Funny you should say that, Paul. I already wrote in a chat box this morning, 'that looks like the famous photo at Iwo Jima'. No-one responded, so I feel vindicated now, thank you!
As you probably know, Rod Dreher quoted you in his post today. One regular, Sethu, wrote:
""Did Paul Kingsnorth Talk to God?" sounds like a great name for a Dr. Seuss book, sort of along the lines of *Green Eggs and Ham*."
Which got me thinking, so I replied:
"I think Rod and Paul should get together and write a child's book by that name. St. Vladimir Press has published children's books before: https://svspress.com/childrens-book-set/
But they would have to make it about enchantment and panentheism and holy wells and the machine, and not the Trump segue."
I think pulling in Jonathan Pageau might be good too, he knows a lot of visual artists.
Yes, you say noted "it "- meaning, I think, noted and posted the two photographs together. Rod on his twitter. So Paul and Rod came to that independently? I should not be surprised at those attuned to the symbolic world and the seeing of myths,
Interestingly, of course, the original Iwo Jima photograph was a set-up too. But the Trump pastiche (intended or accidental) is a bit embarrassing, like a geriatric rock musician who thinks he's still 25.
I was going to mention the "set-up" of the Iwo Jima photo myself, which I too thought had long been accepted as fact, but before I posted my comment, I did a quick search, and found a surprising (to me) correction on the Pulitzer Prize website itself, which I share for all of us here in a spirit of sincere regard for the truth of the matter: "A misunderstanding later led to repeated allegations that the photo had been staged. Sgt. Bill Genaust, who had been with [photographer] Rosenthal at the time of the flag-raising and made a film of it, was later killed in action. His film proved that Rosenthal had not staged the picture." The full story surrounding the photo can be found here: https://www.pulitzer.org/article/joe-rosenthal-and-flag-raising-iwo-jima
And there were two flag raisings. Someone decided the first flag was too small, and so there was a do-over. Both were photographed. If my memory is correct, it was the second raising that became famous.
This has been my understanding for many years. Also that it was still a "hot" area even when the second photo was shot. And it was the commanders of the attack who called for a bigger flag, so that the American (and Japanese) soldiers could see it better. It's on the very top of the mountain that dominates the whole island.
Laurence and Thomas, not to endlessly go back and forth on this, but the link I provided to the Pulitzer Prize website does not mention a second photo or a staged reshoot, but rather refers to a film made of the original raising of the flag which verifies Rosenthal "did not stage the picture." I also found an article which relates how the photographer, Joe Rosenthal, accidentally caused the misunderstanding of a posed photo by answering a question incorrectly. You can read all about it here: "The controversy started because Rosenthal actually staged a photo with the flag. But it was after the flag was already up; a different photo where marines posed in front of the flag. When asked if the photo was staged, he answered, was thinking about the other photo. By the time he realized what photo was in question it was already too late and the damage was done. A special meeting was held in Washington between military officials, editors of Life and AP to solve the controversy once for good. In the end the came to the conclusion that the picture was not posed." https://aboutphotography.blog/blog/the-story-behind-the-flag-raising-on-iwo-jima-by-joe-rosenthal-1945 — Interestingly, there is even a book on the subject! — https://www.amazon.com/Two-Flags-over-Iwo-Jima-ebook/dp/B07FN4LCVV — I'm with you, and I'm a lifelong professional photographer, and up until yesterday I also thought the famous photo was a staged re-shoot of probably some grainy image made in haste and under fire. It is a fascinating story to delve into. Makes me want to get that book!
St Paisios of Mt Athos said that the Devil is able to do many things but the one thing he cannot do is put peace in your heart. Peace is antithetical to all his wiles and machinations. And thus, peace in one’s heart is a sure criterion for what is of the Holy Spirit.
Thank you for sharing your ‘instruction’ ~ it rings true! Ειρήνη σοι…
I always wanted to share St. Gregory of Nazianzus' The Refutation of the Tempter with my students:
...We also know how well-versed the devil is in Scripture. When Christ answered the temptation to turn stones into bread with a rebuke from Scripture beginning: “It is written,” the devil countered with the same words, tempting Christ to throw himself down from the pinnacle of the temple. “For it is written,” he quoted, “he will give his angels charge of you, and on their hands they will bear you up.”
O past master of all evil, why suppress the verse that follows? You did not finish the quotation, but I know full well what it means: that we shall tread on you as on an adder or a cobra; protected by the Trinity, we shall trample on you as on serpents or scorpions.
