"Cosmic Christ" - Alex Grey

“Cosmic Christ” – Alex Grey

Alex Grey’s complex, breath-taking masterpiece “Cosmic Christ” is currently on display in upstate New York at CoSM, Chapel of Sacred Mirrors. CoSM is a trans-denominational church that honors and practices visionary art as a part of one’s spiritual journey. Here, individuals gather for a variety of events, including worship and sacramental ceremonies honoring the full moon, solstice and equinox celebrations, artistic workshops, and scientific and spiritual teachings. The Foundation of the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors Ltd. began in 1996, and was recently established as an official religion in 2008. CoSM’s mission is to allow individuals to create, view, and honor visionary artwork in a sacred realm where they may embark on their own spiritual path, and embody the values of wisdom and love.

The artist and co-founder of CoSM, Alex Grey, is keen on creating pieces that portray multiple dimensions of reality. He does so by combining literal biological anatomy with a sense of our chakras and spiritual energies. The “Sacred Mirrors” is a series of his paintings that allows the audience to see ourselves and the world around us as a reflection of the Divine. The painting I have photographed above is not a part of this series, yet when I left the church and reflected on all of the artwork I had just seen, I found that “Cosmic Christ” was the piece I couldn’t get out of my head.

This painting certainly doesn’t portray any sort of “traditional” symbolic meaning, but rather a much wider embodiment of feelings and a myriad of interpretations. It is hard to put into words what all this painting encompasses and portrays for the spiritual or religious individual. “Cosmic Christ” is a reflection of our own reality, as we in return are a reflection of the Divine. Below the painting reads:

            You can never be lost.

            When have you ever been apart from me?

            You can never depart and never return.

            For we are continuous, indistinguishable.

This text delivers the notion that we are one, all of us as a reflection of the Divine. The first three lines work to establish the idea that we cannot be separate from one another as we are all a part of one energy source. We are no different from one another; we are infinite, continuous, limitless. We are all a mirror image of one another and the Divinity itself. Within the painting are smaller portrayals of various religions, ethnicities, technologies, sciences, philosophies, and spiritual beliefs, all of which come together to create one being. Essentially all that we are and all that we encompass points to one end, one entity. The relation of this visionary piece to its ideas is abstract, yet strikingly vivid.

The notion of “text” is essentially a gateway for the artist to provide an opportunity for the audience to perceive meaning. Meanings behind a text can be straightforward or abstruse; nevertheless they both allow room for individual interpretation and understanding. The goal of a “text” is to allow the audience to understand multiple points of view. When one reflects on this piece, as with any other texts, there should virtually never be one understanding or comprehension.

A religious belief that often plays a large role in visionary artwork, and particularly “Cosmic Christ,” is the subject of mysticism. In sections XVI and XVII of The Varieties of Religious Experience, William James discusses this phenomenon as he shares the belief that “personal religious experience has its root and centre in mystical states of consciousness” (James 279). Mysticism is the religious practice based on “the belief that direct knowledge of God, spiritual truth, or ultimate reality can be attained through subjective experience” (Merriam-Webster). James goes on to explain the four distinguishing factors of mysticism: ineffability, transiency, noetic quality, and passivity. In other words, what one may experience during a mystical state of consciousness cannot be described, is short-lasting, can be later practiced, and produces a knowledge or truth not conceivable in a regular reality.

The noetic quality of mysticism directly correlates with what “Cosmic Christ” is conveying to its audience. James states that mystical states “are states of insight into depths of truth unplumbed by the discursive intellect. They are illuminations, revelations, full of significance and importance” (James 280). Whether the individual is in fact enduring a mystical state of consciousness or purely undergoing a similar experience, this noetic quality of mysticism seemingly mirrors the individual’s realizations through Grey’s painting. When experienced simultaneously, a mystic state of consciousness and the powerful meaning behind Alex Grey’s artwork can undoubtedly introduce the audience to new profound truths and revelations about oneself, and the world in which we live.

P.S. This song is a pretty nice backdrop for interpreting the piece on your own. Also, you can check out more of Alex Grey's artwork here.

Works Cited

Grey, Alex. Cosmic Christ. 1999-2000. Oil on wood with carved wood painted and gilded

frame, 50 x 102 in. Chapel of Sacred Mirrors, Wappingers Falls, New York.

James, William. "Mysticism." The Varieties of Religious Experience. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 279-316.

Print.

"Mysticism." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2015.