The world that we perceive in our minds is different from the world that actually exists. When one is "seeing" something, the thing that is being observed upon gets meshed together with passions and the emotions drawn from those passions. Historian and art critic, James Elkins, asserts that "seeing alters the thing that is seen and transforms the seer," (Plate, 21). Art is a representation of what is seen, and it communicates an original presence. Of course, the word representation implies somewhat of an alteration of the original because it is conveyed by one person's individual perception. Art refreshes the seer and gives him a different way of looking at the world. Religious art, including rituals, recreates the initial essence of something so that the seer can share in the religious experience. Art is a vehicle for the senses and consciousness to escape the every day world and allows one to "see religiously," (Plate, 22). Once the seer is transformed in this way, he begins to see everything differently. One will find himself "noticing things [not] noticed before; time moves slower or faster; and new ways of thinking are" integrated into the person's overall view of the world. It is because of these affects art has on humans that religious art holds such immense power.
Plate, S. Brent. Religion, Art, and Visual Culture: a Cross-cultural Reader. New York: Palgrave, 2002. Print.
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