Thursday, November 20, 2008

Anxiety of Man and Art

Often in life certain circumstances and turns of events will rock the stability and the concreteness that has become familiar. A person may begin to question, to doubt, to fear and to rebel. It may realized that the world is not in good health, but broken. This realization is met again when a man looks at his own self. He ponders his own brokenness and thus experiences anxiety, an anxiety that is a result of his inner conflict. Since the Renaissance, man has shifted his focus from the moral, religious, philosophical to the material realities and objective knowledge of science; no longer is feeling, value, truth and justice at the forefront of our minds. It has been replaced with economics, politics, technology and science of the world. People still wonder about love, feel torn because we are spiritually thirsty, we still fear death, and are curious of evil. Most of all we question our existence and our purpose, which leads us to the mystery of God. Our minds and souls are torn and stretched because of the tension that exists. Society no longer believes in an absolute right or wrong or even in God, while our heart whispers of truth and faith. It is of this dramatic struggle that is expressed in art and poetry, for no science can explain the anxiety of mind and soul and the ailments they suffer from.

Morris Kantor successfully illustrates ideas about science and his own struggles with life in his work Untitled. The parallel lines in the portrait of his mother are a visual representation of Einstein’s theories of space-time. Kantor does a very good job of “merging” the background and foreground with his mother’s body, while emphasizing his mother’s almost decaying face. Obviously the poor relationship he had with his mother is expressed in the drab colors and dark properties of the piece. In Sandy, a piece by American Walter Kuhn, the unhappy appearance of the clown shows the result of “putting on a mask”. The artist captures the clown distressed look on his face so successfully that the feeling of tension is passed on to the viewer. That expression is a good example demonstrating the idea that people will put on a mask of joy for shows, but on the inside and behind stage they aren’t doing well. Both of these pictures capture hidden meanings underneath the paint and a representation of inner conflicts; they portray dark and upsetting visual elements that show the artist’s own distress and remind us of our own.

A show that’s purpose is to address the internal conflicts we face as a result of the modern views of values, the movement toward logic and away from the metaphysical and the differing opinions of our heart and mind would best be displayed in the observatory on campus. It’s a place that would remind us of science and God, especially at night when you can see the stars. The time in history when scholars like Galileo began to look to the sky to understand the world is also the time when science and logic began to replace faith and religion. That location would serve to additionally to humble the viewers. The vastness and magnitude of the universe puts our own struggles into perspective; it also is a reminder that no matter what struggles we face, we can always turn to our Creator for guidance.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Life Is Like A Library


I was sitting in the library at school the other day and a realization came to me. Our lives are similar to a library. A library is full of books, and each book is a part of our lives, that we've stored on the shelves. We're our own librarians, checking in and out the memories we have. We get new books often, adding it to our ever growing collections of memories. So books are old and tattered, worn and well-used. Those are our favorites, the ones our mothers would read to us after school, before supper and again at bed time. Some are dusty, forgotten until we reorganized and realize we've had this great book all this time, suddenly aware we had this book. Then there are those that are neglected. Some are left on the floors, in corners, or on the top shelves. We might pick one and and read the back cover, but not care enough to put it back. Those books wish they were read more often, but the more popular books are always being checked out. And everyone knows there is a limit to the number of books you can check out at a time. Then there are the books we don't want to display. The ones we box up and toss into storage are the ones we despise. We don't want to read those books again. The emotions they stir up are ones we've long locked away. But we can't get rid of them. Their vital, because they are the books that have a deep hold on our lives. Those are the books buried under the boxes and papers, in our subconscious. But out one display, are the books that really matter. Its the new hardcover on display that is the showcase of the library. It signifying a turning point in the libraries collection. New shelves are put up for the new books that will be written because of that one, the catalyst necessary for a much needed change. It's started the dusting, the re-cataloging, the new drapes and the new checkout system. All because of one book, a book with two authors, and a book that has begun a series that will continue indefinitely.

Friday, November 07, 2008

Primrose Path



To be "led down the primrose path" is a common idiom suggesting that one is being deceived or led astray, often by a hypocrite.

This phrase was coined by Shakespeare, in Hamlet, 1603. It is evidently a simple allusion to a path strewn with flowers.

Ophelia:
I shall the effect of this good lesson keep,
As watchman to my heart. But, good my brother,
Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,
Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven;
Whiles, like a puff'd and reckless libertine,
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads,
And recks not his own rede.

Ophelia is warning her brother take his own advice and not reject the difficult and arduous path of righteousness that leads to Heaven in favour of the easy path of sin.

