El Ignaciano / Marzo 2026

Meaning, Spirituality and the Arts
José A. Solis-Silva

In the 18th Century, guided by “Modernity”, the Western World turned to an understanding of truth and knowledge that is guided by, exclusively or mostly, the paradigm of science and the notion of certainty. This was science understood, at first, as the strict exercise of formal reason governed by logic and its propositional language, and later, progressively in the 19th Century, in combination with experimental verification. This “method” came to be seen as the only possible approach to truth and knowledge.

In the 20th Century, science came to the realization that its “truth”, its findings, are never absolute. Scientific findings are reported in degrees of probability, are conditioned by margins of error. It is a progressive struggle, it is a road. Hans George Gadamer, Jurgen Habermas and others have enlightened us in the 20th Century about the centrality of language, of dialogue, of communicative action, and the absence of absolute claims in “scientific truth.”

Underlying this narrative, is the deeper issue of the nature of truth, of language and of meaning.

An understanding of “truth” exclusively as the outcome of the “scientific method” as originally understood in Modernity, that is, as chained to the formal structures of logic and theory, and, therefore, as static, leads to a view of the world as “problem”, as phenomenon, to be predicted, controlled, and solved. This is indeed useful and accurate if the term “exclusively” is left out because the world is indeed a phenomenon that can be predicted and controlled to a large degree, as science does so well, yet that is not all the world is.

If truth is understood more completely in its dynamic nature, that is, connected to language that is, beyond formal logic, and filled with symbolic and metaphoric expression, then, it ushers us into a view of the world as “mystery” not to be “solved”, but lived, experienced, celebrated and, ultimately, as many postmodern thinkers have shown us, understood in wisdom and not in theory.

The fact that truth more completely understood is dynamic in its nature should not surprise those who are familiar with the Gospel. Answering a question posed to Him Jesus said: “I am the truth, the life and the way”. Here ¨truth” is clearly equated with life and with way; that is, “truth” is clearly dynamic. During a recess between the first and second sessions of the II Vatican Council, Pope John XXIII granted a press conference to the international press. One American journalist asked the Pope, “Given all the changes taking place and being proclaimed by the Council, are we to conclude that the Gospel has changed?” St. John XXIII answered, “No, the Gospel has not changed, but we are coming to understand it better, and better, and better.”

It has become widely noted that many contemporary men and women experience a crisis of meaning resulting many times in anxiety, and depression. Anyone who works with young people realizes that it is the absence of meaning that most affects their lives. It is that absence of meaning that leads them to seek refuge in drugs and other forms of escape, but also sometimes, when touched by grace, to a liberating religious experience. They are, usually, not lacking in basic scientific knowledge, nor in the knowledge necessary for business and economic activities. They may even be familiar with the semi-scientific language of the social sciences, what they lack is a sense of meaning in their lives, an answer to the question, “who am I?” “Wherefore am I?”

As we already stated above, if “truth” is properly understood in its dynamic nature it leads to a view of the world as a “mystery” not to be solved, but lived, experienced, celebrated, and understood in wisdom and not in theory. It is the meaning illuminating wisdom that contemporary men and women need and seek.

If, indeed, life is to be understood and celebrated in wisdom, human experience must be addressed in that previously mentioned metalogical language rich in symbolic and metaphoric expression which is the language of the arts. The language of the arts is the ordinary language of that social animal that is man, it is the language of the stories that grandparents tell their grandchildren, the language of children´s songs and games, the language of young people in love, the language of Jesus´ parables. Contemporary women and men, formed in the language of Modernity, of science and technology prevalent in Western culture, are systematically “trained” and accustomed to the propositional language of the sciences and technology so by the time they reach high school they have become partially deficient in the non-propositional, metalogical language of the arts. It just so happens that this is also the language of religious experience, the language of scriptures, the language of tradition, and the language of spirituality. Hence the absence of meaning and wisdom.

All the arts, literature, music, painting and sculpture, theatre, cinema, are rich in that metalogical language full of symbolic and metaphoric expression. From the plays of Aeschylus to Lyn-Manuel Miranda´s Hamilton; from Bach to Bernstein; from Fra Filippo Lippi to Picasso, there is a quest for understanding of the human condition in its multiple dimensions. This quest arises from the need for meaning, from the need to understand our common journey as human beings.

It is this quest articulated by the arts that distinguishes us from all other creatures, a quest that, ultimately, yearns for the creator. It is this yearning and this quest that constitutes spirituality. We are not spiritual because we are religious; rather, we are religious because we are spiritual.

The arts have an irreplaceable role in the formation of men and women. In themselves they are deep expressions of spirituality and vehicles in the search and encounter of meaning.

In addition to that intrinsic value, they have the added value of helping to develop the capacity to understand religious experience and language. The lack of this capacity is painfully visible to anyone who attends mass on a regular basis. The liturgy of the Word as well as the liturgy of the eucharist are embedded in metalogical language full of metaphoric and symbolic expressions which are completely lost on a large number of people attending. The homily, designed to connect the different scriptural readings of the mass and help convey their meaning, is often replaced by a sermon full of moral admonitions delivered in a punitive tone. Expressions of boredom, and even impatience are not uncommon in those present, not to mention the large numbers who choose to be absent.

Evangeli Gaudium is the title of one of the central pastoral documents of Pope Francis. That “gaudium” that fills the life of those who receive the Gospel stems from the experience of living “meaningfully”, a life the meaning of which has been discovered in the personal, intimate love of Jesus Christ. The language of the Gospel, the language of the spirituality in which the Gospel is cradled is that metalogical language full of symbolic and metaphoric expressions that is the language of the arts.

It is not advisable to approach the young men and women of our times with formal, philosophical and theological formulas or proclamations, nor with moral fulminations. Approach them with the language of friendship, with music, with poetry, with cinema, with streaming images, which are the equivalents of the Lord´s parables and a continuation of the plays, the frescoes and the stained-glass windows of a previous era. It is in friendship, in dialogue, that the full spirituality of the Gospel can be shared. The arts are the language of that sharing.

 José A. Solís-Silva obtained a Ph.D. degree in Philosophy from Duquesne University.  He is Chair Emeritus of the Philosophy Department of St. John Vianney College Seminary and Adjunct Professor of the Philosophy Department of the University of Miami.  He was the Editor of Postmodern Notes for 12 years; Editor of El Ignaciano for 4 years.