If the tempter tries to overthrow us through our greed, showing us at one glance all the kingdoms of the world—as if they belonged to him—and demanding that we fall down and worship him, we should despise him, for we know him to be a penniless impostor.
Strong in our baptism, each of us can say: “I too am made in the image of God, but unlike you, I have not yet become an outcast from heaven through my pride. I have put on Christ; by my baptism I have become one with him. It is you that should fall prostrate before me.”
At these words he can only surrender and retire in shame; as he retreated before Christ, the light of the world, so will he depart from those illumined by that light.
Agreed. Years ago I watched a movie about Lee Harvey Oswald from the viewpoint of his wife Marina. It was then I realized the truth of what you wrote today.
Thanks for this Paul - have hardly commented, but I appreciate what you are saying... Have also come to the conclusion recently that Repent and believe that the gospel is good news is something we need to do every day / all the time.
I have been looking for this answer and didn’t know it. Puzzling over the latest round of frightening events and unhinged responses, I’ve been feeling more and more like I’m just adding energy to a downward spiral by engaging. Still, I couldn’t see a way off the ride.
Peace of the heart. Not explanation or conceptualization. Not reasoning or argument. Peace. Sounds about right. Thanks.
Your writing has helped me make sense of the world. I fall easily into despair because my children cannot have the same kind of life I had, effortlessly, as a stay at home mom in a traditional family. Even the ones who have succeeded at family formation have struggles we never faced, financial, protecting their children from a toxic culture, political division between spouses.
Samuel Johnson said something to the effect that people need to be reminded more than they need to be instructed. This is a beautiful reminder. For me, and I’m sure for many others, your work serves an important purpose. You have looked deeply into the abyss for us and are now gently leading your readers away. I cannot think of a more necessary service at a time when the abyss is widening daily.
Thank you for sharing what God has gifted you, Paul. I will continue to help support you for as long as you feel called to write. You are reaching my nous and helping me repent in a way that no one else is, and for that, I am eternally grateful.
I had a similar prayer experience this spring. I was walking at a nearby arboretum (sounds fancier than it is, but it is a nice little wooded park in the middle of two busy streets and several of the trees have aging labels so now I consider them friends with names). I was asking God to speak to me, to give me direction, to give me peace, and "Look up!" was the clear word I received. I was literally looking down at my feet as I walked, but my inward gaze was firmly fixed on myself too--all my angsty little thoughts and problems and hurt feelings.
Now, along with the Jesus Prayer (I enjoyed reading The Way of a Pilgrim) I use these words, "Look up, look up, look up!" to remind me where my gaze ought to be--"from where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth."
Anyway--your essay was helpful this morning. I pray the Lord continues to bless and provide for your family, and I pray He sees fit to continue blessing your writing.
Yes, the prayer has been something concrete to hold on to in a variety of situations this summer. More focused than some of my scattered prayers--though I still pray those too with my "poor lisping, stammering tongue."
With you on this journey around words and discourse and how ought we to use them. As one who very recently felt called to use words here, on this platform, I experience how easy it is to have one’s course thrown off by a thousand subtle influences. There is a hermit-like focus that is needed for all our callings, I think. If I think of this calling as my “cell,” then I trust the truth of those famous words, “your cell will teach you everything.”
Hi Meg, from sunny Dorset. 👋I was going to stay off the radar, but that picture spoke to me , just as it has to so many others.
Wonderful piece of writing by Paul, and exactly what was needed. Images can stir the passions even better than words, but they are both symbolic representations, the question surely is what is the intent behind them?
The photographer who took this picture was doing his job as a way of feeding his family, but also pursuing his need for success and ambition. In this he has succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. He has also just enabled, whether he intended to or not, the probable re-election of a man many believe is unfit for high office.
Perhaps, as with words, it isn’t the tools we use to represent the world that are at fault, Jesus himself was a master communicator, the original influencer, whose gift for memes (blind leading the blind, Prodigal Son) has never been equalled. But what was behind them was the intent to shift his listeners to a higher form of consciousness..
In my opinion, if words or images are used in the service of gaining power or status without regard for the consequences to others (Pilates shrugged ‘ what is truth?’), then that is when they become problematic, an axe can be used to cut down a tree or kill a man...
