dumbfounded as primi- tives when confronted with the expressions
of the world's progressive art. If we study art in all its dimensions,
and not only through translations of the history of art or lives of the
artists where the encyclopedias begin with Greece and end with France,
but rather, as a reader, an independent historian, if we regard the whole
world, its history and its diverse ways, we will see that we do have a
profound base in the arts. I would also suggest that modern art, that is,
the art characterizing the twentieth century, which contains the rays of
the future, is an art which tries, in a new way, to approach the artistic
spirit which was the fundamental basis of Oriental art. I will explain
how.
Secondly, the concept of art is no longer a minor and secondary part
of the life of the well-off and the aristocrats as it was in the past.
On the contrary, it is the most serious and essential human problem to
be considered in the modern world today, the world which has surpassed
its limits of aristocratic palaces and the comfortable life-style of the
rich. It has extended itself into the crowd and has spread among the masses.
The new art is no longer controlled by the aristocracy, as was the case
in the past, but it is the sympathetic intellectual, conscious and sensitive,
who leads it. Art is no more a pleasant and diverting tranquilizer to keep
our lives closed and comfortable. It leads the philosophies of today and
runs ahead of our contemporary ideas. It is essential for us to know art,
both because of the way it has extended itself in the human world and because
of the serious and supreme responsibility it has acquired today. To what-
ever history, culture or land we may belong, we are still living in this
century.
Return to self, knowing oneself, on the one hand, is not to limit and
confine oneself to one's own model, but rather, only they can know themselves
who can know others at the same time. The proverb about language is relevant
here which says: Only that person knows his language who necessarily knows
a foreign language as well. one only knows his culture, religion, race,
talents and history who essentially knows another's history, religion and
language. This is why, while our goal and our struggle may be to find our
lost and changed character, at the same time, knowing the West and the
new waves of the contemporary world and civilization becomes necessary
as well.
Everybody blames the poor West for his weaknesses, corruption and absurdities.
Who is the foreigner we have learned to become like? What we see today
is not the result of imitating the West. It is rather because of not imitating
the West. It is caused by not knowing the West. If we had been conscious
imitators of the West, we may no longer have been Eastern, but at least
we would have been 'some- what Western' whereas presently we are nothing.
The points referred to here are suggestions I made in five lectures
delivered in Paris in 1962. One of the lectures I had prepared was on the
subject of 'the Spirit of the Iranian Nation.' Another was on the life
of the Prophet, 'Mohammad, his Wives and his Names.' It was in response
to a Catholic conference which had made the private life of the Prophet
into a play. Another of the lectures was about 'Art Awaiting the Saviour.'
This lecture was later translated in Tehran, but for some reason, half
of it was left out and the other half rejected. Since then, I have made
fundamental revisions in my views on art. My outlook now differs. Although
the points and observations I made then are the same, there are some examples,
appropriate in the context of the original conference, which I have now
changed.
As the title of the subject suggests, I intend to show that art is a
religion, a transcendent and sacred truth, a saviour of humanity. It has
a responsibility which is great indeed and which rises above materiality.
It is a responsibility which is totally human. But art has been turned
away from this faith, the religion of art, not by an enemy, since an enemy
never causes deviation, but rather, an enemy enlivens its enemy. What transforms
a religion and thought, is a friend or an enemy which appears as a friend
in society.
The form of all religions has been modified and made to rot from the
inside. Look at Islam. When the Qoraish stood against it, it was a growing,
radiant, exalted, powerful and proud society. But when the same enemy became
Moslem and put on the cloak of a friend, the situation transformed into
something else. It took a completely opposite turn. This is why we say
that it was not wars and conflicts which caused Islam, Judaism or Christianity
to weaken and shift from the true way. But as Jesus says, it was the Jewish
priests who corrupted the Jewish faith. It was Papism that caused Christianity
to diverge. In the case of Islam, we ourselves have led the faith astray.
Art was not weakened by Plato who opposed poetry and art. Neither was
it weakened by those who see it as vain, nor by people with a conscious,
clear mind, those who know the Truth of that religion and have recognized
the shift from its original goal. The conscious are aware that religion
is something else and has now turned into another thing. It has been corrupted
by our great artists who have brought it down to today's level of vulgarity.
When a religion declines, as we have pointed out, it takes a direction
opposite to its original one, it is metamorphosized, so to speak. There
is a group of people who believe religion by itself is metamorphosized
and thereby declines. There is another group of half-literate intellectuals
who think that the metamorphosis or decline itself is that religion and
oppose it on these grounds.
