ovde - vera znanje mir

F.S.: No, because a modern artwork — modern in the broadest sense — may manifest different
qualities, in regard to the content as well as in regard to the treatment and also to the artist. Some
traditional productions are bad, and some nontraditional productions are good.
Q. : What does art mean for the artist himself?
F.S.: By creating a noble work of art, the artist works on his own soul; in a way, he creates his
own archetype. Therefore the practice of every art is a way of self-realization, in principle or also
in fact. With unimportant or even negative subjects, the artist may remain intentionally unaffected,
but with noble and profound subjects, he works with his very heart.
III. Primordiality
Q. : Your book The Feathered Sun reveals your interest in the American Indians. May I ask you
what the stimulus of this interest or affinity is?
F.S.: The Red Indians — and especially the Indians of the Plains — have much in common with
the Japanese samurai, who very often practiced Zen spirituality; morally and aesthetically
speaking, the Plains Indians were one of the most fascinating peoples of the world. It was the great
mistake of the 19th century to distinguish only between “civilized people” and “savages”; there
are distinctions which are far more real and important, for it is obvious that “civilization” in the
ordinary sense is not the highest value of mankind, and also that the term “savage” is not suitable
to the Indians. What makes the value of a man is neither his mundane culture nor his practical or
inventive intelligence, but his attitude in the face of the Absolute; and he who has the sense of the
Absolute never forgets the relationship between man and virgin Nature, because Nature is our
origin, our natural homeland and a most transparent Message of God. For the Arab historian Ibn
Khaldun, the very condition of a realistic civilization is the equilibrium between Bedouins and city
dwellers, which means between nomads and sedentaries; between the healthy children of Nature
and the representatives of elaborated cultural values.
Q. : Your art books The Feathered Sun and especially Images of Primordial and Mystic Beauty
deal with the mystery of sacred nudity. Could you explain in a few words the meaning of this
perspective?
F.S.: Sacred nudity — which plays an important role not only with the Hindus but also with the
Red Indians — is based on the analogical correspondence between the “outmost” and the
“inmost”: the body is then seen as the “heart exteriorized,” and the heart for its part “absorbs” as it
were the bodily projection; “extremes meet.” It is said, in India, that nudity favors the irradiation
of spiritual influences; and also that feminine nudity in particular manifests Lakshmi and
consequently has a beneficial effect on the surroundings. In an altogether general way, nudity
expresses — and virtually actualizes — a return to the essence, the origin, the archetype, thus to
the celestial state: “And it is for this that, naked, I dance,” as Lalla Yogishvari, the great Kashmiri
saint, said after having found the Divine Self in her heart. To be sure, in nudity there is a de facto
ambiguity because of the passional nature of man; but there is not only the passional nature, there
is also the gift of contemplativity which can neutralize it, as is precisely the case with “sacred
nudity”; similarly, there is not only the seduction of appearances, there is also the metaphysical
transparency of phenomena which permits one to perceive the archetypal essence through the
sensory experience. St. Nonnos, when he beheld St. Pelagia entering the baptismal pool naked,
praised God for having put into human beauty not only an occasion of fall, but also an occasion of
rising towards God.
IV. Message
Q. : What would be your message for the average man?
F.S.: Prayer. To be a human being means to be connected with God. Life has no meaning without
this. Prayer and beauty, of course; for we live among forms and not in a cloud. Beauty of soul
first, and then beauty of symbols around us.
Q. : You have spoken of metaphysics. May I ask you what the main content of this perennial
wisdom is?