"I should have destroyed them. Who needs them? What good are they going to do the world? I had painted them; wasn't that enough? No it wasn't enough. They had to be moved into the public arena. You communicate in a public arena; everything else is puerile and cowardly."
"I had not even myself been aware of their power."
"I looked at my right hand, the hand with which I painted. There was power in that hand. Power to create and destroy. Power to bring pleasure and pain. Power to amuse and horrify. There was in that hand the demonic and the divine at one and the same time. The demonic and the divine were two aspects of the same force. Creation was demonic and divine. Creativity was demonic and divine. Art was demonic and divine. The solitary vision that put new eyes into gouged-out sockets was demonic and divine. I was demonic and divine."
"Be a great painter; that will be the only justification for all the pain you will cause. But as a great painter I will cause pain again if I must. Then become a greater painter. But I will cause pain again. Then become a still greater painter. Master of the Universe, will I live this way all the rest of my life?"
- My Name is Asher Lev, Chaim Potok
This book has changed the way I think about truth and art and God and their completeness in each other.
One thing I Love: Rita MacNeill. For some reason she just makes me really happy.
Song:
I've Got the World on a String by Michael Buble
1 comment:
Doesn't every act of creation involve the destruction of another path? Are creation and destruction so intimately linked that they cannot be separated?
Just as when we de/cide It's not just that we choose a certain path - it's that (we cide Latin for) kill one idea to create or follow another idea (de = Latin for idea)
The path we choose for creation is also the path we follow for destruction of another path.
The path we choose is the truth for us as individuals.
Each person's truth is THE truth for them.
Perhaps that IS the power of Robert Frost's idea of travelling a path less travelled, and that making all the difference.
Understanding, or at least exposing ourselves to every other person's path (and Art) is one of the things that makes life fascinating.
Choosing to share which path we are going to experience with others, and which path we choose to share with others (and who we choose to share those paths with) makes life worth living.
Seeking out each others (and our own) TRUTH is life.
Does finding our own truths and sharing others truths equal joy?
Rita MacNeil shares her joy by singing and that gives us all joy
SLS
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