When we turn our attention towards those who are conscious and aware
of the real spirit of religion, we are met by a revolutionary thought,
manifest in all religions, which is the belief in the final salvationythat
which will bring about revolutionary eradication of decay and oppression,
that which will obliterate all deviation.
This promised salvation (namely messianism) is essentially a revolutionary
thought that arises from the spirit and throws out all false habits, customs
and delusions at one time, revealing the true and direct way. It leads
art and religion back to its original path.
The state of art is such today that the worst of the duties and the
most mischievous of the missions is left in the hands of this world. The
role of art should be exactly the opposite of this. On the other hand,
there has always been a misuse and inversion of supreme beauty and truth.
As Jalal al-din Rumi says, 'If you see that there is a forged coin current
in the market, know that there has been a golden one which was a means
of exchange.' No one makes a simple forged coin but always a forged golden
coin.
This very imitation directs us to the fact that man is deceived through
religion, art and philosophy and this fact should indicate to us that the
way to awareness and the construction of human beings is also through them.
That which is relevant between myself and my friends becomes an excuse
to be used by an enemy who has a different opinion than we do. Is it that
when a truth is misused, we should wash our hands of it? Or, the reverse,
fight against the misuse? The enemy is armed with this weapon. This is
why we should keep the truth and defend it. If we let it go, the enemy
will be victorious and we will be defeated.
Historically, the misuse of something was most often carried out in
the name of religion and it is now done in the name of art. This is why
we should come to know the real direction of art and once we know it, make
it known to others. This is a most immediate problem because art has occupied
all of our time in the 20th century. This is not correct to my way of thinking.
Rather, it is one of the stages that art has to pass through in order to
reach a superior one.
For a discussion on art, we should put beauty aside. There is nothing
more important and at the same time suspicious in artistic, philosophical
and scientific matters than the truth of beauty. Unlike the problem of
metaphysics and religion, beauty cannot be denied, even though we usually
deny it when we reach a dilemma. But, it is there, for all men are affected
by it and everyone recognizes it. If there is any disagreement, it is on
the different kinds of beauty in human life, be it in what I see or what
I feel in my heart. On the other hand, we are bound to analyze it, and
it does not lend itself easily to analysis.
As history shows, people have tried to scientifically and philosoph-
ically analyze beauty and develop rules and limitations for it since the
time of Aristotle. But all these efforts have been in vain and remain unrealized.
In fact, each of the various ideas have certain followers but this shows
that, in fact, the arguments have not as yet reached any particular stage.
We do not have time here for me to talk about the various concepts of
beauty presented as an idea in the different schools of thought. But I
will have to name them as examples where necessary in the course of our
discussion.
The understanding of art and beauty is very much dependent upon comprehending
the human being. In particular, the problem of art, more than anything
else and more than ever depends upon the role of the human being and upon
comprehending him. Efforts towards the development and evolution of culture
have been strengthened, but they have remained incomplete because the human
beings who must live in this civilization and within this cultural framework
are not comprehended. Their needs are not known and the knowing of these
needs depends upon knowing the human being. Art more than anything else
is in need of comprehending the human being because art is usually considered
to be either subjective, that is, completely human or else very objective.
Those who believe that beauty consists of a truth which comes into being
from the interac- tions of our spirit and an external object, think it
is an objective approach, but because we think subjectively, we actually
see all things half-subjectively and half-objectively. Thus we cannot say
anything about art and beauty unless we first speak about the human being.
The true human being is in a state of becoming, whereas mankind has
a specific and distinct existence which can be described from its five
hundred thousand year history. The human being's 'becoming' is not the
same thing as mankind's 'coming into being'. That is a reality with other
kinds of peculiarities.
From the depths of the world of feeling to modern philosophies, multiple
mystic, philosophic and even materialistic interpretations have been given.
But it all means that to the extent to which a creature is part of nature,
society, a tribe and comes into being through physiological and material
laws and rules, he or she eventually becomes lonely and then the feelings
of loneliness and the desire for freedom arise Based upon these feelings,
anxiety and agitation follow and efforts towards once again joining that
which, with effort, he or she left and thirsted for, becomes a perpetual
ascending evolution which, through choice and effort, takes the shape of
a will which compensates for what he or she feels is lacking in the existing
world.
