Santa Libera – Život kao mogućnost

Dokumentarni film koji predstavlja Santa Liberu, Centar za teatarsko i parateatarsko istraživanje Kulturno-umetničke asocijacije Aletheia (Milano, Italija).

Slike su sa Seminara ljudskog i kreativnog iskustva koji se održava svake godine u ovom Prostoru, u prirodi, u brdima Pijemonta. 

Santa Libera - The Life as Possibility

Documentary of presentation about Santa Libera, Center of Theatrical and Paratheatrical Research of Associazione Artistico-Culturale Aletheia (Milano, Italy).

Images from Seminars of Human and Creative Experience which take place every year in this Space, in the countryside of the hills of Piemonte.

Fare Anima (Praviti dušu)

Praviti Dušu. Sugestivna slika. Rođena iz psihoanalize, postala je vremenom koncept sa mnogo dubljim značenjem i sadržajem. 

Ali šta to zapravo znači? Kako je moguće povezati jednu aktivnu, konkretnu i dinamičku akciju kao što je pojam “praviti” koji možemo da čitamo i kao konstruisati, uvećavati... i “dušu”, jedan po definiciji nematerijalni i spiritualni koncept, koji ne možemo dostići svojim čulima?

Ali upravo njihovim spajanjem otkriva se jedna posebna i vanredna pretpostavka o životu i svetu. Još jedan primer važnosti reči, ako ih dobro koristimo, i njihove kreativne funkcije, kada, oslobođene logike racionalne misli, mogu da jure zelenim livadama mogućnosti, fantazije i imaginacije i da kreiraju nove svetove i nove vizije sveta.

“Praviti dušu” je zadatak, rad, jedini istinski moguć. Kreiranje duše je rad za čitav život, naporan rad. Tu nema odustajanja od rada, već naprotiv, ima posvećenosti radu, kreiranju koje je pre svega akcija uma: “podsticati um ka delanju na načine i unutar vremena svojstvenih umu”. Ovo kaže jedan savremeni pesnik. A to, na različite načine, potvrđuju i mnogi mislioci i pesnici tokom čitave istorije čovečanstva.

U čemu se može sastojati ta aktivnost koju možemo sprovesti u vezi sa tom “našom” Dušom, čije postojanje mnogi stavljaju u pitanje? 

Pokušajmo da pod “dušom” podrazumevamo (i na taj način ćemo se odvojiti od psihoanalitičke i religiozne misli) sve ono što nije vezano za moje “ja” kao ni za spoljnu realnost u njenoj kontingentnosti. A naravno ni za funkcionalni odnos koji može postojati između Ja i ove realnosti.

S jedne strane možemo se približiti konceptu “unutrašnjeg sveta”, čitavom onom skupu slika, težnji, vizija, znanja, misli i, što da ne, iskustava koji “otvaraju” ka “drugom” od “nas koji već jesmo”, koji proširuju, ali uz pomoć “drugačijeg materijala”, našu suštinu. 

S druge strane dušu možemo videti i kao deo one “Duše sveta” (“Anima mundi”) koja u sebi sadrži sve postojeće živote kao jednu celinu, celinu u čijem širenju smo pozvani da aktivno učestvujemo. 

U ovom smislu nam može pomoći slika univerzuma koji se neprestano širi. Univerzum ka tom širenju pokreće jedna praiskonska centrifugalna sila. Onog trenutka kada taj pokretač oslabi ili se istroši, prisustvovaćemo nepovratnoj imploziji i smanjivanju sve do tačke nepostojanja prostora sveta.

Nije li možda upravo to ono što se događa na paralelnom planu, unutrašnjem svetu? Zar ovaj unutrašnji pokretač ka širenju, ne postaje sve slabiji, bleđi, sporiji? Zar ovaj unutrašnji svet, ili duša sveta, ne atrofira sve više, ne pronalazeći dovoljno pokretačke snage, motivacije, snage za bezinteresni i apsolutni rast, pritisnut sve većim porivom ka ličnoj sigurnosti i zadovoljenju? 

I šta će biti sa nama i našim dušama, koje više ne hranimo sopstvenim unutrašnjim procesom i procesom celokupnog unutrašnjeg sveta?

