It's not surprising that in many cultures and in many periods in Western life the arts have been closely tied to religion. The arts are in the business of mystery, conveying in irreducible images the vastness of meaning and the depth of experience. Not self-expression, but the glimpsing of a profound, archetypal realm is the real work of art. Many artists confess how they are the interpreters of images that come to them, the receivers of inspiration, and often mere scribes. They may not understand what they have created, and as a result the objects of their art stand alone, like persons, things with a voice.
— Thomas Moore, The Education of the Heart