The Artist’s Temptation
“We shall say no more, ‘Our god,’ to the work of our hands” (Hosea 14:4).
One of the most profound books that I have read so far this year is God is Beauty: A Retreat on the Gospel and Art, by Pope St. John Paul II. The first part of the book contains a retreat that then-Bishop Karol Wojtyla delivered in 1962 to artists. Dr. Christopher West of the Theology of the Body Institute later discovered the retreat and had it translated into English. The result is Wojtyla’s exquisite reflections on the beauty of God, the role of artists, and the importance of prayer. The second part of the book contains commentaries on the various aspects of retreat by notable Catholic authors and artists.
The Idol of the Artist
There are many aspects of Wojtyla’s words and the words of the commentators that stamped indelible marks of truth on my soul. The section on idols made the greatest mark and is one I continue to ruminate on.
Wojtyla begins this section by describing that the God of the Gospel is not only a source of creative inspiration for artists, but is most essentially needed by the artist as a person:
All of us need him—this God who is Beauty and this Beauty who is God—is needed by each of us [sic], so that we don’t ultimately stop at the beauty that we create ourselves, so that our own works are not exalted as idols for us (emphasis mine), so we don’t idolize them.
Growing up, I was always cautioned against using created objects as idols. Whether it be work, fame, or technology, I knew the danger of placing my hope on something fragile and temporal. However, I never once imagined how even the work of an artist could easily become an idol. As Wojtyla says:
The temptation of the artist is an immense temptation; it might seem to be a noble temptation, for the artist to idolize his own works—to see a substitute for God, an idol, in them. When this happens, we say that the work of art conceals God from us.
By idolizing one’s own work—the work of one’s imagination, one’s paintbrush, one’s chisel, one’s body, one’s lips—by deifying all these works, in some way we deify ourselves. This is an immense tragic temptation. It is a temptation that is all the greater and all the more tragic, the more the human person, the artist, fails to realize it—that this temptation exists and what it is.
Discovering True Beauty
This concept became a personal one recently when I received constructive feedback on something I had created. The feedback required that I redo it. Instead of graciously receiving the feedback, I found myself offended, angry, and feeling that I would refuse to create ever again.
Shocked by my own response, I took it to prayer, asking God to reveal what was at the root of my reaction. Sometime later, He reminded me of Wojtyla’s quote, and I was convicted. He gently helped me see how I had elevated “my creation” to an idol and how, for my own good, He had demolished it.
Understanding our weakness and this temptation, yet pastoring us rightly, Wojtyla continues:
The human being cannot deify himself or herself. Each of us is an image and likeness of God. But only an image-likeness of God. None of us can deify our own self. None of us can deify our ego. There are no data that supports such deification.
This is probably just what one poet meant in a statement that has been hounding me for so many years with a kind of insistence. We remember this: “A stream of Beauty flows through you, but you yourself are not Beauty.” Here the poet admits this temptation to idolize himself. He also admits the truth about himself (emphasis mine). My dear friends, the purpose of spiritual exercises is for us to admit the truth about ourselves.
These are words I need to read often. I need to be reminded that the gifts I (we) have been given, although good and beautiful, are not the epitome of beauty. God is the Beauty. This does not mean that I should disdain anything I create; instead, it means I must place it in its proper order. My gaze must, like the saints’, be singularly focused on Heaven, instead of the opinion of others or even my own opinion of myself.
Valentina Imhoff, MBA is a career coach helping women encounter God through their work. She has lived and worked in 6 countries and has over 10 years of experience in a variety of industries. In addition to coaching, she facilitates Called & Gifted workshops to help others discern their charisms. Her greatest loves are her husband, son, and trying new recipes in the kitchen. Connect with Valentina at fiatcareercoaching.com, or tune into her podcast on YouTube, Apple Podcasts or Spotify.