Visio Divina – Finding Spiritual Depth Through Art

We humans, for the most part, have monkey minds. Actually, picture a group of monkeys, eyes darting everywhere, seeing everything and chattering to each other about what they see. Hands always in motion. Our minds are often like that, making mental commentary from one end of the day to its close, never finding stillness. And yet, our chatter is mostly surface-level stuff, mundane, not often getting to depth.

But there is within us also a great need to find depth. This deep need is what led me to explore various forms of stillness and meditation several decades ago, finally leading me to the daily practice of Centring Prayer. You see, in a busy, noisy world, with an even “noisier” chattering mind, you simply have to find a way to quiet the chatter and the movement and enter into stillness to experience the depth at your centre, where the still small voice of the Holy Spirit may be experienced.

Centring Prayer leads you into the stillness using an apophatic method – the way of the mystic, St John of the Cross. That is the letting go of everything – image, thinking, analytical faculties – just letting it all go and entering the silent, still and dark void and, there, finding that great void to be full of God!

But there is another way in too: the kataphatic method – the way of the mystic, St. Teresa of Ávila. The opening up to sense, the use of image and perhaps scent and sound, and movement to take you away from the chattering analysis of your mind into another place of beauty and stillness, also where the Holy Spirit may speak.

Although the apophatic method has been my go-to for decades, I have also been interested lately in how a kataphatic method might be the beginning of the stilling of the mind and enabling one to enter a deeper apophatic silence.

The method called Visio Divina does this, using sight, employing the faculties of the mind: spatial analysis, memory – sometimes related to sounds and other senses, to bring one to a new depth.

Like its cousin, Lectio Divina, Visio Divina has four stages:

1. Visio – silently beholding an image and noting what is standing out for you. Is it the colour or the shape of an object in the image? Is there something that is drawing your attention?
2. Meditatio – this is in the sense of “meditating upon” using memory of other images, places, sounds, smells, your lived experience that is surfacing as you see the image.
3. Oratio – bringing what is surfacing in you to prayer, using your thinking faculties. And finally, the last step:
4. Contemplatio – this is where the shift comes from kataphatic to apophatic. In this step, you leave all of your thinking and imagining aside, and you simply rest in God in silence and stillness.

I thought for this December edition of the Niagara Anglican, I would like to do a simple guidance in Visio Divina using a very Advent subject. I have chosen the work of art by the great Henry Ossawa Tanner called “The Annunciation.”

Tanner created this painting in 1898, and it is part of the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Tanner was an American Artist who went to Paris to further his study of art and just basically stayed there for the rest of his life, except for some travelling. He was also the first Black American artist to gain international acclaim – especially in European circles. This painting was presented to the 1898 Paris Salon and met with resounding accolades.

Having studied art history in Florence for a couple of months, I have met thousands of Renaissance paintings of the Annunciation. In most of these, Mary and the angel are robed in beautiful apparel and often in immaculate surroundings. I love Tanner’s Annunciation because Mary is presented as a very humble girl in a very humble room. And the angel, far from being a beautiful human figure, is, instead, a column of light.

As you prepare this Advent, as you hear this Annunciation Gospel and you prepare for Christmas to come, take some time with this painting: see and hear how it speaks to you and leads you to some spiritual depth:

Visio – what grabs your attention? Mentally name what you are seeing and feeling. Is there something you find comforting? Disturbing? Puzzling? Sit with these thoughts for five or ten minutes. Perhaps write some notes down.

Meditatio – silently gaze upon the painting again. Remembering what you saw in the first step: does this image spark some memories for you? Does it convey another image or sound, or scent from your memories? Is there a hymn or a piece of music that arises in you? What is coming from your past or recent experience that is speaking to you through this?

Oratio – Given what has arisen in the first two steps, form a prayer that you want to offer to God at this moment. Think of people, situations, your family, friends and yourself.

Contemplatio – Leave everything from the first three steps behind and simply enter stillness and silence and rest in the presence of God. When thoughts assail you, re-enter stillness by focusing simply on your breathing or silently saying a simple sacred one or two-syllable word of your choosing to symbolize your letting go of all thought and returning to the presence of God. Set a timer for 5 to 15 minutes from this last step of entering into silence. At the end of the silence, say a simple prayer of gratefulness.