Imo those who doubt themselves and how they use their gifts are the best placed to use them, because as Yeats says ‘the best lack all conviction and the worst are full of passionate intensity’. But that does not stop them being the best....apologies if this is a bit muddled, typing under a 🌲...with patchy Wi-Fi!
I do not remember who said how what is most personal often tends to be universal, but what you received from the Lord in prayer could not be more relevant to me, and surely more than me. Now on a generous gift of sabbatical from my church I have struggled to sense its ultimate purpose, and in turn how to steward the time well. But even in the last few days, "peace" has been the word rising to the surface. What you humbly, apprehensively shared now offers me a bit of clarity. So i thank you. I can think of no greater aspiration, dependent as we are to know even a glimpse of it. All else I might think I have to offer my family, this church, our world, is nothing compared to offering it the peace that passes understanding. Grace to you and peace
From afar, you answered my own questions without knowing. As an artist, I had realized that my painting feeds my ego. I struggle with that. Lately, I have felt a hard call to help more with the poor I see all around me, but I pull back. I'm old, and my bones hurt. I might be too tired to paint and get in the shows my ego craves. I'm fat and weak and I might get sickness from some poor child. I keep asking God, but, but, do I have to? The answer I get is to trust.
To encourage you, my mom is 82 and an artist also. I started a nonprofit 15 years ago in a slum in Uganda and she'd never expressed any interest in going with me. (I've been 17 times now.) Last year, she went for the first time, and she went back with me in January. She's taught our girls art classes, and (she's also a retired mental health professional) worked with our staff on things like stress, burnout, dealing with trauma, etc. So if she can go to Uganda's biggest slum at 81 and not only not get sick and have fun but also go back again 9 mos later, I'll be you can too!
There are ways to help that might be easier on one’s bones. I answer the phone and do light office work as a volunteer for an organization that serves folks in need. Just a thought.
For years I've been frustrated at how—with fairly minimal effort—I can get to a place where I see things as they truly are:
"Integrity is wholeness, the greatest beauty is
Organic wholeness, the wholeness of life and things,
the divine beauty of the universe.
Love that, not man
Apart from that, or else you will share man’s pitiful confusions,
or drown in despair when his days darken."—Jeffers
Yet the merest contact with this culture sublimates the truth of this utterly and I'm instantly pulled back into the sea of delusion, throwing punches at shadows alongside everyone else. I suppose this is why places like monasteries came to exist in the first place. Didn't Father Lazarus El Anthony make this point? That you can't keep a foot in this world and put the peace of the heart before everything at the same time?
I worry we may lose you to some green desert in the not too terribly distant future at this rate, Paul. I for one will try to content myself with the belief that you finally made it out (through?).
Perhaps some sort of waystation would be the losing of the net/Substack/YouTube at some point and writing what I imagine might end up being increasingly esoteric/mystic/inscrutable books. I guess you'd still need to deal with publishers, and promotion, and with the fact the no one but us weirdos buys or reads books these days.
The thought has occurred to me more than once (a day!) Set up my own mad publisher, write what I like, print only ... But then I'd have to run a business and that would be far worse than this.
Ha, too true! I made the mistake of becoming a Sole Trader in Ireland and the level of bureaucracy is staggering. I'd like to pay my taxes, I really would, but I cannot begin to chop my way through the thicket of the half-dozen web sites involved in making that happen.
Martin Shaw wrote recently about moving between the Forest & the Town Square, between the wilds & convivial, shared merrymaking. It struck me how natural that movement is, and how necessary, too, to a good human life. I come from a mixed Christian & Jewish background, and the Christian part offered such Love, but the Jewish root gave me humor as one of life's great existential tangents. Yes, there is myth & politics and all of this reality, but there is also playfulness & merrymaking & the beautiful freedom to refuse, to say "I'd rather not," through wit & laughter. Life is a serious affair, certainly, but are we not also called to wear the sleeve of the world lightly? Might there not be an option of watching the political drama for all its interest & fascination & complexity without being consumed by it? There seem to me to be a lot of options as to how we keep a foot in the world. The poet Wendell Berry would seem to be a good example of a Christian with a foot in the world who yet knows the peace of wild things. The times are so fascinating, why not find a way to be a witness to them that doesn't subvert you at your core? No argument meant, it just seems worth considering the both/and!
I think that is definitely an option, and I know people who can do it. See it all as a play or even a joke. Even laugh at it. It takes discipline though, or just a certain kind of character. There are times when, as a writer, I would like to have the spirit of Kurt Vonnegut rather than D H Lawrence, which would probably be more fun - but we get what we're given. I think some people can't look at the spectacle at all without getting drawn in, and others can. The first lot - amongst whom I find myself - can perhaps train ourselves to watch from a distance though.
