The pluck of the Irish
Some of you may have celebrated St. Patrick’s Day yesterday. Often, the holiday is marked by dyeing everything green and pinching anyone not wearing it, looking for four leaf clovers, and stories of leprechauns, rainbows and pots of gold. There is much talk of the luck of the Irish. But in truth, St. Patrick was […]
Time enough for “little toils of love”
J.R.R. Tolkien said: “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” Emily Dickinson gives an answer: I had no time to hate, becauseThe grave would hinder me,And life was not so ample ICould finish enmity. Nor had I time to love; but sinceSome industry must be,The little […]
When eternity begins
Sojourner Truth, the former slave, who with her freedom became a great, abolitionist crusader, once said: “God will take care of the poor trampled slave, but where will the slaveholder be when eternity begins?” We’ve been talking about time this week—its relation to the night and day, how it interacts with space, and what it […]
On wasted time
Benjamin Franklin said that “If time be of all things the most precious, wasting time must be the greatest prodigality.” Michelangelo agreed: “There is no greater harm than that of time wasted.” The difficulty is, how do we know if we’re wasting time? The world will tell you to always do something “productive” with your […]
Time…to stop and wonder
Our consideration of daylight savings yesterday got me thinking about time in general. Now, you may be thinking to yourself, “how much more time do we have to listen this?”—but thinking about time can be a very valuable thing. It certainly was for Albert Einstein. Working in a patent office in Berne, Switzerland, because he couldn’t get […]
How long is an hour?
How long is an hour? I can see on most of your faces that you don’t particularly care about the answer to that question. “However long it is,” you’re thinking, “I just want that hour of sleep back.” Fair enough. Daylight savings may or may not be a great idea…but the issue is not new. […]
The greatest work of art
Yesterday, we observed that, despite what the world may say, not everything is truly art. But I wonder, what do you think is the greatest artwork of all time? Michelangelo makes a pretty good case—the Pieta, the Sistine Chapel, the statue of David are all candidates; Da Vinci has the Mona Lisa; Raphael, the School […]
Drawing—and holding—the line
We’ve been discussing art this week, but have not yet considered what, exactly, art is in the first place. In many ways, art defies definition. Philosophers, men of letters, academics, artists themselves, have attempted to clarify what makes something art. But even if some answers are better than others, there is certainly no consensus. It is a […]
Art and time
Have you ever watched a great artist work? It is often slow, deliberate, even painstaking. There is great care taken at every stage in the creation of a piece, with the littlest detail tended to until it is gotten right. Great art takes care, and great care takes time. Jan van Eyck worked with his […]
The art of being original
One of the great errors of modern thinking is the notion of complete originality—the idea that we can be or do something that is entirely of ourselves, not borrowed or imitated or conformed in any way. This is especially true in the world of art, where places of honor are now most reserved for those […]
