Today's Quote to Ponder: Despair and Our Response
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"The artist’s job is not to succumb to despair
but to find an antidote to the emptiness of existence."
This is a line stated by Gertrude Stein (played by Kathy Bates, an actress who has never been worried about having "the Hollywood look) in Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris. As much as I am repulsed by Allen, some of his movies are wonderful, and this one is. Pablo Picasso was a terrible person, but I wept when I saw Guernica in the Sophia Regina Museum in Madrid. That is the dilemma of the artist and his/her work.
Anyway, back to the quote. I think that is a very good synopsis of a post-modernist and even Romantic view of reality and art. It is, of course, antithetical to the Christian world view. Our existence is not empty, and if one despairs, the answer is not to be an artist or to engage in the artistic experience but to run to Jesus, whose love and redemption erases the world view of emptiness, mere existence, and despair.
I could write more here, because I think this quote from Stein (if indeed she said it, or if those are words Allen put in her mouth) is a stark contrast to the gospel. Mankind looks for other ways to deal with what it perceives as meaningless in the universe; art is one, will to power is another; affluence, another; and apathy a very common one.
This quote reminds me also of what we are facing politically. Many people oppose Donald Trump. I perfectly understand that. If one does not have a world view that puts Almighty God in charge rather than a man in the White House, despair at this political scene is understandable--overblown, I think, but understandable to a certain extent.
I lay my head on my pillow and can sleep because God is in control, and no one else, despite appearances and despite the evil of this world. I do not fully understand why God allows the evil that exists--I've read the arguments, but I still rebel at why suffering exists for the innocent.
However, I do not waste one minute worrying about some foolish statement or Tweet of Donald Trump. He, too, shall pass. I actually find some of his comments funny for their sheer outrageousness. Others are frighteningly stupid. Others are amazingly clear and on point. He is an anomaly and enigma. He is also a very immoral person, and Christian leaders should watch what they say in regard to this, because it hurts our gospel witness.
This is a line stated by Gertrude Stein (played by Kathy Bates, an actress who has never been worried about having "the Hollywood look) in Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris. As much as I am repulsed by Allen, some of his movies are wonderful, and this one is. Pablo Picasso was a terrible person, but I wept when I saw Guernica in the Sophia Regina Museum in Madrid. That is the dilemma of the artist and his/her work.
Anyway, back to the quote. I think that is a very good synopsis of a post-modernist and even Romantic view of reality and art. It is, of course, antithetical to the Christian world view. Our existence is not empty, and if one despairs, the answer is not to be an artist or to engage in the artistic experience but to run to Jesus, whose love and redemption erases the world view of emptiness, mere existence, and despair.
I could write more here, because I think this quote from Stein (if indeed she said it, or if those are words Allen put in her mouth) is a stark contrast to the gospel. Mankind looks for other ways to deal with what it perceives as meaningless in the universe; art is one, will to power is another; affluence, another; and apathy a very common one.
This quote reminds me also of what we are facing politically. Many people oppose Donald Trump. I perfectly understand that. If one does not have a world view that puts Almighty God in charge rather than a man in the White House, despair at this political scene is understandable--overblown, I think, but understandable to a certain extent.
I lay my head on my pillow and can sleep because God is in control, and no one else, despite appearances and despite the evil of this world. I do not fully understand why God allows the evil that exists--I've read the arguments, but I still rebel at why suffering exists for the innocent.
However, I do not waste one minute worrying about some foolish statement or Tweet of Donald Trump. He, too, shall pass. I actually find some of his comments funny for their sheer outrageousness. Others are frighteningly stupid. Others are amazingly clear and on point. He is an anomaly and enigma. He is also a very immoral person, and Christian leaders should watch what they say in regard to this, because it hurts our gospel witness.
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