This is well-argued and compelling, but as Paul notes below, it takes a certain kind of temperament to pull this balance off. A good example that leaps to mind immediately is Morris Berman, who even into his 80s now remains highly prolific and publishes deeply contemplative books, while at the same time as a Jewish New Yorker he uses that unsurpassed brand of humour to gleefully lampoon and mock the moronic politics of the day and the cartoonish and inept figures we are invited to oppose or support.
Paul I think is a different sort of creature, and appears to view the cultural maelstrom as directly detracting from his contemplative work and interests. I've never been sure if bad times are a positive or negative for artists. If life is too harmonious and easy it's possible the art can drift into mere self-indulgence or empty exercises in rote technique. At the same time, it's a hell of a thing to ask of an artist to create while bombs are dropping around them or people are being shipped off to camps and gulags.
The core seems to be contemplation: artists need to make or be given enough space for visionary exploration and generative activity to occur. The culture is cacophonous right now and it's simply hard to concentrate.
Funny you should say that, Paul. I already wrote in a chat box this morning, 'that looks like the famous photo at Iwo Jima'. No-one responded, so I feel vindicated now, thank you!
I hadn't seen that. I promise I didn't steal the idea ;-)
As you probably know, Rod Dreher quoted you in his post today. One regular, Sethu, wrote:
""Did Paul Kingsnorth Talk to God?" sounds like a great name for a Dr. Seuss book, sort of along the lines of *Green Eggs and Ham*."
Which got me thinking, so I replied:
"I think Rod and Paul should get together and write a child's book by that name. St. Vladimir Press has published children's books before: https://svspress.com/childrens-book-set/
But they would have to make it about enchantment and panentheism and holy wells and the machine, and not the Trump segue."
I think pulling in Jonathan Pageau might be good too, he knows a lot of visual artists.
Rod Dreher noted it too.
Synchronicity?🙏🙏🙏🙏
Yes, you say noted "it "- meaning, I think, noted and posted the two photographs together. Rod on his twitter. So Paul and Rod came to that independently? I should not be surprised at those attuned to the symbolic world and the seeing of myths,
Iwo Jima was my first thought, too
Ditto!
I noticed the powerful similarity the instant I saw it too, mentioned it to family.
Interestingly, of course, the original Iwo Jima photograph was a set-up too. But the Trump pastiche (intended or accidental) is a bit embarrassing, like a geriatric rock musician who thinks he's still 25.
I was going to mention the "set-up" of the Iwo Jima photo myself, which I too thought had long been accepted as fact, but before I posted my comment, I did a quick search, and found a surprising (to me) correction on the Pulitzer Prize website itself, which I share for all of us here in a spirit of sincere regard for the truth of the matter: "A misunderstanding later led to repeated allegations that the photo had been staged. Sgt. Bill Genaust, who had been with [photographer] Rosenthal at the time of the flag-raising and made a film of it, was later killed in action. His film proved that Rosenthal had not staged the picture." The full story surrounding the photo can be found here: https://www.pulitzer.org/article/joe-rosenthal-and-flag-raising-iwo-jima
Thank you - I'll take a look. Myth upon myth, then!
Yes! Like an urban legend, where one story layers over another. We become like archeologists of myth, excavating layer by layer!
And there were two flag raisings. Someone decided the first flag was too small, and so there was a do-over. Both were photographed. If my memory is correct, it was the second raising that became famous.
This has been my understanding for many years. Also that it was still a "hot" area even when the second photo was shot. And it was the commanders of the attack who called for a bigger flag, so that the American (and Japanese) soldiers could see it better. It's on the very top of the mountain that dominates the whole island.
