EPPH - Every Painter Paints Himself

Christ’s Private Chamber

The Inner Tradition on which our theory of art depends is widespread, constant and ever-changing. All major artists are in one way or another influenced by some version of it. Aldous Huxley called it the “Perennial Philosophy”, identifying in a large number of mystical theologies certain truths that underlie them all.¹

Religions, however, cannot only be addressed to the spiritually-inclined who are few in number; they must also cater to the masses. To achieve this double-objective for two quite different groups of people, almost all Scriptures (except in Buddhism) are written on multiple levels: a superficial one telling literal, often unbelievable, stories for the masses about the founder’s life (Jesus or Mohammed, for instance) and another, using the same words allegorically, for those who are spiritually-inclined. ­­­The latter, who know that the literal life of the prophet is of little significance, are the primary audience which is why the stories, when read literally, often appear inconsistent or unbelievable, as many masterpieces in art do too. Do you really believe the Red Sea parted or Christ raised men from the dead? It is considered so dangerous to pass on secret teachings to those not ready for them that they are often expressed in strange ways. Secrecy is a very important factor in mystical thought.

Christ, too, in his Sermon on the Mount to his disciples, emphasized secrecy in what appear to be instructions on how to pray. Remember, though, Christ’s twelve disciples were mystics themselves, all receiving secret teachings from Jesus:

“But thou when thou shalt pray, enter into thy chamber, and having shut the door, pray to thy Father in secret: and thy Father who seeth in secret will repay thee.”

Anyone with any knowledge of the mystical tradition would immediately interpret these words as advice to study one’s own mind. They would not need St. Augustine to tell them, as he did in his commentary on this passage, that Christ’s “private chamber” is your own mind.² To the mystically-inclined that is patently obvious even though most others would read it at face value, a touch perplexed perhaps by Christ’s emphasis on secrecy. The mind as God’s temple was such a common idea that a 1493 prayer manual published in Venice also declared that “our mind is the temple of God and our heart is the altar.”³ Christ’s reported words, therefore, are more than just practical advice. They reject nearly everything the Catholic and other Christian churches have ever believed in. There is no heaven in the sky or hell below; no Limbo or incarnation unique to Jesus. The only place anyone can ever go when they shun the illusion of everyday life is, as Buddhists openly acknowledge, the mind. As art historians we must be clear about this and not fudge the issue. One, referring to St. Augustine’s commentary, described Christ’s “private chamber” as a “state-of-mind,” as one alternative among many.⁴ Christ’s words, though, are not ambiguous. Christ’s “chamber” is the mind. That is all there is….

…..and when you look at art, that is all you see, the artist’s mind as a reflection of itself.

Michelangelo’s well-known images are almost all depictions of his own mind at work, as you will see when you read our entries on them. As one example, though, the drawing known as The Dream of Human Life (above) depicts the top of a man’s head. It is formed from the mass of figures who represent “thoughts” in his mind, some sexual in nature. An angel breaks through the crack in his "skull" where the soul was thought to enter at birth and depart at death. Michelangelo even referred to his brain as “his memory-box” and there is the box itself with his self-portrait mask in it on the floor. We are looking at an image drawn on two levels: one literally for the masses(a somewhat inexplicable scene), another allegorically for those with imagination (the top of the artist's head with a scene in his mind).

1. Aldous Huxley, The Perennial Philosophy (New York: Harper and Brothers) 1945

2.Ronda Kasl, “Holy Households: Art and Devotion in Renaissance Venice” in Giovanni Bellini and the Art of Devotion, ed. Ronda Kasl (Indianapolis Museum of Art) 2004, pp. 72-73

3. Kasl, p.73

4. Kasl, p.73