The Liberation of Sophia: Art that speaks

“Faith means moving forward by whatever means we can.” -Julia Cameron

David Hayward’s (aka The Naked Pastor) book The Liberation of Sophia is an artistic rendering of his personal journey of spiritual transformation as told through the lovely, haunting, character of Sophia.

As I read the book–which is laid out on oversized pages with poetry-like text on the left page and illustrations on the right—I felt like I was looking at some of the images from my own journey of spiritual healing.

 Take Entangled on page 56, for instance:

Soon after I escaped from who I thought were my own worst enemies

I discovered I was my own worst enemy

My escape was a declaration of war on myself

My past self. My false self. My publically approved self…

The conflict was within me. In my own mind. In my own heart.

 Or Rooted on page 97:

 I examined my roots.

Anything that was dead I laid the axe to.

Anything that had life I let live.

For a long time I wanted to

Reject all my roots…

I wanted to be completely free…

I made the mistake of thinking that

In order to run free

I should neglect that which fed me.

My center. My roots.

 If I could have seen these images and read these words years ago, when, wrestling with PTCS, I wondered if I would ever be able to breathe or believe again, I would have known I was not alone. Someone else had been there. Someone else had fought this battle. Someone else had been strong brave enough to capture in pictures pain that was too large for words.

 Because that is the power of art: It speaks for us when words are too small.

 Then I would have seen Metamorphosis on page 116:

And I would have known that someone had made it to the Other Side.

Art like this is an act of faith—a way to  keep moving forward.

The Liberation of Sophia by David Hayward (aka, The Naked Pastor) is available here and you can see more of David’s art here.