Naša duša nije više na mestu onoga što upravlja našim životom. Našim životom dominira neka vrsta anarhije. Krećemo se kao bića “bačena u svet”, pokušavajući u svakom trenutku da reagujemo na najbolji način, u nekoj vrsti stalne improvizacije. Ali nedostaje neko vođstvo, neka velika sila, iskusna, harizmatična, koja će staviti u red naše različite težnje, impulse, intencije, emocije.
Kada smo bili mali imali smo “mamu”, makar kao apsolutni koncept, koja nas je uzimala nežno za ruku i vodila, pokazivala put i kojoj smo se potpuno prepuštali.
Ali danas, kada smo veliki, našu “mamu” moramo sami da stvorimo, stalnim, neprestanim radom koji podrazumeva kreativnost, širenje, bogaćenje u znanju i iskustvu. Ta “majka” , ta “velika majka” koja sakuplja i stalno neprestano, tokom čitavog života uvećava Znanje, Misao, Vizije, Umetničke reči i slike; materijal koji onda stalno elaborira da bi nam dala taj neophodni balans između osećanja, misli i postupaka. Eto, to je naša Duša.

Praviti dušu. Napraviti prostor. Kreirati prostor.

“Unutar nas”, smanjujući u našem umu i u našem srcu prostor za naše sopstveno ja i uvećavajući našu dušu. Kao da unosimo novo semenje i lukovice cveća u baštu koja je prenatrpana kamenjem i lažnom travom.
“Izvan nas”, kroz interakciju sa drugim da bi se kreirao prostor, da bismo zajedno stvarali Dušu, da bismo pružili otpor toj oseci koja se čini nezaustavljiva, i koju čine krhotine čovečanstva uplašenog i stoga agresivnog, koje pokušava, svim sredstvima, da odbrani sopstveno “ja”. Nesvesno, možda, da prazninom sopstvene duše i sopstvenih odnosa, doprinosi progresivnom smanjenju Svetske duše, ostavljajući magmu praznih postojanja, sve manje sposobnih da kreiraju slike, misli, vizije, novo znanje, da prelaze granice sebe samih šireći se u Svetu.

Ko nam može pomoći da stvaramo, širimo našu Dušu? Šta to možemo da unesemo u svoju unutrašnju baštu, što bi nam pomoglo da kreiramo nove klice misli, slika, ideja, vizija, osećanja, emocija?

Susret. Susret sa drugim Dušama. Velikim Dušama istorije čovečanstva. Dušama koje su doprinele razvoju znanja o dubini Bića koje je neophodni uslov da bi se kreiralo neophodno jedinstvo Osećanja, Misli i Postupaka. Do tačke u kojoj se osećamo kao jedna jedinstvena Duša, koja je svaki put malo veća.

Fare Anima (Making soul)

To make soul. Suggestive image. Of the psychoanalytic origin, during the time it became a concept with much wider meaning and content.

But what does it mean? How is it possible to connect an active, dynamic and concrete action, such as “to make” which we can read also as to construct, enlarge... and “Soul”, an immaterial and spiritual entity by definition, which is unattainable through our senses? 

But exactly from their matching bursts out a special and extraordinary hypothesis about life and world. Another example of the importance of words, if we use them well, and of their creative function, when, liberated from the logic of the rational thought, they can run through the green meadows of possibilities, fantasy and imagination arriving to the creation of new worlds and new visions of the world.

“Making Soul” is a task, a work, the only truly possible. Making soul is a work for a lifetime, hard work. There is no giving up from work, but on the contrary, there is a commitment to the work, to the creation which is first of all an action of the mind: “Stimulate the mind to create/ in modes and times/ which are of the mind”. These are words of one contemporary poet. And this has been reaffirmed, in different ways, by many poets and thinkers throughout the history of mankind.

What may include that activity that can be carried out in relation to this “our” soul, whose existence many bring into question?

Let’s try to think of the “soul” (and in this way we will separate ourselves from the psychoanalytic and religious thought) as of everything that is not related to my “I” nor to the external reality in its contingency. And neither to the instrumental relation that may exist between I and this reality. 

