Bearing Reality

1909-S V.D.B.

Designer: Victor David Brenner

Diameter: 19 millimeters

Metal content:
Copper - 95%
Tin and Zinc - 5%

Weight: 48 grains (3.11 grams)

Go, said the bird, for the leaves were full of children

Hidden, excitedly, containing laughter.

Go, go, go said the bird; human kind

Cannot bear very much reality.

Time past and time future

What might have been and what has been

Point to one end, which is always present.

T S Eliot- Four Quartets: "Burnt Norton" (1935)

Last night I asked my Dad about the time he bought a penny for a hundred dollars. He went to the bank and asked to borrow $100.00 (in the 1960's you could actually do such a thing). The banker behind the desk was a doodler- scribbling and drawing on a pad while talking to customers. Without looking up, he asked, "What do you want it for?" "I want to buy a penny" said my Dad. The banker stopped doodling and looked up. "Carter, your crazy." And with that my Dad borrowed $100.00 and bought a 1¢ piece- a 1909-S VDB. I still remember the first time he showed it to me. I asked why it cost so much. "It's rare" he said. "The mint only made 484,000." That sounded like a lot to me. Years later he sold it, for $100.00. In his words, "I had three kids who needed groceries." At the time, that amount was equivalent to a monthly mortgage payment.

The 1909 VDB penny was revolutionary- it was the first time in US history an actual person's image (Abraham Lincoln) was placed on a coin for circulation. In February, 2001, a 1909-S VDB penny, Grade MS-66, sold at auction for $5,750.00. It is a curious thing to me, the way we humans assign value to things, from the price of a penny to a loaf of bread. My prayer list grows daily with the names of friends and family, every name representing a soul with needs. A few of the names have dire financial needs and, at the moment, their value as human beings appears depreciated- perhaps, in their minds, worth less than certain pennies. Visible reality has a way of overshadowing the Reality Christ carries. "What a fathomless wealth lies in the wisdom & knowledge of God! How inscrutable His judgements! How mysterious His methods!" Romans 11:33.

To those of you on my list, from Germantown, TN to Mobile, Alabama... to those sinking under the weight of a present reality you are unable to bear, you are much loved.

"This I know; God is on my side! I praise God for what He has promised; yes, I praise the Lord for what He has promised. I trust in God, so why should I be afraid? What can mere mortals do to me?"

Psalm 56:9-11

Armistice

“For love is exultant when it unites equals, but it is triumphant when it makes that which was unequal equal in love.” 

Sǿren Kierkegaard

“You can tie two polecats together by their tales and throw ‘em over a fence- they’re together, but they don’t have unity!” 

Julius Washington

The Lord reminded me of something that happened in Memphis, years ago. I was in Midtown pumping gas into my car when a homeless man walked up and asked, “Clean your windshield?” “I don’t have any money.” I said. “Oh, it doesn't  always have to be about that!” And, with a bottle of cleaner and crumpled newspaper, he cleaned my windshield. As he walked away, he said, “God Bless you, brother!” An unemployed, homeless man blessed me, an employed homeowner. He saw a need (my windshield was filthy) and he took care of it. As I thought about that my mind went to John 3:30, one of my life verses, and I realized- There is still a lot of Me in me! 

I hear talk of a second reformation- a time for the Church to be the Church. Perhaps the Church needs an

Armistice Day; a time for individual factions to meet on common ground at the foot of the Cross. It would, of course, have to begin with me.

Inscription dated Easter 1922

The New Testament, A New Translation by the Reverend Professor

James Moffatt, D.D., D. Litt.

Latent image \lā-t^ənt\ \ˈi-mij\ 

an invisible image, produced on a sensitized emulsion by exposure to light, that will emerge in development.

“Because God is outside the realm of time He can Kingdomize your past.”

John Cava

‘When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I argued like a child…’

I Corinthians 13:11 Moffatt

There is on my right forefinger a small scar. You would have to look closely to see it. I have other, more impressive scars.

