Interfaith Group

(arggh-- sorry about that)

Neither depend much on what we consider rational thought confined to the senses or the scientific method of thinking, but upon inspiration and non-rational thought processes. Not irrational, although some of our favorite artists may have been quite mad, but primarily emotional and not exactly normal or common sensory inputs.

Does that make sense? Probably not.

In the millenia since we became sentient, humans have enjoyed sunsets. Until recently, no one knew exactly how those colors appeared but our ancestors sat in awe in an almost religious experience. Now we know exactly why those colors happen, but we still sit in awe of a good sunset in an almost religious experience.

It's an emotional experience as real as out-of-body experiences, hallucinations, visions, or anything else approaching the religious experiences many of us have had. Art, very simply, has the same primal effect on us as a good sunset, a session of convinced prayer, the death of a loved one, the birth of a child, or any other highly emotional experience. It's more than that, of course, and there is art in science, too, but art and religion come from the same source, and may even be the same thing.