Look, Listen, and Receive
How to Practice Visio Divina
By Winfield Bevins
Orazio de Ferrari, Healing of the Man Born Blind, Oil on canvas, 17th century
In our busy world, many of us don’t take time to stop and reflect on what is happening in our lives, our families, and our world. Christians are often men and women of action rather than people of contemplation and reflection. We tend to operate as human doings rather than human beings.
Art historian Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt says, “Despite the astonishing number of images that we see every day, research suggests that we don’t spend all that long actually looking at them.” She goes on to apply this to looking at art. She says, “Studies at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Art Institute of Chicago have found that visitors spend an average of less than thirty seconds looking at artwork in their collections.”
Think about how sad this is. The average person spends less than thirty seconds looking at art at major art museums. What does that tell you about our culture? Do you and I, as Christians, need to spend more time learning to pay attention?
Art helps us to slow down and pay attention to God, ourselves, and the world around us. It is impossible to understand or appreciate the arts if we don’t take time to be present to what is before us. For that matter, we can’t encounter God unless we slow down and pay attention to the present moment. God is a God of presence. He is Emmanuel, God with us. It takes time to simply be, and the arts can help us slow down to the pace of being human again.
Matthew 13:16 says, “[B]lessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.” We can only do this if we are willing to slow down and pay attention and look with our eyes and listen with our ears. The arts invite us to look, listen, and receive.
A helpful practice to help us look and listen, one that brings together prayer and art, is an ancient practice called Visio Divina (Latin for "divine seeing"). Visio Divina is a method for praying with images or other media alongside Scripture.
Visio Divina is like praying with the eyes and, if applied to music, praying with the ears. Visio Divina can be practiced individually or in a small group, classroom, or worship setting. You can use the practice of Visio Divina anywhere you can use a piece of art as a focal point for prayer, whether it be visual art, theatre, dance, or even when listening to music.
Author C.S. Lewis offers the following thoughts on viewing art, which I think paint a perfect picture for practicing Visio Divina as well. He says,
We must not let loose our own subjectivity upon the pictures and make them its vehicles. We must begin by laying aside as completely as we can all our own preconceptions, interests, and associations. We must use our eyes. We must look, and go on looking till we have certainly seen exactly what is there. We sit down before the picture in order to have something done to us, not that we may do things with it. The first demand any work of any art makes upon us is surrender. Look. Listen. Receive. Get yourself out of the way. There is no good asking first whether the work before you deserves such a surrender, for until you have surrendered you cannot possibly find out.
I want to invite you to stop right now and prayerfully reflecting on a piece of art. This can be a powerful and transformative practice that can influence how you live your daily life. Allow yourself at least 10 minutes after each reflection to do Visio Divina. Based on C.S. Lewis’s essay on art, here is a short guide to practicing Visio Divina.
1. Prepare. Take a moment of silence to relax and open your heart and mind to God. Ask God to speak clearly to you through the art. Ask God to open the eyes of your heart, enabling you to see what God wants you to see.
2. Look. Look at the art. What do you see? What draws your attention? Let your eyes rest on the characters and objects. Note your feelings as you examine the whole and parts of the work.
3. Listen. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you into all truth. What is God saying to you? What is he asking you to personally experience with Him? Does the image evoke a value or different way of thinking or being? Does it open or deepen a desire in your heart?
4. Receive. How is God calling you to respond? How is Jesus Christ trying to personally encounter you through your prayer?
Today’s constant stream of information threatens to drown out the quiet voice of God. We are no longer able to look deeply at the world around us, or truly contemplate art. More than ever, we must learn to slow down. We should make every effort to create space in our busy lives for spending time alone with God and using our eyes and ears to look, listen, and receive.
Winfield Bevins is the founding director of Creo Arts and artist-in-residence at Asbury Theological Seminary. He is the author of several books, including Liturgical Mission, Ever Ancient Ever New, and his forthcoming book “Beauty Will Save the World: A Renewed Vision for Christianity and the Arts.”