On one hand we can get closer to the concept of the “inner world”, to all that content of images, tensions, visions, knowledge, thought, and why not, experiences, that “open” towards the “ other” from “us who we already are,” that enlarge, but with a “different material “, our essence. 

On the other hand, we can see the soul also as part of that “Anima mundi “ soul of the world which contains in itself all of the existing lives as a whole, the whole in whose widening and expansion we are called to participate actively.

In this sense the image of the universe that is constantly expanding can help us. The universe is being pushed to this widening by an original centrifugal force. In the moment when this push is reduced or exhausted we will witness an irreversible implosion and a diminishing up to the null of the space of the world.

Isn’t it maybe what is happening on the parallel plane to the interior world? Isn’t this interior push toward widening becoming weaker, fainter, slower? Isn’t this interior world, or the soul of the world, being wasted away because it doesn’t find enough propulsion, motivation, force to grow in a disinterested and absolute way, squashed by a progressive push towards individualistic reassurance and satisfaction?

And what will happen to us and to our souls, not nourished anymore by our own internal processes and the process of the entire inner world?

Our soul is no longer in a commanding position in our life. Our life is dominated by a kind of anarchy. We move as beings “thrown into the world”, trying in every moment to react in the best way, in a kind of constant improvisation. But it lacks a guiding, a great force, experienced, charismatic, that will put in order our different aspirations, impulses, intentions and emotions.

When we were little we had a “mother”, at least as an absolute concept, which took us gently by the hand and led, showing us the way and to whom we totally committed ourselves. 

But today, when we are grown up, we have to create our “mother” by ourselves, through a constant and continuous work of creation, expansion, enrichment in knowledge and experience. 

This “mother”, this “great mother” that collects and constantly, throughout the life, increases Knowledge, Thought, Visions, Artistic words and images; material which she then constantly elaborates in order to give us the necessary balance between feelings, thoughts and acts. That is our soul.

To make soul. To make space. To create space. 

“Inside of us.” reducing in our mind and in our heart the space for our own I and increasing our soul. Like to put new seeds and bulbs of flowers, in a garden, which is maybe too much cluttered with stones and fake grass.

“Outside of us”, through the interaction with the other in order to create the space, to make together ​​Soul, to provide resistance to the reflux that appears to be unstoppable, made of the debris of humanity, frightened and therefore aggressive, that is trying, by all means to defend its own “I”. Unconscious, perhaps, that the emptiness of its own soul and its own interactions, is contributing to the progressive reduction of the Soul of the World, leaving the magma of empty existences, less and less able to create images, thoughts, visions, new knowledge, to cross the borders of themselves and spread into the world.

Who can help us to make, to enlarge our soul? What can we put it our inner garden, which would help us to create new germs of thoughts, images, ideas, visions, feelings, emotions?

A meeting. Meeting with other souls. Great souls of the history of Human. Souls who have contributed to the development of the knowledge about the depth of Being which is an indispensable condition to create the necessary unity of Feelings, Thoughts and Actions. To the point in which we feel like one united soul, each time a little bigger.

Pazolini: očajnička vitalnost

U poslednje vreme smo želeli da produbimo Pazolinija kao čoveka, naravno ne oduzimajući mu njegova dela, već koncentrišući se više na osobenost ovog čoveka o kome se toliko diskutovalo, koga su toliko kritikovali ili obožavali i slavili.

I tako smo odlučili da se susretnemo sa Pazolinijem Geteovim očima. Kao u “Metamorfozama biljaka”. Pokušavajući, ne toliko da uočimo ono što je kod njega nepomično i nepromenljivo, već upravo da ispratimo proces metamorfoze koji se događao tokom njegovog teškog života, poput kupine u brdima, koja ima cvetove i trnje i rađa preslatke plodove, ali uvek sa “očajničkom vitalnošću”. 

Da, njegova očajnička vitalnost. Ovaj čovek kao da je silom bio presađen u ovaj svet, stvoren drugačiji i kao posledica toga sa željom da ga se iz njega iščupa. I tako su njegovo ponašanje, njegovi odnosi, njegova ekspresivnost i njegova umetnost bili pokretani apsolutno vanrednom životnom i surovom snagom preživljavanja.

