Le Dernier Loup

Le Loup  2010  Oil and Acrylic on Wood  78 x 102 cm

There are no wolves around here. The last one was shot dead in 1885. I wonder what his life was like before he was killed. Wolves are social animals and are almost never seen by themselves. How did this wolf hunt? How did he feel when he howled and no one howled back?

Hélas ! ai-je pensé, malgré ce grand nom d’Hommes,
Que j’ai honte de nous, débiles que nous sommes !
Comment on doit quitter la vie et tous ses maux,
C’est vous qui le savez, sublimes animaux !

À voir ce que l’on fut sur terre et ce qu’on laisse,
Seul le silence est grand ; tout le reste est faiblesse.
— Ah ! je t’ai bien compris, sauvage voyageur,
Et ton dernier regard m’est allé jusqu’au cœur.
Il disait : « Si tu peux, fais que ton âme arrive,
À force de rester studieuse et pensive,
Jusqu’à ce haut degré de stoïque fierté
Où, naissant dans les bois, j’ai tout d’abord monté.

Gémir, pleurer prier est également lâche.
Fais énergiquement ta longue et lourde tâche
Dans la voie où le Sort a voulu t’appeler,
Puis, après, comme moi, souffre et meurs sans parler. 

From La Mort du Loup  

   Alfred de Vigny, 1843

Hidden in Plain Sight

The other day I noticed a post on Facebook by a Texas artist whose work I admire calling for a renewal of interest in sacred architecture and the Golden Ratio. It made me happy to see this, since I've been exploring these things too, along with some related ideas, and I have occasionally felt isolated. To have company in this kind of enquiry is most welcome. This artist also mentioned the end of Modernism, referring to Postmodernism as a kind of Mannerism. True enough. 

In today's world many of us are suspicious of the word sacred. Defined in the broadest possible way, sacred might just suggest a way of appreciating a mystery. In and of itself, a mystery is simply something that cannot be adequately explained. The most important questions we can ask ourselves are ultimately mysteries: What are we? Why are we here? 

In order to master our world, we all learn how it works. We learn the mechanics of natural things, and we learn facts. We spend the first twenty years of our lives in an educational system that, ideally, prepares us to be independent, productive people. We measure the amounts of such education in degrees and diplomas. What distinguishes a truly intelligent person is, after having absorbed all those facts and all those answers, he or she continues to ask questions, not always being content with things as they have been explained. And such a person is not actually seeking a final explanation at all, but reveling in the open-ended quality of the particular phenomenon under consideration. This way of observing the world stands outside of religion. Religion has nothing to do with it. Sometimes people call faith a way of relating to mystery, but faith is just the acceptance of somebody else's inadequate explanation in order to become initiated into a group. Religion gets in the way of direct experience. We have mythology, art, literature, drama, dance, music, and other means of expression to more fully participate in the Mystery. Art that attempts to address the idea of mystery must always be open-ended. Indeed, making such art can be like walking on the proverbial razor's edge.