Kultura - teurgija

Abstract

Over the past two centuries, culture - although one of the phenomena that define man in contrast to other species - has become a limiting factor, because a spiritual person must withdraw from cultural life in order to preserve his/her spirituality. In addition to the non-selectivity of culture, which is encompassed in its definitions, this phenomenon is explained here by contrasting the ways in which culture directs social interaction with the Relationship, which is a precondition for the existence of the Personality, as understood in the spirit of Eastern theology. In analogy to the term Personality, which is created only in a relationship, authentic artwork is perceived as a creation which primarily transforms reality, and then, through its impact, as the very reality of the recipient. The contrast between culture and theurgy is based on the distinction between the social meaning that a given cultural value acquires and the spiritual transformative forces that are recorded in an authentic artwork. This paper is based on a conviction that contrasts the generally accepted claims of the 20th century and later literary theories: the evaluation of literary and art works is based on clear and determined criteria, where an important position among them is held by the significance of the work, taken as the totality of its meanings, which aim to expand the knowledge of the secrets of human personality. We place the aesthetic and spiritual product opposite the artwork as a cultural object and then contemplate its place in culture, where spirituality is considered only as one of the potential, but not as a crucial quality of any piece of art. Culture and creativity differ in the very values that they achieve, but the fact that culture possesses an unquestionable attributing power (to assign value even to ephemeral works) makes culture primarily responsible for the state of the spirit that prevails in a given time and space.