Laurence and Thomas, not to endlessly go back and forth on this, but the link I provided to the Pulitzer Prize website does not mention a second photo or a staged reshoot, but rather refers to a film made of the original raising of the flag which verifies Rosenthal "did not stage the picture." I also found an article which relates how the photographer, Joe Rosenthal, accidentally caused the misunderstanding of a posed photo by answering a question incorrectly. You can read all about it here: "The controversy started because Rosenthal actually staged a photo with the flag. But it was after the flag was already up; a different photo where marines posed in front of the flag. When asked if the photo was staged, he answered, was thinking about the other photo. By the time he realized what photo was in question it was already too late and the damage was done. A special meeting was held in Washington between military officials, editors of Life and AP to solve the controversy once for good. In the end the came to the conclusion that the picture was not posed." https://aboutphotography.blog/blog/the-story-behind-the-flag-raising-on-iwo-jima-by-joe-rosenthal-1945 — Interestingly, there is even a book on the subject! — https://www.amazon.com/Two-Flags-over-Iwo-Jima-ebook/dp/B07FN4LCVV — I'm with you, and I'm a lifelong professional photographer, and up until yesterday I also thought the famous photo was a staged re-shoot of probably some grainy image made in haste and under fire. It is a fascinating story to delve into. Makes me want to get that book!
Total "dad move", and I'm here for it. Also, I keep hearing the word "indomitable" since Saturday.
St Paisios of Mt Athos said that the Devil is able to do many things but the one thing he cannot do is put peace in your heart. Peace is antithetical to all his wiles and machinations. And thus, peace in one’s heart is a sure criterion for what is of the Holy Spirit.
Thank you for sharing your ‘instruction’ ~ it rings true! Ειρήνη σοι…
Another teaching from Saint Paisios, a former radio operator, is:
"If you want to 'catch' God so He can hear you when you pray, turn the dial to humility, for this is the frequency on which God operates."
I like that
"FM. No static at all."
Beautiful!
I always wanted to share St. Gregory of Nazianzus' The Refutation of the Tempter with my students:
...We also know how well-versed the devil is in Scripture. When Christ answered the temptation to turn stones into bread with a rebuke from Scripture beginning: “It is written,” the devil countered with the same words, tempting Christ to throw himself down from the pinnacle of the temple. “For it is written,” he quoted, “he will give his angels charge of you, and on their hands they will bear you up.”
O past master of all evil, why suppress the verse that follows? You did not finish the quotation, but I know full well what it means: that we shall tread on you as on an adder or a cobra; protected by the Trinity, we shall trample on you as on serpents or scorpions.
If the tempter tries to overthrow us through our greed, showing us at one glance all the kingdoms of the world—as if they belonged to him—and demanding that we fall down and worship him, we should despise him, for we know him to be a penniless impostor.
Strong in our baptism, each of us can say: “I too am made in the image of God, but unlike you, I have not yet become an outcast from heaven through my pride. I have put on Christ; by my baptism I have become one with him. It is you that should fall prostrate before me.”
At these words he can only surrender and retire in shame; as he retreated before Christ, the light of the world, so will he depart from those illumined by that light.
I declare: the best analysis of the assassination attempt I have read.
Thank you for that advice .!
Happy to help!
"To put that another way: everything is myth."
Agreed. Years ago I watched a movie about Lee Harvey Oswald from the viewpoint of his wife Marina. It was then I realized the truth of what you wrote today.
Yes.
Loved this Paul. I appreciate your courage in putting yourself out there. This really resonated with me. I look forward to more of this.
Thanks for this Paul - have hardly commented, but I appreciate what you are saying... Have also come to the conclusion recently that Repent and believe that the gospel is good news is something we need to do every day / all the time.
I have been looking for this answer and didn’t know it. Puzzling over the latest round of frightening events and unhinged responses, I’ve been feeling more and more like I’m just adding energy to a downward spiral by engaging. Still, I couldn’t see a way off the ride.
Peace of the heart. Not explanation or conceptualization. Not reasoning or argument. Peace. Sounds about right. Thanks.
This is excellent. Thank you.
Your writing has helped me make sense of the world. I fall easily into despair because my children cannot have the same kind of life I had, effortlessly, as a stay at home mom in a traditional family. Even the ones who have succeeded at family formation have struggles we never faced, financial, protecting their children from a toxic culture, political division between spouses.
Samuel Johnson said something to the effect that people need to be reminded more than they need to be instructed. This is a beautiful reminder. For me, and I’m sure for many others, your work serves an important purpose. You have looked deeply into the abyss for us and are now gently leading your readers away. I cannot think of a more necessary service at a time when the abyss is widening daily.
Amen to that. Every word of it.
This so right.
Amen and amen. Please be encouraged to continue. You speak with clarity things I need to hear. Thank you!
Thank you for this. Very much.
Beautifully stated.
Thank you for sharing what God has gifted you, Paul. I will continue to help support you for as long as you feel called to write. You are reaching my nous and helping me repent in a way that no one else is, and for that, I am eternally grateful.