Dobro znamo kako se završio Pazolinijev život. Ali možda je to samo logičan ishod jednog puta koji bi, da je imao drugačiji epilog, bio protivrečan samom sebi. Društvo i realnost imaju potrebu za ljudima koji su van norme, ali u isto vreme moraju i da ih odbace. Posebno ako su “isuviše” van norme.

Stoga ne treba previše da nas šokira Pazolinijev kraj. Ako se vratimo na našu geteovsku analizu: biljke u jednom trenutku bivaju isečene zato što ometaju prolaz. Ali one su ipak postojale  i služile su tome da daju život, i to kakav život, svetu.

Svetu, u kome je Pazolini, kao što smo rekli, bio “isuviše” van norme. Od tada je prošlo  skoro 40 godina. I norma se menja.  Danas, u određenim aspektima, jedna osoba kao Pazolini ne bi više izazivala toliko pažnje, a još manje skandala. Međutim, ne možemo se zaustaviti na tome da kažemo: ali danas se sve promenilo!!

Istina. Možda nema više vike na dijalektu u predgrađima, makar ne na našim dijalektima, možda se o seksu i o ljubavi priča i previše, ali, kao što je predviđao Pazolini, na konzumistički i površan način. Homoseksualnost je tema koja više nije udarna vest.

Ali možda je ono što danas nedostaje upravo ljubav, čista i potpuna ljubav prema životu. Ljubav koja je snaga, hrabrost, žrtva, rizik, želja za saznanjem, želja za iskustvom, želja za lepotom, želja za prošlošću. Jednom rečju, ono što život čini...životom.

I ovog puta možemo da ne kažemo da to treba učiniti u ime nečeg većeg od nas, u ime nekog ideala koji nas prevazilazi. Umetnost, Politika, Čovečanstvo. Reči bez smisla, ako nema duše u onome ko ih izgovara. Već to treba da uradimo zbog nas. Samo zbog nas. Kao Pazolini. Da bismo bili to što jesmo. 

“Imaćemo tešku i bednu tišinu, bolni san, koji ne donosi blagost i mir, već nostalgiju i prekor, tugu onih koji su umrli bez života: ako ostane nešto čisto i uvek mlado, biće to tvoj krotki svet, tvoja vera, tvoj herojizam: u nežnosti duda i vinove loze ili zove, u svakom uzvišenom ili bednom znaku života, u svakom proleću, bićeš ti; na svakom mestu gde su se nekada smejali, i opet se smeju, grešni, oni živi, ti češ davati čistotu, jedini sud koji nam preostaje, strašan i blag: jer ne postoji očajanje u kome nema malo nade.”

(“Religija mog vremena” P. P. P)

Pasolini: a desperate vitality

Recently we wanted to go more deep into the Pasolini as a man, clearly not wanting to deprive him of his work, but concentrating more on the peculiarity of this personage who aroused so many discussions and critics, or was adored and praised.

So, we thought to face Pasolini with the eyes of Goethe. Like in the “Metamorphosis of Plants”. Trying not so much to catch the aspects that are fixed and immutable, but really to follow the process of metamorphosis throughout his hard life, like a bramble of the hill, that has flowers and thorns and makes sweet blackberries, but always with “desperate vitality”. 

Yes, his desperate vitality. It’s like if this man was transplanted by force into this world, created in an uncommon way and consequently in every way wanted to be extirpated. And therefore all of his behavioral, relational, expressional and artistic manifestations were moved and pushed by a vital and cruel force of survival that was absolutely extraordinary.

We all know the end of Pasolini. But maybe it is just a logical conclusion of a road that, if had had a different epilogue, it would have denied itself. Society and reality need, but at the same time have to reject people who are out of the norm. Especially if they are “too much” out of the norm.

Therefore we shouldn’t be that much impressed by the end of Pasolini. Going back to our Goethean analysis: in a certain point plants are being cut, because they impede passage. However they existed and their existence served to give life, and what a life, to the world.

