Not Always Easily Explained
By Stanley Hainsworth
Excerpt from his closing remarks at the Center Virtual Festival in 2025
When I listen to a soul-stirring performance of a beautifully composed piece, or get lost in a piece of art, or I can’t put down a book that takes me into another world, or a film or a play that suspends all disbelief, I might not fully understand it, but it’s telling me something important.
When these things happen, there is a scientifically and spiritually unproven thing that happens to me: My rational mind is quieted, and my heart and emotions come to the fore, and I feel the presence of something indescribable.
For me, it’s a spiritual connection to a world I cannot see.
I believe the creator of that piece tapped into a layer of the divine so that I, the listener or viewer, could short-circuit mortal reasoning and feel that same spirit.
“In the same way our spiritual knowledge is felt, but not always understood, the arts are felt but not always easily explained.”
We all call him the Creator. We are the creations of the Ultimate Creator, so it stands a reason that each of us have a gift of creation within us.
In the same way our spiritual knowledge is felt, but not always understood, the arts are felt but not always easily explained.
A well crafted piece of music or play or painting can leave us speechless. We can’t say how, but we know it affected us deeply.
