What You See Shapes Your Soul: A Word on Beauty, Truth & the Brain

The human brain is incredibly amazing to me. I've learned so much about it over the past 25 plus years (as a psychological counselor and as a curious human) and I continue to learn more with each passing day.

I've always had an intuitive knowing that the types of things I see, hear, and take in through my senses create thoughts, feelings, and have the power to shift my mental/emotional state. I was never one to handle scary movies well. They stayed with me for months, even years, and in fact, I still regret seeing The Exorcist all those years ago in college.

I have done a lot of reading about the brain and how neural pathways are formed. It is so complex and I cannot begin to scratch the surface, but in simple terms, "garbage in, garbage out" is absolutely true. What we allow in through our senses will change our beliefs over time. Incoming information has the power to harm, to protect, to heal, or to warp. It matters, profoundly, what we allow into our senses.

The bright side of this is that I know we have the ability to dramatically raise our thoughts and feelings when we seek out God's truths in His Word and by His Holy Spirit. In addition, beauty, goodness, and truth go together and we can see evidence of this in the beauty of nature, God's creation.

One tiny example of this is the incredible beauty that exists in a single tree. The tree with all its leaves, branches, roots, bark, limbs and blossoms is beautiful to look upon and when we study this tree closely, we learn things about it. The number of rings it has inside equate to the number of years the tree has been in existence. We can see evidence of fires that occurred in the tree's past or of floods. The tree points to God's goodness, beauty, and Truth. If a tree could speak, it might say, "look up to our Creator, He is good, He is beautiful and He is the Source of all Truth."

As I was thinking about why I love to paint so much, I realized that by purposely painting things that are vibrant, colorful, or serene, and peaceful, I am "speaking" through visuals. Quite often, what we see visually really does speak very directly to our souls. I have wanted people to view my paintings and feel HOPE, JOY, and to know the Truth that God loves them.

Artwork can be moving, uplifting, and inspiring, or it can be disturbing, frightening, and depressing. It is so fascinating to me that the combinations of colors, shapes, images, and the arrangement of all these can spark such a dramatic emotional response.

In light of all this, I have asked the Lord to help me create artwork that speaks to His goodness, loving-kindness, and trustworthiness. I have asked God to help me speak hope, peace, and joy through what I paint. Some of my paintings accomplish this better than others, but it is on my heart to continue to pursue painting with this "mission" in mind - to impact hearts and minds to turn to our loving Creator, Jesus Christ.

The painting below, "Sweet Sunset with Palms" is one of my personal favorites. I keep it displayed in my art studio because it reminds me of the breath-taking splendor of sunsets at the coast. The ocean is my favorite place to take in a sunset, but any body of water will do. When all the world is struggling with confusion and chaos, God waits patiently for us look to Him to be our Rock and anchor. God's sunsets invite me to experience His peace and to remember there is so much incredible HOPE. Hope because He has promised to be with me always.

God is always with you too. He will never leave you nor forsake you. I hope this photograph (below) of my painting will give your brain a little visual inspiration today.