In reference to this matter I would like to tell of a story I read regarding Mother Theresa. While attending a conference on World Peace, a petition against the nuclear arms race was being circulated. When asked to sign it, Mother Theresa prayed, then said she was sorry she would not be able to sign it. "If I signed it I would be taking sides in a contraversy. I would be loving some and not loving others."
Another description fits my soul relating to similar matters. In regards to World War II, the Danish poet, Jens Peter Jacobson is said to have "Stood aside from the conflict, choosing to be merely artist, creator of beauty and a seeker of truth."
3 comments:
Jen Peter Jacobsen was a Naturalist -he translated The Descent of Man - Darwin- into Danish. Naturalist's belief was that the underlying forces of heredity and environment subject all persons to act in the way they do.
The ethos of Jacobsen's work, at least his novels, embody the struggle of one or more characters ( persons) against all those things which keep one from existing in one's own way. This (value) ethos runs through all of his work.
Anyway, I think your quote comes from Arabesque to a Hand-drawing by Michel Angelo, in which Jacobsen is saying that art is going to replace immortality - it is the meaning of life.
Thanks for the astute and informative comments. Is this right out of memory? You are a vast source of knowledge. But I should not be surprised at what you have up your little sleevies.
No, this isn't right out of memory, I borrowed the words "existing in one's own way" because I couldn't, for the life of me, put something that is more than adaptation into my own words.
Strangely or not I was looking up argument -- as in dialects - and the words thesis, antithesis, synthesis kept appearing from Plato and Socrates; then ethos and logos.
I read your blog and remembering past experences, having Jacobsen read to me from the original Danish, i started thinking about his ethos. Niels read Fra Fonss to me because her struggles applied to my situation,even though my now ex-husband, was his best friend. K and my children's expectations and my need to try to meet their expectations was keeping me from"existing in my own way." I am not blaming them, I am saying that I needed to have the courage to be myself, because I was miserable trying to be someone else.
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