Forehead- Montgomery Bell State Park, Church Camp

Forearm- Camp Boxwell, Boy Scouts of America

Scars happen, especially to boys. Each has a story; some are interesting, some gross, and some- just plain old dumb. The scar on my finger is the result of rebellion. Sin leaves scars. In my Junior year of High School I was handed my report card- a couple of D’s, one or two F’s. What would I say to my parents? A friend of mine had the same dilemma. One of us said, “Let’s run away!” It seemed like a good idea at the time. And that’s what we did. For me it would be the second time. He had a car and, between us, we had a few dollars. We headed south. When the car ran out of gas we left it on the side of the road. It was dark, somewhere in Mississippi, when it happened. We were walking down a two-lane road. Behind us we heard a car and stuck our thumbs out, hoping to hitch a ride. As the car passed I felt a pain across my knuckles. When I pulled my hand back I could see by the moonlight that my fingers were bleeding. The car antenna had rapped my fingers like a whip.

Now I have children. Now I understand why my parents wanted to know where I was, who I was with, what time I would be home, and why they were so upset when lied to. Now I grieve over the anxiety and pain I caused them. They were doing their utmost to be godly parents. They never did anything to deserve a prodigal son. I praise God for their patience, and their prayers. We who claim the name of Christ are, somewhat, like latent images. “At present we only see baffling reflections in a mirror, but then it will be face to face; at present I am learning bit by bit, but then I shall understand, as all along I myself have been understood. Thus, ‘faith and hope and love last on, these three,’ but the greatest of all is love.” And so, like the prodigal in Luke, chapter15, I say to my Pop, “I have sinned against heaven and against you. Forgive me.”

No Knead

id quod visum placet
'that which pleases when seen'

Thomas Aquinas' definition of beauty

Here is the easiest bread recipe I have found-

In large mixing bowl dissolve

1 pkg. dry yeast

2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 cup water

slowly add

3 cups plain flour

stir until blended, but no more

cover tightly with plastic wrap, let rise 12-14 hours

turn out onto floured countertop and using floured fingertips spread into 12" square

fold over 1/3, from left to right, repeat from right to left, forming a rectangle
cover with towel and let rest 15 minutes

Fold top 1/3 down, bottom 1/3 up, forming a square

Cover with towel, let rest 45 minutes

Place round, covered baking dish in oven, preheat to 500F

Gently place dough in baking dish, cover, reduce heat to 450F

bake 3o minutes

Remove cover, bake additional 15 minutes

Cool on rack...look for butter.

Ineluctable-
\ˌi-ni-ˈlək-tə-bəl\ impossible to avoid or evade.

“On the human imagination events produce the effects of time.”
James Fenimore Cooper, The Deerslayer, opening line

“We are so little reconciled to time that we are even astonished at it. “How he’s grown!” we exclaim, “How time flies!” as though the universal form of our experience were again and again a novelty. It is as strange as if a fish were repeatedly surprised at the wetness of water.”

C.S. Lewis, Second Meanings in the Psalms

I just received a book in the mail from someone I have not seen in years- a beautiful copy of The Deerslayer, illustrated by N.C. Wyeth. Immediately, I could see the giver’s face in my mind and hear bits of the last conversation we had. Time is strange business. I can return to a day from my childhood without leaving my chair. I can ‘foresee’ today, before it unfolds, spending time in planning and preparation. We explain time with expressions and ‘isms, like- “Time is money!” or, “I can’t afford to spend any more time on that!” (especially valid if you’ve ever ‘spent’ time in a court of law and decided to argue with the Judge). How about- “Time flies when you’re having fun!” or, the opposite, “I spent a week in that town one night!” There is time’s elusive nature- “I can never find time to do that!” And yet, for humans, time is ineluctable. Job cried, “Since his (man’s) days are determined, the number of his months is with Thee, and his limits Thou hast set so that he cannot pass.”

Being unemployed for an extended period gives a fellow opportunities to reflect; time to think about where time is being allotted. Jesus said, “for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” When I was younger I believed that time was an enemy- a deadly foe who would one day overtake me. Having passed the half-century mark, I see time as a gift- a gift I want to be a better steward of. Of course, as an artist, I continue to struggle with priority and validity- ‘Shouldn’t I be doing something worthwhile?’ (i.e., something that puts bread on the table), and the wrestling match between guilt and excuses begins another round. The making of art, in some respects, is as great a mystery to me as the making of humans by an all-sufficient, all-knowing God. Why bother? I can’t fully explain it. In fact, I remember something James Thurber said, and smile. He said, “It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers.” And so, as a struggling artist, here are a few of the questions I ponder-

“Who is my audience?”
“What are my goals?”
“How much do I charge? Should I always charge?”
“Where do I see the art landing?”