I had a similar prayer experience this spring. I was walking at a nearby arboretum (sounds fancier than it is, but it is a nice little wooded park in the middle of two busy streets and several of the trees have aging labels so now I consider them friends with names). I was asking God to speak to me, to give me direction, to give me peace, and "Look up!" was the clear word I received. I was literally looking down at my feet as I walked, but my inward gaze was firmly fixed on myself too--all my angsty little thoughts and problems and hurt feelings.
Now, along with the Jesus Prayer (I enjoyed reading The Way of a Pilgrim) I use these words, "Look up, look up, look up!" to remind me where my gaze ought to be--"from where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth."
Anyway--your essay was helpful this morning. I pray the Lord continues to bless and provide for your family, and I pray He sees fit to continue blessing your writing.
That's excellent. Thanks for sharing it.
I am also finding some peace through The Jesus Prayer. Read WY of the Pilgrim twice
Yes, the prayer has been something concrete to hold on to in a variety of situations this summer. More focused than some of my scattered prayers--though I still pray those too with my "poor lisping, stammering tongue."
Dear Paul,
maybe seeing your writing as seeking approval or validation is a temptation in itself.
You clearly have been given a gift that is enlightening us and connecting us, and may you find peace in sharing your gifts.
So many temptations!
With you on this journey around words and discourse and how ought we to use them. As one who very recently felt called to use words here, on this platform, I experience how easy it is to have one’s course thrown off by a thousand subtle influences. There is a hermit-like focus that is needed for all our callings, I think. If I think of this calling as my “cell,” then I trust the truth of those famous words, “your cell will teach you everything.”
Hi Meg, from sunny Dorset. 👋I was going to stay off the radar, but that picture spoke to me , just as it has to so many others.
Wonderful piece of writing by Paul, and exactly what was needed. Images can stir the passions even better than words, but they are both symbolic representations, the question surely is what is the intent behind them?
The photographer who took this picture was doing his job as a way of feeding his family, but also pursuing his need for success and ambition. In this he has succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. He has also just enabled, whether he intended to or not, the probable re-election of a man many believe is unfit for high office.
Perhaps, as with words, it isn’t the tools we use to represent the world that are at fault, Jesus himself was a master communicator, the original influencer, whose gift for memes (blind leading the blind, Prodigal Son) has never been equalled. But what was behind them was the intent to shift his listeners to a higher form of consciousness..
In my opinion, if words or images are used in the service of gaining power or status without regard for the consequences to others (Pilates shrugged ‘ what is truth?’), then that is when they become problematic, an axe can be used to cut down a tree or kill a man...
Imo those who doubt themselves and how they use their gifts are the best placed to use them, because as Yeats says ‘the best lack all conviction and the worst are full of passionate intensity’. But that does not stop them being the best....apologies if this is a bit muddled, typing under a 🌲...with patchy Wi-Fi!
Knowing that the power of life and death are in the tongue should indeed give us pause, I agree. I like how The Message version renders it:
“Words kill, words give life;
they’re either poison or fruit—you choose.”
Thank you for your words here!
I do not remember who said how what is most personal often tends to be universal, but what you received from the Lord in prayer could not be more relevant to me, and surely more than me. Now on a generous gift of sabbatical from my church I have struggled to sense its ultimate purpose, and in turn how to steward the time well. But even in the last few days, "peace" has been the word rising to the surface. What you humbly, apprehensively shared now offers me a bit of clarity. So i thank you. I can think of no greater aspiration, dependent as we are to know even a glimpse of it. All else I might think I have to offer my family, this church, our world, is nothing compared to offering it the peace that passes understanding. Grace to you and peace
From afar, you answered my own questions without knowing. As an artist, I had realized that my painting feeds my ego. I struggle with that. Lately, I have felt a hard call to help more with the poor I see all around me, but I pull back. I'm old, and my bones hurt. I might be too tired to paint and get in the shows my ego craves. I'm fat and weak and I might get sickness from some poor child. I keep asking God, but, but, do I have to? The answer I get is to trust.
To encourage you, my mom is 82 and an artist also. I started a nonprofit 15 years ago in a slum in Uganda and she'd never expressed any interest in going with me. (I've been 17 times now.) Last year, she went for the first time, and she went back with me in January. She's taught our girls art classes, and (she's also a retired mental health professional) worked with our staff on things like stress, burnout, dealing with trauma, etc. So if she can go to Uganda's biggest slum at 81 and not only not get sick and have fun but also go back again 9 mos later, I'll be you can too!
