tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010494928772077300.post2021400374386061773..comments2024-03-01T14:26:39.432+01:00Comments on Sophia's Mirror: Beauty and the BeastEmmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11344595922514131573noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010494928772077300.post-14362936984670257182013-09-06T14:17:02.617+02:002013-09-06T14:17:02.617+02:00Thank you Joseph and David. You both supplemented ...Thank you Joseph and David. You both supplemented what I have written here. <br />I like to remember what Etty Hillesum wrote in her diary during the second World War about the destructiveness of human nature: "I know that those who hate do have their profound reasons for this hatred. But why would we keep on choosing the easiest and cheapest option? When my experience here (in Westerbork) is how every atom of hate, added to the world, makes this world more barren than it already is."<br /><br />I can only concur with Etty, but like both Beauty and the Beast we all have to commit ourselves to the inner work. I don't believe that there is anyone on earth who does not need soul-healing in some way.Emmahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11344595922514131573noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010494928772077300.post-27803425315430990292013-09-05T12:30:24.663+02:002013-09-05T12:30:24.663+02:00Emma's mention of the attack on Michelangelo&#...Emma's mention of the attack on Michelangelo's Pieta, and Joseph's further intriguing comments about this, made me wonder: the attack was very directed, and focused not upon the figure of Christ (which was undamaged), but upon that of Mary. The man might have been judged not to to have been in his right mind, but he was evidently cognizant enough to have consciously selected his 'target'. We conclude (apparently for our own reassurance) that the man was not in possession of his faculties, and that we would never do such a thing. But we do, constantly. We turn the flimsiest of reasons into concrete justifications - 'it's in scripture', or 'it's part of our tradition', or somesuch - to attack women, to make sure they know who's running things, and Mary, who already suffers so much, is the one who lies in pieces on the floor. Our own 'beast' still needs a lot of inner work!Hawkwoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07993700120131916459noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010494928772077300.post-86216427565822007292013-09-03T05:51:59.809+02:002013-09-03T05:51:59.809+02:00The deranged Hungarian had some issue with Michela...The deranged Hungarian had some issue with Michelangelo's statue of Mary. Who knows what he was thinking or what he was feeling while he damaged this great artwork. He was deranged and it is difficult indeed to say he was responsible for his actions for he may not have been in his "right mind," in other words insane or at least delusional. Every second of everyday, even now, there are even greater works that are being destroyed and damage. These works of "art" are living human beings. As humans we seem to exhibit an outstanding capacity for cruelty to our own kind. This is our insanity and it has been going on for thousands of years. Is it a reflection of some type of evil within us? Not only are we destructive of our own kind but we have been quite destructive of our Mother Earth, and our animal brothers and sisters! Emma points out and is worth repeating!<br />"What is beautiful must, it seems, be destroyed for one reason or another. And such destruction is not limited to the created works of artists both known and unknown. An idyllic valley is flooded to make way for a giant dam. Whole forests are cut down and reduced to waste land, or for housing development. The natural world around us, the most beautiful treasure which we have in our care, is ransacked, either for its resources or in the name of a dubious progress."<br />In spite of what many may deem to think the insanity itself is not our true nature, nor any part of it. The insanity is what eclipses our true nature. Our belief in our insane thoughts creates our unconsciousness. We do not believe in the beauty that is within us and within others. We believe in many other things, dividing the universe into good and bad, into labels and categories, friends and enemies. Our insanity lifts, and true sanity returns once we return to the wholeness that is within the core of each one of us.<br />Josephhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08209551489584694322noreply@blogger.com