First of all, I wanted to include an update on my current piece, now entitled "Dave's Pain". My time to spend on my art has been squeezed down to a couple of hours/wk. So, production is minimal.
I still need to expand some of the dark line-work into more of the face and hair. Not sure if I can get that done by this Friday. What's the rush? Well, I entered the piece into a local invitational. Even without the touch-ups, the portrait can hold its own.
The delineation, while continuing to support the concept of a "maze", has taken on a secondary message relating to broken pathways. Our perspective is limited. We can't see the end; just bits and pieces of what appears to be a pattern. I'm reminded of the metaphor of the tapestry or weaving as viewed from the backside. In the following quote, Jean-Pierre de Caussade explains it in a powerful way:
"When the
soul is well, all is well, because what is from God, that is to say, His part
and His action are, as it were, the counterpoise of the fidelity of the soul.
It is the best part of the work, which is done something like
beautiful tapestry, stitch by stitch from the wrong side. The worker employed
on it sees only the stitch he is making, and the needle with which he makes it,
while all the stitches combined form magnificent figures which do not show
until, every part being complete, the right
side is turned outwards. All the beauty and perfection of the work remain in obscurity during its progress. It is the same
with the soul that has abandoned itself to God;
it has eyes only for Him and for its duty. The performance of this duty is, at
each moment, but an imperceptible stitch added
to the work, and yet with these stitches God performs
wonders of which He sometimes allows a glimpse to be seen, but which
will not be visible in their entirety till
revealed on the great day of eternity. How full of goodness and wisdom is the guidance of God!" (p.97)
Abandonment to Divine Providence, Jean-Pierre de
Caussade
Here are some more quotes from the same book, just for your contemplation:
When one is thirsty one
quenches one’s thirst by drinking, not by reading books which treat of this
condition. The desire to know does but increase this thirst. Therefore when one
thirsts after sanctity, the desire to know about it only drives it further
away. Speculation must be laid aside, and everything arranged by God as regards
actions and sufferings must be accepted with simplicity, for those things that
happen at each moment by the divine command or permission are always the most
holy, the best and the most divine for us. (p.16)
The will of God has nothing but
sweetness, favours and treasures for submissive souls; it is impossible to
repose too much confidence in it, nor to abandon oneself to it too utterly. It
always acts for, and desires that which is most conducive to our perfection,
provided we allow it to act. Faith does not doubt. The more unfaithful,
uncertain, and rebellious are the senses, the louder faith cries: “all is well,
it is the will of God.” There is nothing that the eye of faith does not
penetrate, nothing that the power of faith does not overcome. It passes through
the thick darkness, and, no matter what clouds may gather, it goes straight to
the truth, and holding to it firmly will never let it go. (p.29)
There is a kind
of sanctity in which all the communications of God are luminous and distinct;
but in the passive state of pure faith all that God communicates partakes of
the nature of that inaccessible darkness that surrounds His throne, and all
ideas are confused and indistinct. The soul, in this state of obscurity is
often afraid, like the Prophet, of running headlong against a rock. “Fear not,
faithful soul, for this is your right path, and the way by which God conducts
you. There is no way more safe and sure than this dark way of faith.” “But it
is so dark that I cannot tell which way to go.” “Go wherever you please; you
cannot lose the way where there is no path; every way looks the same in the
dark, you cannot see the end because nothing is visible.” “But I am afraid of
everything. I feel as if, at any moment, I might fall over a precipice.
Everything is an affliction to me; I well know that I am acting according to
abandonment, but it seems to me that there are things I cannot do without
acting contrary to virtue. I seem to be so far from all the virtues. The more I
wish to practice them the more remote they seem. I love virtue, but the obscure
impressions by which I am attracted seem to keep virtue far from me. I always
give in to this attraction, and although I cannot perceive that it guides me
well, I cannot help following it. The spirit seeks light; but the heart is in
darkness. Enlightened persons, and those with lucid minds are congenial to my
spirit, but when I hear conversations and listen to discourses, my heart
understands nothing; its whole state and way is simply an impression of the
gift of faith, which makes it love and appreciate those principles, truths, and
paths wherein the spirit has neither object nor idea, and in which it trembles,
shudders, and falters. I have an assurance, I do not know how, in the depths of
my heart, that this way is right; not by the evidence of my senses, but by a
feeling inspired by faith.“ (p.75)
This is
because it is impossible for God to lead a soul without persuading it that the
path is a right one, and this with a certainty all the greater the less it is
perceived. And this certainty is victorious over all censures, fears, efforts,
and all imaginations. The mind vainly cries out and seeks some better way. God
and the soul work in common, and the success of the work depends entirely on
the divine Workman, and can only be spoilt if the soul prove unfaithful. (p.79)
