"Look here; isn't one going to be allowed to go on painting?"
"Looking comes first."
"But I've had my look! I've seen just what I want to do. God---I wish I'd thought of bringing my things with me.
The Spirit shook his head, scattering light from his hair as he did so. 'That sort of thing's no good here.' he said.
"What do you mean?" said the Ghost.
"When you painted on earth----at least in your earlier days----it was because you caught glimpses of Heaven in the earthly landscape. The success of your painting was that it enabled others to see the glimpses too. But here you are having the thing itself.....There is no good telling us about this country, for we see it already. In fact we see it better than you do."
"Then there's never going to be any point to painting here?"
"Why, if you're interested in the country only for the sake of painting it, you'll never learn to see, to experience the country....and it's not how you began. Light itself was your first love: you loved paint only as a means of telling about light."
"Oh that was ages ago," said the Ghost. "One grows out of that. Of course, you haven't seen my later works. One becomes more and more interested in paint for its own sake."
"One does indeed. I also had to recover from that. It was all a snare. Ink and catgut and paint were necessary down there, but they are also dangerous stimulants. Every poet and musician and artist, but for Grace, is drawn away from love of the thing he tells, to love of the telling till, down in Deep Hell, they cannot be interested in God at all but only in what they say about Him.....They sink lower---become interested in their own personalities and then in nothing but their own reputations."
"I don't think I'm much troubled in that way," said the Ghost stiffly.
"That's excellent," said the Spirit. "Not many of us had quite got over it when we first arrived. But if there is any of that inflammation left it will be cured when you come to the fountain."
"What fountain's that?"
"It's up there in the mountains," said the Spirit. "Very cold and clear, between two green hills. A little like Lethe. When you have drunk of it you forget forever all proprietorship in your own works. You enjoy them just as if they were someone else's: without pride and without modesty."
"That'll be grand," said the Ghost without enthusiasm.
"Well come," said the Spirit, "let us go to the fountain in the mountains, let us go........."
"Looking comes first."
"But I've had my look! I've seen just what I want to do. God---I wish I'd thought of bringing my things with me.
The Spirit shook his head, scattering light from his hair as he did so. 'That sort of thing's no good here.' he said.
"What do you mean?" said the Ghost.
"When you painted on earth----at least in your earlier days----it was because you caught glimpses of Heaven in the earthly landscape. The success of your painting was that it enabled others to see the glimpses too. But here you are having the thing itself.....There is no good telling us about this country, for we see it already. In fact we see it better than you do."
"Then there's never going to be any point to painting here?"
"Why, if you're interested in the country only for the sake of painting it, you'll never learn to see, to experience the country....and it's not how you began. Light itself was your first love: you loved paint only as a means of telling about light."
"Oh that was ages ago," said the Ghost. "One grows out of that. Of course, you haven't seen my later works. One becomes more and more interested in paint for its own sake."
"One does indeed. I also had to recover from that. It was all a snare. Ink and catgut and paint were necessary down there, but they are also dangerous stimulants. Every poet and musician and artist, but for Grace, is drawn away from love of the thing he tells, to love of the telling till, down in Deep Hell, they cannot be interested in God at all but only in what they say about Him.....They sink lower---become interested in their own personalities and then in nothing but their own reputations."
"I don't think I'm much troubled in that way," said the Ghost stiffly.
"That's excellent," said the Spirit. "Not many of us had quite got over it when we first arrived. But if there is any of that inflammation left it will be cured when you come to the fountain."
"What fountain's that?"
"It's up there in the mountains," said the Spirit. "Very cold and clear, between two green hills. A little like Lethe. When you have drunk of it you forget forever all proprietorship in your own works. You enjoy them just as if they were someone else's: without pride and without modesty."
"That'll be grand," said the Ghost without enthusiasm.
"Well come," said the Spirit, "let us go to the fountain in the mountains, let us go........."
"But one must be content with one's reputation on earth among posterity.....," said the Ghost.
"My friend, don't you know?" said the Spirit.
"Know what?"
