Heiligen Liebeshort

Die Ewige Liebe nur

2004-12-10T18:23:00.000Z

From The Greatest Thing in the World by Henry Drummond:

"EVERY one has asked himself the great question of antiquity as of the modern world: What is the summum bonum—the supreme good? You have life before you. Once only you can live it. What is the noblest object of desire, the supreme gift to covet?
We have been accustomed to be told that the greatest thing in the religious world is Faith. That great word has been the key-note for centuries of the popular religion; and we have easily learned to look upon it as the greatest thing in the world. Well, we are wrong. If we have been told that, we may miss the mark. I have taken you, in the chapter which I have just read (I Corinthians 13), to Christianity at its source; and there we have seen, “The greatest of these is love.” It is not an oversight. Paul was speaking of faith just a moment before. He says, “If I have all faith, so that I can remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing". So far from forgetting, he deliberately contrasts them, “Now abideth Faith, Hope, Love,” and without a moment’s hesitation, the decision falls, “The greatest of these is Love.”
And it is not prejudice. A man is apt to recommend to others his own strong point. Love was not Paul’s strong point. The observing student can detect a beautiful tenderness growing and ripening all through his character as Paul gets old; but the hand that wrote, “The greatest of these is love,” when we meet it first, is stained with blood.
Nor is this letter to the Corinthians peculiar in singling out love as the summum bonum. The masterpieces of Christianity are agreed about it. Peter says, “Above all things have fervent love among yourselves.” Above all things. And John goes farther, “God is love.” And you remember the profound remark which Paul makes elsewhere, “Love is the fulfilling of the law.” Did you ever think what he meant by that? In those days men were working their passage to Heaven by keeping the Ten Commandments, and the hundred and ten other commandments which they had manufactured out of them. Christ said, I will show you a more simple way. If you do one thing, you will do these hundred and ten things, without ever thinking about them. If you love, you will unconsciously fulfil the whole law. And you can readily see for yourselves how that must be so. Take any of the commandments. “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.” If a man love God, you will not require to tell him that. Love is the fulfilling of that law. “Take not His name in vain.” Would he ever dream of taking His name in vain if he loved Him? “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” Would he not be too glad to have one day in seven to dedicate more exclusively to the object of his affection? Love would fulfil all these laws regarding God. And so, if he loved Man, you would never think of telling him to honour his father and mother. He could not do anything else. It would be preposterous to tell him not to kill. You could only insult him if you suggested that he should not steal -.how could he steal from those he loved? It would be superfluous to beg him not to bear false witness against his neighbour. If he loved him it would be the last thing he would do. And you would never dream of urging him not to covet what his neighbours had. He would rather they possessed it than himself. In this way “Love is the fulfilling of the law.” It is the rule for fulfilling all rules, the new commandment for keeping all the old commandments, Christ’s one secret of the Christian life."

Uns bieibt ein Erdenrest

2004-10-22T22:50:00.000Z

A counterpoint to "Transitory..."
With great care and concern an old man smoothes paint onto the fence of his back deck, covering once again the cracked, warped and peeling layers from previous decades. From across the yard the son of a neighboor studies the man's movements, and wonders to himself why the old man bothers. In years to come the little boy will forget these thoughts. Should they happen to cross his mind as he repaints his own deck, the processes of reasoning his mind has trained since birth will explain the thoughts as the ignorance of a child. In this example of popular aestheticism we witness the stubborn defiance with which many attempt to capture a moment.
We can hardly hope to gain the perspective of celestial motion and impermanence that we expect in lives far hence. For now let us practice the sin of human tenacity.

Alles Vergangliche Ist nur ein Gleichnis

2004-09-10T22:12:00.000Z

We the people of the United States of America, in order to form a more perfect semblance of contentment, to cleanse our minds of dogging negativity and inefficient concern, and by the dedicated and continual renewal of our surroundings to rebirth ourselves in turn, pledge to become the greatest consumers on Earth. For how else to make known the prowess and proficiency of our ways? To settle for mediocrity, to accept that bleak construct of citizenship and take one's place among the nameless masses, surely there exists within our capabilities a nobler condition. For success, dear friends, is measured by accomplishment, and it is in the physical that accomplishment becomes effective. Stand in the shadow of a proud tower, gaze at the earth's vast expanse from the window of an airplane and attempt to repress your astonishment at human ingenuity, the skill with which we overcome difficulty. And how do we create, if not by use of what is here and about us? Seize the substance, my friends, build and shape it. The earth is yours.

