Cognition through symbols, which allows thinking as well as artistic expression, appears as a way towards a comprehensive (integral) knowledge of reality and the Creator, rather than merely a partial one, which is so characteristic of our era of rationalism. Cognition through symbols is familiar to theology, since it allows for the union of two worlds while keeping them separated. Although creation is other than God, it is capable of accepting its Creator and, therefore, a place of His manifestation. This capability is fully evident in the Incarnation which bridges the gulf between the Creator and His creature. Every creature is »sacramental« in that it reflects God's presence and bears traces of his activity. Due to its limitations, human vocabulary and rational processes will never be able to adequately express the reality of God who transcends all our concepts and utterances about Him. Yet, even our weak vocabulary is capable of summoning and making present what it refers to. God speaks to us within the limits and the entrapment of our experience. Sin created a wall between man and God, which was torn down by Christ's incarnation and redemption. Christ, in whose mystery God and man became one again, gives the ultimate meaning to all creation. Christian visual art, which seems to be inspired by the Orthodox icon, strives to express and explain this union of all things in Christ. With His coming, matter has become an expression, an account of love between God and man. Observation through symbols is an attempt to grasp the essence from the appearance – without stopping at the empirical surface of things – by communicating with the power of life conveyed in and through them. The way of symbols in art is, therefore, a way of integral cognition which places Christ at the center of the universe and history
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