It's been a long time since I posted about religion or spirituality, but Saint Teresa of Avila is one of my favorites. I was going to write about her back in October, on her Feast Day, but the circumstances regarding the dating of her death are so absurd that I feel inappropriate honoring her on that day.
St. Teresa passed away either just before midnight October 4, 1582, or, moments later, after midnight on October 15. How the heck can eleven days be "moments later"?! Well, because of the concurrent implementation of the Gregorian calendar, replacing the outdated Julian calendar, there was no October 5 through 14 in 1582.
In any case, St. Teresa of Avila writes with a simple authenticity, avoiding wild cosmological expressions or fanciful apocalyptic visions. Her mysticism is experienced and conveyed with humility and compassion. Although visionary, Teresa never obfuscates or ornaments her insights, attempting to sound profound. I don't know if I believe in that which she experienced, but I certainly do believe that she had a "mystical" understanding and is attempting to share it with her readers, in a spirit of generosity and tenderness.
Moreover, I find her insights beautiful and inspiring. Her world is one where Love is the divine spirit, which dwells within our souls. For humanity, salvation is to be found by accepting this Divine Love and allowing it to be your eternal guide.
The Lora Schlesinger Gallery is currently showing an exhibition of Carrie Seid's artwork, entitled "Animal and Mineral". The works are somewhere between paintings and sculptures. In essence, they are aluminum boxes with one side left open. Over this opening, a silk screen is stretched and treated for translucency. Within the box, divisions and compartments are defined with aluminum sectionals.
The aluminum box is hung like a picture, with the silk side facing the viewer. As light hits the work, the silk is revealed like a typical abstract painting. However, because of its translucency, the light passes through to reveal the structural elements beneath the silk surface and reflect off the polished metal. This reflection is enhanced by the application of mylar within the box. The end result is that there appears to be an inner luminosity within the box that acts as a "back lighting" to the silk screen.
It's a compelling exhibit. The play of light and shadow over and beneath the flat silk screen creates an enthralling sense of translucent space. It's a dynamic effect, changing with the movements of the viewer or the positioning of the light sources. And it is this quality of dynamism that gives the show its title. When you stand still and look at these works, there is a orderly and petrified feel to the image upon the screen, like a gemstone or a piece of amber. But when you view it while moving, the illuminated curves and shadowy contours rotate and flow like a living, biomorphic form.
Bittersweet (2009) by Carrie Seid
These ambiguities of animal or mineral, shadow or light, underneath or on the surface, are the heart of this aesthetic conflict. To get all artsy, these works contain an inherent Apollonian/Dionysian dialectic.
On this date in 1914, Sun Ra (born Herman Poole Blount) was born. Among all the jazz greats, he was the most eclectic and innovative. His utilization of an afrofuturistic blend of Egyptian/Nubian and Science Fiction elements into his persona and performances really stood out from the crowd. Stylistically, this influence can be seen during the Funk and Disco eras with such bands as Parliament/Funkadelic and Earth, Wind, and Fire. Moreover, in spite of the avant garde nature of his music, the afrofuturism always kept a playful mood, avoiding the self-important seriousness of other cutting edge jazz composers.
As regards his music, he was a prolific composer and performer willing to try out all kinds of new styles. Usually, the result is very engaging. And that's the crux to appreciating Sun Ra's work. Given the vast diverse influences that he incorporates into his music and the experimental improvisation of his performances, it is really difficult to make recommendations in regards to his music. Personally, I like his proto-space music music most, with their rich ambient drones and and exotic rhythms.
Here are two of my favorite pieces:
I hope you check out his music. Sun Ra is unfairly overlooked in surveys of jazz. I only heard of him when he passed away in 1993. That boggles my mind because I had a decent awareness of the history of jazz. And yet somehow this fantastic innovator totally escaped my awareness.
Today is the Feast Day of Julian of Norwich, in the Anglican and Lutheran churches.
As I began my studies into Christian spirituality, Julian's Sixteen Revelations of Divine Love was one of the first overtly mystical works that I came across. On my first read, I was somewhat dismissive of it. First, it is an easy read with direct language, unadorned with philosophical nuance. By my training, this was a sign of inferior thinking. Honestly, if you can't manage a single quiddity, then what good are you?
Second, the universality of Love, the infallibility of Hope, and the root of sin being ignorance, these all mark Julian as a "proto-hippie" in my eyes. And "hippie-ness" is a BAD thing. Seriously, where was the scourge of pain to punish evil? Where was Wrath and Damnation? And what's this about God as Mother??? What is this, a classic of Western Spirituality or some New Age mumbo jumbo?
A few years later, I was studying the apophatic mysticism of the Cloud of Unknowing, another work of 14th century English spirituality. An article that I was reading made repeat comparisons between the Cloud and Julian. I thought "I don't remember Julian being anywhere as interesting as this writer makes her sound." So, I gave her a reread, something that I rarely do. (Life is too short to reread books.)
In the intervening years, I had transcended by biases in regards to theological technical lingo and "hippie-phobia". Therefore, I encountered Julian with an open mind. And she was well worth it. Her mystical vision is brave, unique, and beautiful.
The line that really caught me was "Sin is necessary, but all will be well", which sums up her belief that sin is not born out of evil, but of ignorance. This ignorance is natural and the process of sinning is how we learn. By making mistakes, we discover the right way to do things. Once this wisdom is obtained, we can move on into the perfection of God's Love.
That's an amazingly modern thought. Julian's forming this spiritual worldview in 1373, a time in which crazy superstition is rife throughout all aspects of society. Sin is the work of the DEVIL!!! There are demons and imps and monsters all over the place, tempting humanity into Eternal Damnation. And although God is "loving", he's more than ready to actively devastate the world with manifestations of his Wrath: the Black Death, famine and war.
Yeah, this is a time lost to ignorance and fear, but Julian sees an underlying reason for Hope. "Do not accuse yourself that your tribulation and your woe is all your fault. . . this life is penance, and he wants us to rejoice in the remedy." In other words, our pain is not a punishment for sin, but rather is the purgation of our sin. By the simple process of living our lives we are automatically engaged in penance. The everyday situations that face us brings us closer to perfection.
"And then you will truly see that all your life is profitable penance." That's a liberating spirituality.
I can go on and on about Julian, but I think that's something that can fill up many a post.
