Led by Song: A Creative Vision of Heaven Touching Earth

It’s 2016, and I’m taking a break from painting. The moment I step outside the studio, the Arizona heat immediately embraces me like a hug, thawing my bones from the chilly A/C.

Unprovoked and instantly, I see a transparent scroll unfurl before me covered in blueprints. I see a large prophetic art university that I know will come at a time when the whole earth will crave the spiritual and supernatural rather than reason and logic.

The university would teach artists how to bring the far things near—how to grasp the wisps of what is coming and pull it into the here and now. The artists would learn how to accurately apprehend and make manifest in art, the world we want to live in.

I see a huge beautiful art studio with lots of artists creating inside. There is a long table that can seat 40 people, and it looks like dinner will be served soon. The artists are painting, and some are dancing as musicians roam around the room playing instruments in perfect improvisational harmony. These are new songs never played before, fully inspired by what is being painted, and the music in turn inspires the painting. The music is heavy with percussion and flutes. It sounds otherworldly. There is a sense of angelic presence.

There are chefs observing the collaborative creation and sensing what we all need for our feast together. They gather farm-grown vegetables, fruits, and grains from a table overflowing with abundance. As the artists paint and the musicians play, and new songs are written, the room becomes filled with the aroma of cooking.

After hours of creating, it is time to dine together. We all sit at the table and eat the most sumptuous food that fills us emotionally, spiritually, and physically. Every flavor note sings in unison with the beautiful music we’ve heard. Even the most primal parts of our beings resonate and climb higher with this glorious feast before us.

This vision encapsulated the whole essence of creating in the realm of heaven. It was a group of like-hearted people joined together in perfect unity to co-create and express the utterances of heaven. We were willing conduits enraptured in blissful creation and perfect synergy with each other, every brush leaving its mark that would profoundly dictate what would be—the world to come. Together we were living out the truth that Socrates once uttered: “Show me the songs of a land, and I will show you her laws.”

Signs of the Renaissance

Since 2008, I had done a lot of public speaking about the coming renaissance in the arts. There was a decentralizing of power happening, and for the first time artists were able to directly connect to the collector through social media and internet platforms. The artist could now monetize their work in hundreds of ways, and there was a broad spectrum of infrastructure coming about to support the artist. Even the creation of the iPad with a pencil was a huge innovation for artists and their creative process.

I noticed a phenomenon occurring within the expressive creative industries. Big record labels and centralized power with Sony, Universal, and Warner (who all happen to also own Hollywood) were losing their power structure because of platforms like Spotify, Soundcloud, and YouTube. I began to see music from independent artists sneak through the grip of big record labels and anoint our ears.

Soon following, I saw writers begin to self-publish because of the technology of digital printing with Ingram Sparks and Amazon’s drop shipment systems. In 2010, Kindle caused a complete outbreak of self-publishing with John Locke being the first self-published author to reach 1 million copies sold.

Then, years later, as culture craved authenticity and genuine human experience, movies and shows began to migrate to streaming services away from TV networks, and YouTube became a phenomenon.

Today, 55 percent of music is produced and distributed outside of the big record labels, and more than half of Spotify’s royalties are paid out to independent artists. In 2023, 2.6 million self-published books were released, outpacing traditional publishers. Today, publishing jobs have shrunk by 40 percent.

Now we see viewership of movies and shows leave television and cable to join streaming services and YouTube. Hollywood output 20 years ago was over 900 movies a year, while today it has shrunk to a little over 500. Box office receipts have shrunk from 12 billion to only 8 billion. Instagram is now the leading art dealer over galleries, auction houses, and trade shows. The blue chip market is shrinking fast in art sales, while independent artist sales are increasing rapidly.

It is also notable to mention that we see a trend in restaurants leaning away from big chains dishing out factory food, to privately owned mom-and-pop restaurants dedicated to sourcing local, whole foods.

An Ancient Blueprint

Years ago, when I was researching this topic and encouraging artists that this was our time to lift our communities and shape culture, I came across a passage in an ancient text. It comes from the book of 2 Chronicles chapter 29, which talks about King Hezekiah’s call to the people to cleanse the temple. He maintained that the previous generations had lived debaucherous lives and ruined the culture with their corruptions.

His process for cleansing the temple was to assemble the musicians first, then the psalmists or writers, and then the seers or visual artists, and create a procession throughout the temple. The musicians led with spontaneous song, the psalmists wrote the music they heard, and the seers prophesied what they saw. And culture shifted.

As I read this text, I connected it to the vision I received on that hot Arizona afternoon outside my studio. I knew that this procession was for our time. Music shall lead us. Music bypasses our logic, trains our nervous systems, and establishes what feels true. Writing and language names the experience, codifies values, and creates shared narratives. Visual art reveals future possibilities, shapes collective imagination, and makes the unseen visible.

The music prepares us for a new emotional climate, the writers give us a new moral language, and the visual artists give a new cosmology, aligning our purpose.

The Vision Takes Form

A few months back, I was teaching an in-person workshop here in Sarasota, Florida, at our film studio warehouse. We were all having an amazing time, creating together, freely flowing in our art. Catherine Hill, an all-around talented artist, writer, singer/songwriter/musician, and now also working on a production team filming events and workshops, was witnessing and soaking in all that took place.

She interviewed some of the artists and talked with me asking me pointed questions. She told me she felt inspired to create some music from the event. In just a matter of days, she presented me with a song she produced and wrote about the workshop and the artists’ creative process.

I was utterly blown away. It was powerful music that encapsulated all that we felt and experienced. Catherine has made a whole album of songs inspired by my blogs, our Motivational Monday emails, and many workshops. In turn, I play her songs at our workshops for the artists, and they are inspired by her music to create.

Ten years ago, I saw the blueprint for this in my vision. When all the pieces began to form recently, I knew all my years of preaching about the renaissance, writing about what is to come, and painting what I see have not been in vain. I was not crazy or being too lofty.

And I know that I am not alone. This is not a cause for just one person. This calling is collective. This procession that the heart of heaven has assembled is far-reaching and worldwide. There is a mystical tapestry forming beyond the oceans and uniting us to a moment that will forever shape the next epoch.

You, who are reading this, are called to this procession. We will take down corruption and terrify the oppressors that have ruled over the people for centuries. We will affirm beauty, grace, and joy. We will uphold what is true, noble, and just. We will walk in a mandate of liberty and freedom for all, and creativity will abound forever.

What future are you making visible through what you create?

Share your thoughts in the comments below!