When
we think of art in the Western world, we normally think of it in terms of its
aesthetic appeal to people and not in terms of any healing properties it may
have. Granted that there are branches of Christianity that have visual
representations of Christ or the saints to whom a believer prays for health,
but there the focus seems to be more on Christ or the saints behind the visual
representation and the medium of art does not in and of itself seem to contribute
so much to generating healing. Then, of
course, there is art therapy in the modern world, which is a form of
psychotherapy that can make a person feel better when making or appreciating
art. But this is a form of symptomatic
relief that does not directly attack core mental health issues.
The Navajo Indians of the
Southwestern United States have created a form of art that is exclusively constructed
to be used as a part of a process that focuses on total healing of a person who
is sick. The process referred to is a
religious ceremony in which a person is reset in many ways: physically,
psychologically, socially and religiously.
The process is called a chant although this does not refer just to the
repetitive almost unconscious songs that people sing as part of a religious
ceremony. And the art that is created
for this chant is made out of sand. Sand
of different colors is used to make a painting that occupies a very important
role in the healing process.
The
subject matter of the paintings is scenes from Navajo myths. They are scenes that are meant to attract the
presence of Navajo gods to the ceremony.
After a painting is completed, something very unusual happens. The patient is called into the presence of
the painting. At one part in the
ceremony, sand from the painting is strewn over the patient’s almost totally
naked body. Later in the ceremony, a patient is asked to sit on the
painting. The very act of sitting on it
destroys the painting. In all cases, the
remains of the painting are carried away from the site of the ceremony in a
sack and gotten rid of in a ritual manner. Several paintings are created during one
days-long ceremony, and each of them is destroyed by the patient in the same
way.
With
each one of these sand paintings, the patient absorbs a different deity and, in
so doing, absorbs the healing power.
This is the purpose of the sand painting. It is not meant to be in its traditional use
an object of ongoing aesthetic appreciation (although there are people today
who do collect sand paintings). It is to
make an imprint in the sand painting and then to preserve an imprint not in the
artwork itself but through its transformative effect on a patient. Through the sand painting, a patient becomes
healed and strong, because he becomes internally empowered like a god. The preserved imprint is intense in terms of
the dramatic changes it creates in a patient’s life, even though the effect
does not last, at least directly, beyond a patient’s life. This is very different from a work of art
made for aesthetic purposes. This kind
of work of art is itself a preserved imprint physically, and although it can
have long-term effects in the lives of its viewers, the viewers never become
anything within the subject matter of the work of art. Although there are different degrees of
impression left by an aesthetic work of art on a viewer, and some works leave
an impression that is even more moving, even spiritually moving, the impression
of an aesthetic work of art is more shallow than the impact of a Navajo sand
painting on a patient.
But
the sand painting is certainly useful in helping us to understand not only that
there are different kinds of preserved imprints, but also in helping us
understand that there are different levels of the effects of imprints. A sand painting is a preserved imprint that
doesn’t have to survive indefinitely as a physical entity in order to continue
to survive as an imprint. When the
patient sits on the sand painting, the imprint leaves the physical entity of
the sand painting and inhabits the patient’s mind as an experience that is
remembered. It is a deep-impression
imprint, because as a transformative imprint, it remains with the patient for
the rest of his life.
This
is very different from most art objects that don’t attract spirits that then
inhabit the viewer. A good interesting
art object can certainly move a viewer, but that emotional influence is more
temporary, and more than likely, it is not going to transform a person’s
life. It will leave an impression that
is more shallow on the viewer. When all
is said and done, it is not destroyed after being viewed. It is not destroyed in a way that its very
essence can enter the viewer.
So there
are different patterns for how an organic imprint is preserved. For a sand painting, the enduring part does
not reside in the material presence of the art itself, but rather in one
viewer. And in the positive healing
transformation of that viewer – the patient – there are ripple effects
benefitting family members, friends and community members. To the extent that a patient is healed, it is
going to lead to more healthy interactions between the patient and the people
around him. One can think of it as a
ripple effect, whereby the health of the patient reverberates with the people
around him, and even indirectly with future generations. This is how the
imprint of the sand painting remains preserved.
With
most art, the artist creates a work of art in which he makes and preserves an
imprint in the work itself and this preserved imprint makes imprints on
viewers. Sometimes these imprints are
preserved in the viewer, if the work of art is truly memorable. With a sand painting, the artist makes and
preserves a very intense imprint on one viewer precisely because the work of
art is created and destroyed in one sitting.
It is a work of art that is made to go on living in the form of an
intense memory.
The
sand painting is a unique kind of art, and its presence forces us to think
through what it means for a work of art to leave an imprint on a viewer. And, in effect, there are actually two
preserved imprints involved on the path from artist to viewer. There is the imprint that the artist makes
and preserves in a material work of art for his own sense of
accomplishment. And there is the imprint
that the work of art emits to be received by the outside viewer. And if the imprint emitted by the work of art
is transformational enough in its effect on the viewer’s mind, it becomes
preserved there. Most artists in Western
culture focus on both imprints. They
want to create something of enduring artistic value of which they can be
proud. And they want to have a
meaningful impact on viewers. Now there
are also some people who focus on the first preserved imprint and make works of
art just for themselves. Navajo sand
painters are much more focused on the second preserved imprint. The viewer knows that the imprint is made for
him, to help heal him, and that makes the impact of the sand painting imprint
so much more powerful.
There
is nothing like the sand painting in modern technological society. Particularly in modern technological society,
the notion of purposely destroying a beautiful organic imprint rather than
preserving it is alien to the notion of the creation and preservation of art as
a vehicle to add to one’s surrogate immortality in order to prepare for death. But through the Navajo, we see that
non-physical preserved organic imprints such as memories can also be an
appropriate means for creating a surrogate immortality.
(c) 2017 Laurence Mesirow
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