Shakespeare later used 'the primrose way', which has the same meaning, in Macbeth. The Porter speaks of "the primrose way to th'everlasting bonfire" This variant is hardly ever used now.

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Really Something- Aaron Sprinkle

 I'm working on my forward thinking

Working on my self control

Process this ugly mess

And figure out how to make it whole


Choke down a bus ride to the city

Chase it with a trip to the East Side

It seems like overtime

I'll get so numb that I won't mind


Some days I actually forget

That this is really something

One look from you and that is it

And this is really something

Being hard is hard so sick of it

And this is really something good

This is really something good now


Go change the oil, go get the tail light fixed

Go buy some groceries in the dark

Earth shakes, gets re-arranged

And I realize I missed the mark


Some days I actually forget

That this is really something

One look from you and that is it

And this is really something

Being hard is hard so sick of it

And this is really something good


Some days I actually forget

That this is really something

One look from you and that is it

And this is really something

Being hard is hard so sick of it

And this is really something good

This is really something good now

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Battlefield of the Mind

A person is neurotic when he has repressed something without having really eliminated it. Modern man thinks he has eliminated the world of values, the world of poetry, the world of moral consciousness; but he has only repressed it and is suffering from it . . . or fighting against himself. An inner conflict—this is what neurosis is.

The cause of this epoch’s malady is that is that our materialistic and amoral civilization no longer answers the deepest needs of the soul. The world tells him that feeling, faith, and philosophical truth are unimportant. His thirst for love, his spiritual loneliness, his fear of death, the riddle of evil, the mystery of God—he no longer speaks of these things; he represses them, but still they haunt him. Modern man suffers from repression of conscience.

Here lies the cause of a phenomenon which anyone can observe: our modern world is a world without conviction. Look at politics, economics, art, medicine. In the face of the urgency of the evils, men hastily seize upon superficial and often contradictory measures which merely aggravate the confusion. Ask these men the simplest questions about the real meaning of politics, economics, law, art, or medicine, the meaning and goal of life, culture, or the social order, and you will be astonished at their embarrassment. “Culture,” says Andre Malraux, “must transform itself and yet it does not know where it is going.” In every one of us today there is a deep uncertainty that stems from our inner conflict, from the that separation between our spiritual and our technological life.

Taken from: The Inner Conflict of Man; Chapter One, The Whole Person in A Broken World by Paul Tournier 


Friday, February 22, 2008

In Awe and Admiration of Beautiful Creation

I have lots of goals, dreams and wishes in life. Some of them may be less attainable now. Like a red washing machine. Or a flying frog. But some may be right at my fingertips. I awe at beautiful things. There are so many beautiful things in nature. And I want a slice. I want a slice of something amazing and beautiful. I think God has hardwired it into us. To desire what is pleasing to the eye and what is amazing. I want a piece of creation in a box in my room. And even when I look at a picture or think about it, I get anxious. Its hard waiting for beautiful things. Pondering the beauty in the world is wonderful. But whats even better is when you can hold beauty, when you can touch it, when you can feel it. It's joy, pure and simple. It's jaw-dropping beauty that captures my eye. It a sensual experience, to know your surrounded by beautiful things. Reflected in all things beautiful is the essence of God; a wonderful creation. His fingerprints are everywhere and the best part is when they're right beside you.


Sunday, February 10, 2008

Mine Thine Heart of Draco


Dragons. They're a part of ancient mythologies in the world. Vikings adorned the dragon's image on ships prows and knights waved their dragon emblems into battles. Fiction and Hollywood have portrayed dragons as both good and evil, cold-hearted and kind .

Dragons came to represent the chaos of original matter with the result that with man's awakening conscience a struggle arose, and the created order constantly challenged the dragon's power.


Dragons are enthusiastic guardians of treasures, whether it be hoards of looted gold or secret wonders of world to be kept from mankind. The mythical dragon is a powerful creature with fire breath and impenetrable amour. Their overlapping scales are hardly affected by the swords of brave knights and thus make it near impossible to slay the beasts. The dragon won't let anyone near his gold, which it cannot spend, and the girl, whom he can't love. Often the dragon is the antagonist of the story, harassing the town and capturing a fair maiden until he is killed by a heroic knight; he is living in domain of fear and courage of both man and beast. He struggles against a world of men against his kind and his survival. Because of this battle he is a solitary creature, living alone in the mountains protected from danger. Every time he leaves his lair, he risks its discovery and his own life. A dragon's has few weakness, but with the lift of a scale his entire heart is exposed beating, living inside of him. Just watch Draco in Dragonheart.