As we said, a world in which Pasolini was “too much” out of the norm.  Almost 40 years have passed since then. Even the norm changes. Today, for certain aspects, a person like Pasolini would not make headline news and least of all scandal. But in this sense we cannot stop saying: but today everything has changed!!

It’s true. Maybe there is no more yelling in dialects in the poor outskirts of the city, at least not in our dialects, and maybe sex and love are being talked about too much, although as Pasolini  predicted, in a consumerist and superficial way. Homosexuality is already a theme that doesn’t make headline news.

But maybe what is lacking today is exactly love, pure and absolute love for life. Love that is force, courage, sacrifice, risk, desire for knowledge, for experience, for past. In a word, what makes one life… life.

And this time we can say that this doesn’t have to be done in the name of something bigger than us, of an ideal that transcends us. Art, Politics, Humanity. Words without sense if there is no soul in the one who says them. But we have to do it for ourselves. Just for ourselves. Like Pasolini. To be ourselves. 

“We will have a hard and poor silence, a painful dream, that doesn’t bring sweetness and peace, but nostalgy and reproach, sadness of the one who has died without living: if something pure and always clean remains, it will be your quiet world, your trust, your heroism: in the sweetness of mulberry and grapevine or of elder, in every high or poor sign of life, in every spring, will be you; in every place where one day they laughed, and laugh again, impure, the living ones, you will give pureness, the only judgment left for us, and it’s tremendous and sweet: because there is no desperation without a little bit of hope.”

(from the Religion of My Time – P.P.P)

Čovek pita,
umetnost odgovara

Koga pitati? Koga pitati kako da se suočimo sa sopstvenom usamljenošću, sa nedostatkom smisla, sa sopstvenim strahom? Postoji jedna mogućnost koju možda ne uzimamo dovoljno u obzir, ili joj ne dajemo važnost, koju ona zapravo ima. Ova mogućnost je Umetnost.

Šta je umetnost? Umetnost je esencija duša. I koga možemo pitati više nego ovu koncentraciju duša? Dušu čovečanstva. Koncentraciju najvećih duša čovečanstva. Čitavu istoriju čovečanstva. Na ramenima giganata. Počnimo da slušamo jednu Bahovu kompoziciju. Ova muzika sasvim sigurno govori o našoj temi. O našoj ličnoj, egzistencijalnoj temi, našem izvornom pitanju. Ali na jednom drugom jeziku... Koji moramo da želimo da pustimo sebe da slušamo.

Možemo zamisliti nas same. I u isto vreme slušati ovu muziku, kako bismo pitali umetnost. Ali Umetnost nam već govori, nama, o nama. Zamišljajući sebe u stanju u kome je umetnik, osetimo njegova osećanja. I uhvatimo taj glas koji je sigurno patio kao i mi, i koji nam, svojom sposobnošću da vidi, sada govori nešto o nama, koristeći svoj jezik. I on (pesnik) je rekao ove reči svetu...

Za ljudsko biće u apsolutnom smislu... Pokušajmo da slušamo... da bismo slušali...

Prvo slušamo, nakon toga čitamo sebe i unutar sebe... Ovde je nešto važno što mi govori. Šta je umetnost? To je najveća duša čovečanstva. Možda nam niko nije rekao šta je umetnost. 

Umetnost: sve duše čovečanstva. Sakupljene u nekim ljudskim bićima, koji su imali vanrednu senzibilnost i koji su bili u stanju da izraze ovu koncentraciju kroz svoja dela, kroz svoje vizije i reči.

Možda nam niko nije rekao. Možda nam naši roditelji nisu rekli “Žao mi je, nisam umeo, ali mogu da ti pokažem jedno moguće rešenje, neku vrstu leka, za tebe, za život sa kojim ćeš se suočiti. Ja nisam u stanju. Ni ja nisam bio u stanju da pitam i da pronađem odgovore tokom svog života. Ali otkrio sam nešto, i moram to da ti kažem: tu je Umetnost. Ja ću umreti, ali ti nikada nećeš biti sam, jer je tu Umetnost!”

Koga pitati kako da živimo, kako da umremo, da li postoji smisao, da li postoji Bog?

