The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.
Aristotle

A true artist doesn't just create their work of art...they are it. The piece created is ultimately just an extension and expression of who they are.

We are art

We are all art...masterpieces created by the most genius of strokes on the most perfect of canvases. Everything around us, is a part of that creation...all coming from the same palette and the Mind of the same Master. What types of colours are used, how the paint brush hits the canvas or what shape is made is not significant.  How we look on the outside doesn't matter. What form we breathe through is not important.  Outward appearance has nothing to do with true art. 

What is significant ...is what we are on the inside...magnificent divine creation. We are of the energy of That which held the brush and made the stroke.  We are of That.  We are That. In this art show, we are all masterpieces and all living, breathing expressions of the Master. 

How we see ourselves as less than

That's hard for many of us to believe.  We have these limiting and self deprecating beliefs stamped into our subconscious...that make us cringe at the idea of saying out loud that we are  more than these limited bodies; more than incidental splotches of paint on an otherwise perfect canvas. 

Many of us were brought up to believe it was blasphemous, arrogant and sinful  to say we are God-like masterpieces of Divine beauty. We were brought up to believe we were defective, sinful, unworthy results of creation...definitely not part of the same energy that did the creating.  We were basically "ugly" on the inside. 

Painting over what is already perfect

In order to compensate for that inner insignificance many of us feel we must create an outward appearance that is pleasing...through attention to our physical looks, what we own, what job we do, and how we are recognized by others.  We tell ourselves...we will never be worthy; always be sinful, defective and limited but maybe we will create the illusion of being enough.

We start painting over a perfect Masterpiece creating our own version of art.  But it isn't art!. When we put more attention on outward appearances we dim the inward significance of the creation.  Not from the Master...He will always know what He created...but from ourselves and each other.  We stop seeing the Masterpiece for what it is.  We stop seeing the inward significance of the art.

Would you paint over the Mona Lisa?

Imagine visiting the Louvre in Paris and going over to Leonardo Da Vinci's, Mona Lisa. 

You will likely hear the true art scholars and critiques going on about how it isn't the outward appearance of this woman that makes this piece so beautiful...but something mysterious and spell binding inside her is radiating out. Da Vinci captured the inward significance of his subject.  It is that inner radiance, not the outward appearance,  that makes this portrait a work of art. Few people can describe what that something is.  It is a mystery.

Now pull out your own palette of colours and focus only on the outward appearance...fix the mess Da Vinci made...Do something about those chubby cheeks, that hairline, that awful dress.  What the heck is going on with her mouth...fix that! And those eyes that seem to follow you wherever you go...paint those shut.  Change the colour scheme of what is going on around that ugly woman.  Make it trendy and hip!

There...step back, take a deep breath and see what you have done. Did you make it better?  Do you get the same feeling when you look at it?  Was all that effort worth it?  Did you get what you needed by trying to fix a masterpiece? Well you are finally going to get recognition ...let me tell ya...and it won't be for making something better!

Don't Paint over it

Don't paint over what is already perfect. Of course, in literal terms I am not suggesting that you do not wear make-up and avoid dressing well. Nor am I telling you not to  enjoy a great job,  material abundance or recognition  if it should come your way. If those things make you feel "good" or "better" by all means go for it. 

It is the "feeling good" and the "better" which has inward significance...Joy, I believe,  was the intention of the stroke. ( I see, BTW, a certain reserved joy and confidence in who she is in Mona Lisa's expression...just ready to explode outward).

But if your attention to outward appearance is based on a need to hide who you really are on the inside...please stop.  Stop running away from that inner self...turn around, go inward beyond your unhealthy beliefs, take a good look at just how beautiful  and God-like you really are.

 Look at others in the same way. Get past the physical appearance, the "things' they are surrounded by or lacking, what they do and how they are recognized by society and see who they really are...perfect, beautiful extensions and expressions of a Master Creator.  They are also reflections of you. 

All is well in my world.