This thesis investigates how metaphors drawn from spiritual contexts can illuminate embodied human experience and frame human existence as a liminal condition. Positioning interdisciplinary art practice as a site of inquiry and reflection, the research approaches spirituality not as set doctrine; rather it engages spiritual metaphors as phenomenological tools for potential self-introspection, perception, and inner awareness. Central to this investigation are recurring metaphoric frameworks, such as the body as vessel, light as an expression of inner consciousness (soul), sound as inner resonance, and the mind as reflective or projective reality through which the human condition is explored beyond purely physical or psychological definitions. Drawing from Sant Mat, spiritual literature, hymnic poetry, metaphorical texts, and phenomenological philosophy on perception, the thesis primarily situates metaphors as a bridge between ineffable inner experience and material form. These frameworks inform both the conceptual grounding and material strategies of the work, shaping how light, glass, projection-mapping, sound, and abstraction function as carriers of spiritual meaning within immersive creative environments. Gradually, emphasis is placed on witnessing and self-awareness as modes of engagement, aligning spiritual introspection with phenomenological accounts of lived experience. The accompanying thesis exhibition, Vessels of Light: Introspective Architectures, materializes these inquiries through abstract drawings, painting, and projection-mapped installations incorporating glass, plexiglass, stone, animation, and collaborative sound practices. These works operate as perceptual thresholds, inviting stillness, contemplation, and heightened spatial awareness. Ultimately, the thesis proposes spiritual metaphor as a vital material framework within contemporary art, foregrounding art’s capacity to draw on intangible, liminal, and self-introspective spaces within the human experience.

• Author