Written by Adam Holzrichter.

It’s a curious thing how every society has taken their history with orthodox religiosity and made it so prevalent in modern life. Religion is in our DNA. Even atheists practice pseudo-religious moralism, taking hardline stances on a myriad of topics. I suppose my art and dedication to poetic realism has been some kind of loose orthodoxy. I’m somewhat devout to my “faith” in realism, but have also found other ideas to be impactful from studying various aesthetic doctrines like Odd Nerdrum’s Kitsch, Naturalism, Post-Impressionism, Post-Modernism, Street Art..

Oftentimes, thoughts about religion and relative connection to a God are what help define our needs as individuals. Did you grow up with doctrine? Do you purvey one today? Perhaps it’s beneficial to identify the needs you established early on in life – spiritual or otherwise. Is there a God-sized hole in your daily life? Do you pray or meditate? Do you experience life as being miraculous at times? Are you ingratiating yourself to those moments, or do you simply observe them and smile? Maybe you brush them off as mundane coincidence.

Every reasonable person has a deep need to connect with something greater than themself during the course of their lifetime. Motivation often changed faces for me, but has wound up with a general tone of “service”. I don’t know what service looks like to anyone else, but Kanye West is slightly easier to understand when you view him through a lens which recognizes this desire. His journey began as an egocentric who achieved enormous success through creating a style of music which honors his observed truth. Early on he decided including his relationship to his vision of God in the art was integral to its creation. Today he offers free concerts called Sunday Service to give something he finds meaningful back to the world. I haven’t been to one yet, but I’m certain they’re lovely. Is it being in service to a cause, or to be of service to a people which holds more significance to you?