Jednoga dana ja ću umreti, ali će Umetnost ostati. Ona mora biti vaš vodič... I možda zato imamo dušu. Neku vrstu rezervoara, ali ne samo to, već neku vrstu fabrike gde je moguće uneti Umetnost, materijal za našu duhovnu “produkciju”, i samim tim, za kvalitet naše egzistencije. Umetnost koju samo duša može da primi, slušajući, posmatrajući, osećajući dušu čovečanstva, kako bismo je uneli u našu dušu.

Ali mi to ne radimo. Možda nam niko nije rekao. Niko nas nije naučio.

Slikari, muzičari, pesnici, skulptori. Mi mislimo da je Umetnost u odnosu samo sa lepotom, u smislu da prenosi lepotu, idealnu lepotu. Ali u Umetnosti postoji nešto drugo, što nije samo lepota u estetskom smislu, lepota koja proizvodi zadovoljstvo.

Umetnost zapravo u sebi sadrži istoriju života ljudskog bića. Apsolutnu istoriju, ne samo jednog specifičnog trenutka, specifične vrste osoba. Umetnost je apsolutna, po definiciji.

Možda prebrzo postanemo sigurni u to šta je život, ili čak i ako nismo sigurni, ponašamo se kao da znamo. I tako se dogodimo uronjeni u život, upleteni u njega i onda uhvatimo sebe kako pričamo o usamljenosti, o praznini, o besmislu.

Moramo pitati. Previše smo sigurni, suviše zapleteni u život i zaboravljamo da ostanemo u sopstvenom stanju i da pitamo i tragamo. Pokušajmo da slušamo. U ovoj muzici je jedna vizija. Jedna apsolutna vizija, ali postoji i nešto konkretnije što moramo biti kadri da slušamo kao što možemo slušati staro napuklo drvo, koje mi kazuje nešto, kroz svoje rane i kroz svoje nove sveže listove.

Izreći iskustvo mnogo vekova čovečanstva... Umetnost. Čime možemo nahraniti našu praznu dušu, žednu odgovora? Naša duša je bez granica. Ona može da primi, da razume, da vidi sve vizije, sve svetove, sve jezike, samo slušajući. Slušajući u tišini. Kao ova muzika. Slušajući kako odgovara na naša pitanja, svesna i nesvesna.

Umetnost nije samo neka vrsta utehe u tužnim trenucima. Ona nije lepa i nežna majka, ne, nije to. Ako je prava majka, ona će me ošamariti jer sam se predao. Umetnost je surova majka. Ali majka mora biti i surova. Surova na poseban način. Da mi otkriva šta je realnost, a ne da mi priča bajke.

Slušajte umetnost, pitajte umetnost, i nećete nikada biti sami. Niko nas ne može naterati da verujemo. Ali možda je teže imati veru u Boga, jer neprestano moramo imati veru u nešto što nije vidljivo u realnosti, i čije skice nam nisu toliko razumljive. Ali sa Umetnošću je drugačije.

I možda je upravo umetnost ta koja nam može pomoći i u odnosu sa Bogom. Jer Umetnost govori o Apsolutu. Puna je odgovora, konkretnih odgovora, bezinteresnih. Tako mogu verovati nekome, nekome ko je uvek spreman da mi da, da mi kaže. U svakom trenutku ga mogu dozvati, posmatrati, slušati, pitati ga. Boga možda malo manje. On ponekad deluje jako zauzeto, ne odgovara mi direktno. Ali možda to čini kroz Umetnost. Jer je Umetnost uvek prisutna, u knjigama, slikama, muzici. I ako pitam, čak i o Bogu, Umetnost će mi odgovoriti. Uvek.

(Sa prezentacije tokom seminara “Putovanje duše i poezije” koji je grupa Aletheia održala u Santa Liberi, u Piemonteu, septembra 2012. godine)

Man asks,
art answers

To whom to ask? To whom to ask how to face our own loneliness, our missing of sense, our fear? There is a possibility that we probably do not consider, or to which we don’t give real importance, that in fact it has. This possibility is Art.

