“……..It would be too much to say that art, the practice of it, will establish a “good,” a serene, a  superior self. No.
But art will, if pursued for itself and not for adventitious reasons, or by spurious ways,
bring into sustained realization the self most centrally yours,
freed from its emergencies and the distortions brought by greed, or fear, or ambition.

Art has its sacramental aspect.
The source of art’s central effect is one with religion’s and those of other soul endeavors:
the discovery of the essential self and the cultivation of its felt, positive impulses.

William Stafford
The Answers Are Inside the Mountains