On A Bench At The Mall

I sit on a bench at the mall,
Between two stores there stands a wall.
Before the wall the people pass,
And in my brain the forms let dance.
Looks to concept, a distant jump
The self still weeps in a clump.
As I watch them pass the store,
Who watches me? Behind my door?
Thickened veils and painted masks,
Still closed if they had the chance.
So quick to visit distant shores,
What blood escapes their pores?
I sit still here upon the bench,
It has become a wretched stench.
A perfect place above the trees,
Yet the angels all watch me.
A massive stairway to the clouds,
But up itself is coming down.
My eyes will search to watch it fall
Down to a bench at the mall.


To err is human, to forgive divine.
Pope

Esthetics In The Gospels

He has no stately form or majesty
That we should look upon Him,
Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.
Isaiah 53:2


But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Those who wear soft clothing are in kings' palaces!
But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and one who is more than a prophet.
Matthew 11:8-9

When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
Matthew 6:5

As He was going out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, "Teacher, behold what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!"
And Jesus said to him, "Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another which will not be torn down."
Mark 13:1-2

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.
So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
Matthew 23:27-28

But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments.
They love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues,
and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called Rabbi by men.
But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers.
Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.
Do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ.
Matthew 23:5-10

You have heard that it was said, `YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY';
but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell.
Matthew 5:27-28

And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin,
yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.
Matthew 6:28-29

The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light.
But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
Matthew 6:22-23

The Vestal Virgins

Check out the wikipedia article on the Vestal Virgins for an interesting read.

I've often wondered how seriously the Greeks and Romans took their religious lives. They certainly had extensive mythologies, ceremonious feasts, and armies of priests and priestesses.

The cult of Vesta was a curious group among the many Roman religious societies. The Vestal virgins were a group of women hand-picked as girls to serve in the temple of Vesta. Their main job was to keep the fire of Vesta burning. Other duties included keeping track of wills and testimonies.

The virgins also had some unusual privileges. Whenever they attended a public ceremony they traveled in a covered two-wheel carriage. They were preceded by a special government official who ensured they had the right of way.

They could free criminals by touching them. Their testimony was considered unassailable, so they were not sworn in for court cases. Unlike all other Roman women they were free to make a will, vote, and acquire property. The penalty for injuring one of them was death.

Historians note the Roman religious culture was rich in pageantry. Everything was done in a very showy way. If there was any kind of public perception that a Vestal virgin had not lived a perfectly chaste life, she was immediately executed. The wikipedia article states: "The method by which it was established that a Vestal had committed an offense would be considered uncivilized by today's standards."

I wonder if this in some way demonstrates the true nature of Roman religion: when the public disapproved it no longer carried any meaning.

The lifestyle of the Vestal virgin reminds me in some ways of the pomp and role-playing among the Pharisees during Jesus' day. The religious leaders loved the seats of honor at banquets, longed to be addressed by titles, and wore their religious vestiments in such a way as to attract as much attention as possible.

But Jesus commanded his disciples not to call one another "teacher" or "father". And he commanded them not to pray loudly in the streets for people to hear, but to pray privately. And he told them to obey the religious leaders, but not to become like them because they did not practice what they preached.

Jesus also said his disciples were not to be like the pagans who lord power over one another. He insisted the greatest person in his kingdom would be the one who made himself the servant of all.

Perhaps Jesus was contrasting his kingdom to the Roman religious cults.

All speculating aside, the historical difference between paganism and Christianity was inwardness. The early Christians maintained their faith against brutal public opposition while the pagans contended vigorously for public praise.

If the Vestal virgins were publicly opposed, I doubt they would have stayed committed for long ... a Danish writer once suggested that the power of the pagan gods came from those who practiced their rituals and rites. But in Christianity the opposite is true: the disciples of Christ are empowered from Christ.

Unfortunately the pagans of Rome considered the public prominence of their gods to be the greatest matter at hand. Christianity, on the other hand considers the inward prominence of obedience to be the greatest matter at hand.

A Guide To Lawn Decoration

Northern Indiana has a large, thriving deer population. Often people here see so many deer they are surprised to learn there are places where deer are hunted: "You hunt deer in California? We hit them with our cars over here!".

Anyway, my family liked to watch for deer while on the road when I was a child.

One day while traveling east to Kokomo, my mom spotted two deer within a house's frontyard. The deer were not real, they were some kind of lawn ornament. My mom remarked that it seemed strange to buy lawn ornaments and then put them in hard-to-see places. My dad responded by saying the best place to put those deer is in a place where the eye finds them only by accident.

I didn't quite understand my father that day. My taste in esthetics was about as sharp as keeping my crayons inside the lines.

Looking back on my father's suggestion I understand what he was saying. If the deer were in the middle of the yard, we'd all seem them right away, and it wouldn't look real or pleasant to the eye. In fact it would look pretty tacky.

Devotion is similar. In the initial stages it is like a secret that one keeps in ones heart, yet the one who has it longs to share it with his beloved.

Jesus and Paul both note that no one has seen God. This inconspicuous preference of God is perhaps one of the most conspicuous ascpects of life.