Thank you!
There are ways to help that might be easier on one’s bones. I answer the phone and do light office work as a volunteer for an organization that serves folks in need. Just a thought.
Yes, that’s a good solution. I’m doing a little bit like that now.
For years I've been frustrated at how—with fairly minimal effort—I can get to a place where I see things as they truly are:
"Integrity is wholeness, the greatest beauty is
Organic wholeness, the wholeness of life and things,
the divine beauty of the universe.
Love that, not man
Apart from that, or else you will share man’s pitiful confusions,
or drown in despair when his days darken."—Jeffers
Yet the merest contact with this culture sublimates the truth of this utterly and I'm instantly pulled back into the sea of delusion, throwing punches at shadows alongside everyone else. I suppose this is why places like monasteries came to exist in the first place. Didn't Father Lazarus El Anthony make this point? That you can't keep a foot in this world and put the peace of the heart before everything at the same time?
That's exactly it. Me too. Which makes it harder and harder daily to be 'in the world'.
I worry we may lose you to some green desert in the not too terribly distant future at this rate, Paul. I for one will try to content myself with the belief that you finally made it out (through?).
I have a family to feed for now, so no desert for me! I am blessed with it too.
Perhaps some sort of waystation would be the losing of the net/Substack/YouTube at some point and writing what I imagine might end up being increasingly esoteric/mystic/inscrutable books. I guess you'd still need to deal with publishers, and promotion, and with the fact the no one but us weirdos buys or reads books these days.
"Trapped like a trap in a trap!"—Dorothy Parker
The thought has occurred to me more than once (a day!) Set up my own mad publisher, write what I like, print only ... But then I'd have to run a business and that would be far worse than this.
Ha, too true! I made the mistake of becoming a Sole Trader in Ireland and the level of bureaucracy is staggering. I'd like to pay my taxes, I really would, but I cannot begin to chop my way through the thicket of the half-dozen web sites involved in making that happen.
Martin Shaw wrote recently about moving between the Forest & the Town Square, between the wilds & convivial, shared merrymaking. It struck me how natural that movement is, and how necessary, too, to a good human life. I come from a mixed Christian & Jewish background, and the Christian part offered such Love, but the Jewish root gave me humor as one of life's great existential tangents. Yes, there is myth & politics and all of this reality, but there is also playfulness & merrymaking & the beautiful freedom to refuse, to say "I'd rather not," through wit & laughter. Life is a serious affair, certainly, but are we not also called to wear the sleeve of the world lightly? Might there not be an option of watching the political drama for all its interest & fascination & complexity without being consumed by it? There seem to me to be a lot of options as to how we keep a foot in the world. The poet Wendell Berry would seem to be a good example of a Christian with a foot in the world who yet knows the peace of wild things. The times are so fascinating, why not find a way to be a witness to them that doesn't subvert you at your core? No argument meant, it just seems worth considering the both/and!
I think that is definitely an option, and I know people who can do it. See it all as a play or even a joke. Even laugh at it. It takes discipline though, or just a certain kind of character. There are times when, as a writer, I would like to have the spirit of Kurt Vonnegut rather than D H Lawrence, which would probably be more fun - but we get what we're given. I think some people can't look at the spectacle at all without getting drawn in, and others can. The first lot - amongst whom I find myself - can perhaps train ourselves to watch from a distance though.
This is well-argued and compelling, but as Paul notes below, it takes a certain kind of temperament to pull this balance off. A good example that leaps to mind immediately is Morris Berman, who even into his 80s now remains highly prolific and publishes deeply contemplative books, while at the same time as a Jewish New Yorker he uses that unsurpassed brand of humour to gleefully lampoon and mock the moronic politics of the day and the cartoonish and inept figures we are invited to oppose or support.
Paul I think is a different sort of creature, and appears to view the cultural maelstrom as directly detracting from his contemplative work and interests. I've never been sure if bad times are a positive or negative for artists. If life is too harmonious and easy it's possible the art can drift into mere self-indulgence or empty exercises in rote technique. At the same time, it's a hell of a thing to ask of an artist to create while bombs are dropping around them or people are being shipped off to camps and gulags.
The core seems to be contemplation: artists need to make or be given enough space for visionary exploration and generative activity to occur. The culture is cacophonous right now and it's simply hard to concentrate.