Das Ewig-Weibliche

2004-07-14T22:53:00.000Z

Now concerning this. Almost inevitably one who embraces the second wave will scowl at the Symphony's adoration of women as Humanity's redemption. For though some would smile inwardly with satisfaction at the thought of women being the more perfect beings, the standard oral response--calm and calculated, like a mother's scoldings--will condemn this view as a facet of man's laziness and unwillingness to redeem himself, draw out deft comparisons between the Mater Gloriosa and Miss America, and quote everyone from Janet Reno to Ani DiFranco ("I'm tired of being your savior"). This contention is a partial fallacy, for cannot the mother redeem the daughter as well?
The fact that support is here given by a feminine character stems from the biological fact of motherhood: All of us, whether man or woman, require at certain times a sympathetic, particularly feminine brand of support. It isn't as if feminists don't have mothers also.
And as for the other character most likely to be criticized:
Una Poenitentium is feminine in her human identity and the gender of her name, but in Mahler's treatment at least, her personality is comparable to that of our ideal Leader: a simple and unwavering, though experienced, trust in the goodness of humanity, a knowledge of things greater than the self, and the unmistakable quality of being highly regarded by peers. George Washington comes easily to mind.
Now, it is true that leaders aren't necessarily men, and in any event the Penitent One does not really function as a leader in this setting; her role is really more of the best player on the team, the younger sibling who's sure to sway Mom's decisions or the attorney that will win the firm a case against all odds (some might contend with this role just as well). But the point to be made here is that were this final scene the only existing remnant of Goethe's work, Gretchen might just as well function as a man.

Lowen, sie schleichen stumm...

2004-07-11T18:50:00.000Z

And as one who shakes free of the muck and grime that clutches at our vestages and forbids the seeping of essence and breath of life, that we may not touch what is not our own skin, who taken now by celestial gusts lifts weak eyes against the lightcrush, whose soul's sap quivers and quakes in the throes of lovebirth, whose limbs give way to the thrust and blow of truth whose face reddens in humility and who now weeping breaks liplock to cry to the Nine Rings and Empyrean that this, this is the God of All Great Sweet Life so help me here I have seen what Is--
Just so, in this moment (Lowen, sie schliechen stumm) of uncanniness, will a human being loosen bonds of hatred and anger.
I have known hatred and anger. I have judged and prejudged, allowed my comfortable notions to press a malicious weight upon myself and others. Learning to love, I have yet misinterpreted, been insulted and returned the favor. Opening my arms further, still I have turned away from what is (and I knew it was) the path of humanity. And after righting that path a thousand times and bearing a thousand penances I have--even then, you truant!--inhaled the smoke of my anger and sat back satisfied in a false intoxication.
Many angers are perfectly justifiable. In exemplum, the angers of those wiser than I as they took in my mistakes. What cannot, must not be reconciled to any alternative dialectic is the hindrance of selflessness (compassion and for heaven's sake an understanding) by self-concern. How subtly and how often this occurs. I was walking to work and was tired and pissed off that I had to be there so early and so when a man walked by me on the road I didn't have it in me to give a simple greeting. A headnod would have done wonders. Even, even the slightest hint of a smile.
He may not have cared. He may have even been annoyed had I greeted him. These things are true.
There are worse evils to bestow upon one's fellow. Indeed this is true.
But what begins with lack of contact and communication is nothing less than our separation, the loss of what is so beautifully human, the automization of individuality and in the pursuit of perfection and efficiency and consistency the lack of Unity.
Where the hell do you get this from?
I warn you, do not think that I am crazy. Don't you dare blame this on my reading books for that is an ignorance of the highest sort. I know these things because I was so lucky, so very lucky, to have had been shown caompassion and love by my family, my teachers, the very Love of my life and what, finally, this post is all about, Artists.