(Is the final destination the wall of a home or museum, a book or the internet, or, should I cast the art on the surface of the waters, as Solomon suggests?)

This morning I read- “Sow with a view to righteousness, reap in accordance with kindness; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord until He comes to rain righteousness on you.” Hosea 10:12

Considering Emily

Lake George, New York

as seen from Black Mountain Summit

integrity \in-ˈte-grə-tē\
from Latin integritat-, integritas, from integr-, integer entire 1 : firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values 2 : an unimpaired condition 3 : the quality or state of being complete or undivided

“There was never a good knife made of bad steel.”

Benjamin Franklin

“Many human desires are coterminous with their object. A person desires a good meal and- as though by magic- the person’s desire for a good meal seems to end at just about the time the good meal ends. But our desire for beauty is likely to outlast its object because, as Kant once observed, unlike all other pleasures, the pleasure we take in beauty is inexhaustible. No matter how long beautiful things endure, they cannot outlast our longing for them.”

Elaine Scarry, On Beauty and Being Just

Emily Dickinson was born on December 10, 1830. When she died, nearly fifty-six years later, Emily's sister discovered 40 hand bound volumes in a locked trunk. They contained almost 1800 poems in Emily's handwriting. That is 32 poems a year for 56 years. Emily's ability to articulate emotions astounds me. And then, she makes this statement- "I have found the words to every thought I ever had-but One-". And throughout her words is seen the enigmatic 'dash'. Deirdre Fagan said, "The dashes become a thread between the sayable and the unsayable, a caesura between life and death, a pause, a gasp, sometimes a chasm over which one must make a leap of understanding, all of which critics have pointed out."

Artists live in a world of dots and dashes (for, after all, a dash is just an impatient dot that kept going). I wonder- in the mind of an artist is the dash between needs and desires removed? Or, like a bridal veil, is the dash less rigid- more breathable- allowing reason and emotion to brush shoulders? Why write 1800 poems, without recognition or pay (published, of course, posthumously)? When I consider this I remember a Dutch painter who completed nearly 900 paintings in the last 10 years of his life, signed Vincent, and sold only one.

Integrity

According to Ezra Pound, the Chinese word for integrity is xin, a set of calligraphic 'dashes' that combine two thoughts- man and words- taken literally, a man standing by his words. Perhaps this issue is one of integrity- a knowing of purpose and staying the course. Perhaps the mystery of the creative nature is summed up in Emily's dash.

We never know how high we are
Till we are called to rise;
And then, if we are true to plan,
Our statures touch the skies-

The heroism we recite
Would be a daily thing,
Did not ourselves the cubits warp
For fear to be a king.

Emily Dickinson
1830-1886

From Cave Art to Moon Art

Identity \ī-den-tə-tē, ə-
probably from Latin identidem repeatedly, contraction of idem et idem, literally, same and same
1 a: sameness of essential or generic character in different instances b: sameness in all that constitutes the objective reality of a thing
Merriam-Webster

To paraphrase John and Paul, "It was 40 years ago today..." I was curled up on the floor of my cousin's house in Illinois (from his front yard you could see the Gateway Arch, St. Louis), watching history in the making- a man walking on the moon. Every sci-fi book I had ever read was reality before my very eyes. Years later, my great-uncle A.W. (Ambrose Wood) met Neil Armstrong and asked for his autograph (for me). To Michael, he signed.

If you haven't read David Taylor's recent post, 3 Reasons Human (should) Make Art (click here), stop reading this and do so now.

Humans, throughout time, leave evidence behind. We are the creatures who (seemingly) find joy in the expression, "I was here." From the hand print on a cave wall to the footprint on the moon's surface, the conversation of the ages continues.

1God's glory is on tour in the skies, God--craft on exhibit across the horizon.
2Madame Day holds classes every morning,Professor Night lectures each evening.
3Their words aren't heard,their voices aren't recorded,
4But their silence fills the earth:unspoken truth is spoken everywhere.

Psalm 19:1-4 The Message