What is Art? Art is the essence of the souls. And to whom to ask other then to this concentration of souls? Souls of the humanity. The concentration of the greatest souls of the humanity. All the history of humanity. On the shoulders of the giants.

Let’s start to listen to one music of Bach. For sure this music is speaking about our theme. Our personal theme, existential, about our original question. But in another language…. that we have to let us listen to..

It is possible to imagine ourselves. And, at the same time, to listen to this music, to ask to Art, but Art is already speaking to us, about us. Imagining ourselves in the condition of the artist. To feel his feelings. And to catch that voice that for sure was suffering like us, and that, with his capability to see, is now telling something to us, using his language. And he (the poet) said this to the world…

For the human being in absolute sense… let’s try to listen…. for listening.

First the listening, then the reading of us and inside of us.. Here there is something important that is speaking to me. What is Art? What is Art? It is the greatest soul of humanity. Probably nobody told us what art is. Art: all the souls of mankind. Collected in some human beings, who had an extraordinary sensibility and who were able to express such concentration in their works, in their visions and words.

Probably nobody told us, probably our parents didn’t say to us: “I am sorry, I didn’t know, but I can indicate for you a kind of solution, a kind of medicine, for you, for the life that you will have to face. I am not able. Me too I was not able to ask and find the answers during my life. But I discovered something, and I have to tell you: there is Art. I will die, but you will never be alone, because there is Art!!”

To whom to ask how to live, how to die, if there is a sense, if there is a God?

One day I will die, but Art will stay. It must be your guide.. And maybe that’s why we have a soul. Potentially a kind of container, not only, a kind of factory where is possible to put Art, the raw material for excellence of our spiritual “production” and, consequently, of the quality of our existence. Art that only the soul can catch, listening, looking, feeling the soul of mankind, to put it in our soul.

But we don’t do it. Maybe nobody told us. Nobody taught us.

Painters, musicians, poets, writers, sculptors. We think that Art is in relation only with beauty, in the sense to transmit beauty, an ideal beauty. But there is in Art something else, that is not just beauty in esthetical sense. Beauty which produces pleasure.

Actually Art has inside the history of humankind. History in absolute sense, not just of a specific moment, of a specific kind of people. Art is absolute, by definition.

Maybe too often we are sure of what life is, or even if we are not sure, we behave as we knew. And so we find ourselves immersed into the life, entangled to it, and after we found ourselves speaking about loneliness, emptiness and non-sense.

We have to ask. We are too much sure, too much involved in the life, and we forget to stay in our condition and to ask and to search. To try to listen. In this music there is a vision. There is an absolute vision, but there is also something more specific that we have to be able to listen, as to listen to an old broken tree, that, through its wounds and its new fresh leaves, says something to me.

To say the experience of many centuries of humanity…. Art. With what can we feed our soul thirsty of answers? Our soul has no limits. It can enter, can include, can see all the visions, all the worlds, all the languages, just listening. Listening in silence, like with this music, to listen to what is answering to our conscious and unconscious questions.

Art is not only a kind of consolation, for the sad moments. It is not a beautiful and tender mother, no, it is not this. If it is a real mother, she also slaps me because I am resigned. Art is a cruel mother. But a mother must be also cruel. Cruel in a special way. To reveal to me what reality is, without telling me fairytales.

Listen to Art, ask Art, and you will never be alone. It is not possible to oblige someone to have faith, but maybe it is harder to have faith in God, because we have to keep believing in something that is not visible in the reality, and sometimes neither so understandable in its designs.

But with Art it is different.

And maybe it’s right Art that can help us in this different relationship with God. Because Art speaks about Absolute, is full of answers, concrete answers, disinterested. In this way I can trust somebody, somebody that is always ready to give to me, to tell me. In any moment I can call him, look at him, listen to him, ask him. Maybe with God it’s less possible, sometimes he looks too busy, he doesn’t answer directly to me. But maybe he does it through Art. Because Art is always present, in books, in paintings, in melodies. And if I ask, even God, Art answers. Always.

(from a presentation at the seminar “Journey of a soul and a poetry”, held by Aletheia in Santa Libera, Piemonte, Italy, September 2012)