sandr037

I dreamed about an artist who created a masterful drawing. He gave it to a woman, but the drawing somehow fell apart in her hands. The artist was inconsolable and just sat there staring. The woman kissed him and tried to make him feel better, but he was unmoved. An insect crawled across his chest, and the woman tried but could not make it go away.   We are human, and are nearly always stuck in the mundane. But a few times in our lives we experience God. It may be as commonplace as the first experience of love, or your first orgasm. An athlete may feel it in extreme exertion leading to victory; a scholar in mastering an obscure subject. An artist may experience it in a creation that goes beyond what he thinks he can do. These experiences normally happen in our youth, and become rare as we age. If we are wise we cherish them, because when they occur we feel God in us. If we are foolish we chase the feeling for its own sake, in sex, drugs and extreme experiences. But the real thing i...

Logic is both a sword and shield;  Passion is only a sword and is likely to wound the guilty and innocent alike.

I occasionally toss a philosophical question at my practical daughter to get her to do some abstract thinking (a bad habit from my limited humanities training).  Yesterday I showed her Ode on a Grecian Urn by John Keats, and asked her whether she agreed with the famous final statement: "Beauty is truth, truth beauty”.  Being wise she said she did not know, and asked what I thought.  I, being a fool started to talk and analyze and tie myself in a knot.  Obviously I needed to clarify it in my mind before I opened my mouth.  As such… the following is an outline of my considered thoughts (or perhaps a rambling thicket of random thoughts).  This is a summary of personal research and opinion, so read on at your own risk. First, in cold rational analysis, beauty is not truth, and truth is not beauty.  There is obviously overlap in certain areas of human thought and activity, but in general the examples where truth=beauty are minimal.  And, all of this i...

The art of life is the art of avoiding pain, (and) the most effectual means of being secure against pain is to retire within ourselves.  - Thomas Jefferson Linda, my wife of 27 years died late last year from complications in the treatment of Lymphoma.  In the months since her death I have been taking a crash course in grieving, and the blog has been on hold.  Thomas Jefferson was an idealist, and a retreat into "intellectual pleasures" is an ideal that few can afford, and fewer are equipped to accomplish. However, everyone edits the painful events of daily life, creating something of value, and that is my goal.  The last quarter century is a rich mine of experiences which I intend to distil into an array of clear, glowing memories. So... what can I make of the deep sorrow of the last few months?  As an architectural Illustrator I try to inject emotion into concrete, glass and steel.  But I have found that deep sorrow is an enervating emotion.  Quotidia...