"That you and I are already completely forgotten on the Earth......"
"I must be off at once," said the Ghost. "Let me go, damn it all, one has one's duty to the future of Art. I must go back to my friends. I must write an article....We must start a periodical....have publicity......Let me go!"
And without listening to the Spirit's reply, the spectre vanished.
----C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce
8 comments:
WOW WEBT
- human words cannot describe....
vu vu
No one Like C.S.Lewis.
Long time no see! Had to stop by while I have access to the net.
Glad you liked it vu vu....
And so good to "see" you Rita. Know you're on the run, and miss you!
Web, what happened to that post you had up about not knowing Jewish Republicans actually exist? I haven't read anything that funny in weeks! (Ever heard of Paul Wolfowitz? Doug Feith? Richard Perle? Elliot Abrams? Irving and Bill Kristol? Charles Krauthamer? Midge Decter? John Podhoretz? Fred Kagan? Larry Franklin and/or AIPAC? Commentary Magazine? They all have something in common. No, besides being strong supporters of the Iraq war and the upcoming Iran war. Yes, they're all Jewish Republicans!)
No doubt you discussed this http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/10/28/laura-bush-blows-off-cons_n_70141.html
at your get together.
Would be curious to know if these comments still apply: "Make no mistake, the Muslims are not looking for respect here, but total conversion and submission to Allah., both personally, culturally and most frighteningly---politically. Making nice with them is only seen as a sign of weakness to those who would subdue and bring us all under Sharia law. It's shameful."
I had the opportunity to meet the First Lady in Cairo. She could not have been more pleasant or gracious, taking pictures with Embassy families, and chatting with our children. I'm glad to see that she laughed off the suggestion that she's supporting the subjugation of Saudi women - and saw wearing the veil as a sign of respect to their culture. Shameful, indeed.
Well, Vienna, yes, as a matter of fact I do.
But the kind of Jewish Republican is the business man and community leaders in cities from New York to Nashville.
The fold, so to speak, at least where I come from are just beginning to come out of the closet from the Democratic party to the Republicans. And they're making quite an issue out of their change, as you see:
...."during their gathering last week with former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer.
“The RJC is a wonderful place,” said Willy Stern, the ex-investigative reporter who helped organize the evening. “It is a place where Republicans who are Jewish can feel safe. It is a safehaven.
“I can’t tell you how many people have called me in the last month, all of whom said the same thing, which is, ‘Willy, I thought I was the only one,’” Stern said to the laughing audience of about 100."
This was written by another writer who covered the same event. But the point is, this is a sea change---except perhaps in the bellwether mega-metropolitan areas---in most of the rest of the USA.
Laura Bush is another post, but I'm happy to know you met Laura in Egypt recently. I personally like her, but think she was dooped on this gift thing and it was a disgraceful mistake, no matter what she says to excuse it.
Ari Fleischer's parents are Democrats. Some one warn him of "the danger" they face!!!
Of course, there's no danger from the likes of "Christians" like Republican Ann Coulter, who want nothing more than to "perfect" the Jews by leading them to Christ.
Yeah. It's definitely more dangerous to be "in the closet" with the Democrats.
As for Laura Bush, she wasn't duped into anything. She was given a gift and accepted it, as she herself said. She's no more in favor of Sharia law than you are.
Yes, but she was being far too politically polite. More on that some other time.
The piece I was writing on Ari was for Pajamas Media and it's now their property.
I didn't see Mrs. Bush in Egypt recently. She was there in May, 2005. Liz Cheney was with her, and from what little I could tell about her, she's very much her father's daughter. I have about a half dozen pictures of her standing on stage scowling with her arms crossed. I don't think she smiled once. She looked like spending time with Embassy families was the very last thing she wanted to do.
The First Lady was exactly the opposite. She was gracious, kind, positive, and looked like having her picture taken with our children was the highlight of her trip. I'm no fan of her husband, but I make a point to say kind things about the First Lady because she was a class act all the way around.
Hearing the comments she's made about wearing a head scarf only increases my respect for her.
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