If God wants us to know Him so much, why doesn't he just write across the sky: "I am God. Get to know me!". Athiests are constantly asking this question. And here the advantage and disadvantage of athiesm speaks clearly.

"If God exists," the athiest claims, "And He wants people to know him, why doesn't he become like the lawn ornament in the middle of the yard where everyone can see and recognize Him at once?" The advantage of this view is that there is no mystery, but this is also the disadvantage of the view.

Using some decorative extrapolation, I have determined the athiest approach to lawn decoration: bright, neon-pink flamingos. Large inflatable gnomes. Maybe some card-board cutouts of famous celebrities like Ben Affleck and Gwyneth Paltrow. I suppose there could be some lighted signs, and -oh wait- I'm thinking of Las Vegas now. Wouldn't it be neat to have a lawn like Las Vegas?

Let's just say my lawn is never going to look like Las Vegas.

Having reviewed God's style and the way it relates to lawn decoration, let us consider what it would be like to live a life as someone who has been transformed by the power of God's style. Consider this passage from Isaiah:

Here is my servant whom I have chosen,
the one I love, in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him,
and he will proclaim justice to the nations.
He will not quarrel or cry out;
no one will hear his voice in the streets.
A bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out,
till he leads justice to victory.
In his name the nations will put their hope.

The style of the writer is a bit unusual here. This servant is 'proclaiming' something in a way that seems to be especially strong. Yet at the same time his voice will not be heard in the streets.

"Everyone who seeks finds, everyone who asks is given, and everyone who knocks will have the door opened for him."

When a person has mastered the arts of style and good taste they are commonly referred to as "cultivated". Good esthetics appeal to the preferences of our eyes, yet this talent takes a great deal of training and dedication.

So too, in the life of devotion, a person who claims to love must not base his commitment on the loud, showy things he sees happening. He must learn to see with new eyes. To hear with new ears. He must be aware also of his strongest inner longings, and not simply the ones passing quickly on the surface.

The Hidden Son of Man

Rene Magritte (1898-1967) was a Belgian artist known for his unusual style. Three years before his death he painted a work he called "The Son of Man". The picture features a man in a suit with a bowler cap. Perhaps the most striking aspect of the piece is the fruit that seems to be floating over the man's face.

Most of the objects in the painting look fairly ordinary. The suit was probably an ordinary thing for a person to wear in Magrittes' day. The wall, the sky, even the fruit seem like ordinary walls, skies, and fruits.

The apple over the face is a little unexpected, though.

Magritte's comment on the piece is:

Everything we see hides another thing, we always want to see what is hidden by what we see, but it is impossible. Humans hide their secrets too well...

Camus writes in The Myth of Sysaphus that it is hard to tell what is going on inside a person. One does not know whether a woman crossing the street is in high spirits or whether she is simply a good actress.

Like the Son of Man painting, people often had a hard time seeing the real Jesus Christ. When looking at Jesus some saw a future political leader. Others saw Moses or Elijah.

In Mark 8 Jesus asked Peter who he found Jesus to be. Peter answered, "You are the Christ". In other words he believed Jesus was the Messiah - sent specifically by God to save His people. Jesus told Peter, "Flesh and blood have not revealed this to you."

In the same way that we cannot see the man in the Son of Man painting with our eyes, we cannot see Jesus Christ with our physical eyes of flesh and blood.

Magritte finds that is impossible to see who is really there underneath everything. The recognition of another person's identity is truly a miracle. And to see oneself, one must not look at the exterior (as the world sees the apple), but as God sees oneself.

"By their fruit you will know them."

The most we can see about the Son of Man in the painting (other than his hands and clothes) is the fruit blocking his face from our view. We do not have the priviledged perspective of the painter who sees his subjects barefaced.

Jesus tells us the best we can do now to recognize others is to see their fruit. This is not the same thing as seeing people as they are before God ... to see their hidden thoughts and underlying priorities.

The fruit one bears is an indirect communication of the spirit cultivating the fruit. When Jesus manifested himself to people on earth, he usually wasn't clothed in the luminant shining robes of heaven -or however you fancy they dress in heaven. His clothing was regular human clothing that did not directly express his divinity.

In his earthly ministry, Christ's expression of his identity was in the way he cared for others and served them through healing, teaching (usually parables), and demonstrating a righteous life.

So too a disciple of Christ cannot effecively assert his association by loud proclamations and ingenious super-human arguments. Jesus told his disciples: "They will know you are my disciples if you love one another." A disciple of Christ must learn to communicate his standing before God indirectly: by loving God and his neighbor.

Esthetics: A Footnote To God's Love

One of the strangest things I find in life is the way good looks can command attention, and yet how vain and deceitful they are in the absence of a devoted heart. The following quote is taken from Fear and Trembling III.145. The text is from a part of a footnote, but a sobering footnote indeed!

Esthetics just sees to it that the lovers find each other and does not concern itself about the rest. If only it would see what happens afterwards, but it has no time for that and promptly proceeds to slap a new pair of lovers together. Of all the branches of knowledge, esthetics is the most faithless. Anyone who has really loved it becomes in one sense unhappy, but he who has never loved it is and remains a dumb brute.
-Silento

So many fashion magazines ... so little zeal.