Monthly Archives: March 2021

Why hast Thou forsaken me?

30 Tuesday Mar 2021

Posted by in Abrahamic Religions, Human Condition, Spirituality, the Bible, The Eucharist

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Jesus Christ Pantokrator
Agony in the Garden by El Greco

The seven sayings of Jesus on the cross

Ten years ago, I published a post on the Canonical hours and noted that literary critic Northrop Frye suggested that these words: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” expressed the very essence of the tragic mode. They expressed:

a sense of his exclusion, as a divine being from the society of the Trinity.

Northrop Frye [1]

Jesus was no longer God.

The seven sayings are:

The seven sayings, being “last words”, may provide a way to understand what was ultimately important to this man who was dying on the cross.

(See Sayings of Jesus on the cross, Wikipedia.)

They do. The sayings of Jesus on the cross epitomize the burden of incarnation. Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit and had to leave the Garden of Eden, but they would be redeemed. Not only was Jesus made flesh, but he died a cruel death: crucifixion.

The Eucharist, or Holy Communion, commemorates the Last Supper. It invites an anamnesis. The host, l’hostie, represents the body of Christ. « Le Christianisme (…) utilise le pain pour représenter le corps de Jésus-Christ ».

“[D]o this in remembrance of me.”
« Ensuite il prit du pain; et, après avoir rendu grâces, il le rompit, et le leur donna, en disant: Ceci est mon corps, qui est donné pour vous; faites ceci en mémoire de moi.» (Luc 22 : 19).

During the Last Supper, Jesus of Nazareth knew that he had been betrayed and that he would be arrested. He was alone when his agony began.

The Canonical Hours

As for the nine (originally seven) Canonical Hours, they constitute vigilance. At the Garden of Gethsemane, during his agony, Jesus’ disciples would not keep watch with Him. Jesus was abandoned (See Matthew 26: 36 – 46).

Now Cenobite Monks, Monks who live under an abbey, observe nine Hours. Vigil was added, which precedes Matins. Monks keep watch night and day. Jesus, the Redeemer was a man and vulnerable. Vigils are kept the day or evening before Feasts. They may include or be replaced by fasting.

The Canonical hours are:

It is my understanding that the evening song or, evensong, comprises the Nunc Dimittis, Simeon’s song of praise. It is a canticle. The Hours are mostly Psalms, but include Antiphons, Responsories and Canticles.

“Why hast Thou forsaken me?”

This saying is Matthew 27: 46 & Psalm 22:1, but in my French psautier, the relevant Psaume is numbered 21. In my Bible, however, the same Psalm is numbered 22 (21):

« Mon Dieu, mon Dieu, pourquoi m’abandonner ? »
“Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?”
[Why hast Thou forsaken me?]

Jesus was a Jew and he spoke Aramaic. Eli would be Elijah. These words were uttered when Jesus was dying on the cross. In the ninth hour he said: My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? They are the fourth of seven sayings of Christ on the Cross (Les Sept Paroles du Christ).

Conclusion

On the cross, Jesus, God the Son, fully assumed his humanity, the incarnation. His disciples would not keep watch with him during his agony (Matthew 26: 36 – 46), and he was crucified (Psalm 22: [21]). All His sayings on the cross express the human condition, but none so powerfully as: “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” In « L’Isolement », Alphonse de Lamartine wrote: « Un seul être vous manque, et tout est dépeuplé » (Only one being is missing, and all is a wasteland). Lamartine borrowed this line from Nicolas-Germain Léonard (1844 – 1893). On the death of his daughter, Lamartine also wrote Gethsémani ou La Mort de Julia: « C’était le seul anneau de ma chaîne brisée » (She was the only link in my broken chain). Why hast Thou… Père, père…

I learned liturgy and liturgical music as a student of musicology and the theory of music. Jesus’ sayings on the cross have been set to music by several composers (see Sayings of Jesus on the cross, Wikipedia). To this body of music, Théodore Dubois (1837 – 1924) contributed: Les Sept Paroles du Christ, an Oratorio.

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[1] Northrop Frye, Anatomy of Criticism, (Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 1973 [1957]), p. 36.

—ooo—

Love to everyone 💕

Les Sept Paroles du Christ de Théodore Dubois interprété par l’Ensemble vocal Abbaye de la Cambre
Bronzino‘s depiction of the crucifixion with three nails, no ropes, and an hypopodium standing support, c. 1545. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

© Micheline Walker
30 March 2021
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La Chanson du camionneur, Fred Pellerin

27 Saturday Mar 2021

Posted by in Pandemic, Québec, Traditional Music

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Fred Pellerin interprète « La Chanson du camionneur »

Fred Pellerin is Nicolas Pellerin‘s brother (see below). Fred is a conteur, but he is also a singer and a musician.

In this song, Fred Pellerin is a truck driver, un camionneur, who talks to his wife who wants to remodel the kitchen of their home. She doesn’t like her kitchen’s melamine counter. I suppose she wants something real, which could be wood. Beautiful wood counters are available in Quebec.

We suspect that our camionneur, truck driver, does not have the means to refurbish his house. He sleeps in his truck. This could be an older Quebec, but truck drivers are everywhere.

Before la Révolution tranquille, the citizens of Quebec were poorer. However, Quebec has powerful syndicates. They rule. Under premier Maurice Le Noblet Duplessis, the days of la grande noirceur, (the Great Darkness), workers were not allowed to strike. I believe I have already discussed the asbestos strike of 1949. It was a violent prelude to the Révolution Tranquille (The Quiet Revolution).

Everything changed after 1960. Maurice Duplessis died and Jean Lesage, a Liberal, became premier of Quebec. When I returned to Quebec in 2002, the province was no longer the same. Most changes reflected a wish to be maîtres chez soi (masters in our own house). Quebec did not sign the Constitution of 1982.

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More and more Canadians are being vaccinated, but those who would not wear a mask do not want to be vaccinated. Some have been infected and variants have appeared. The police is protecting locations where the government is vaccinating people. The police is well trained. Persons living in my building wear a mask. Several are medical doctors.

I am still alone and I feel somewhat fragile. For instance, I cannot handle discussing the Royals. I have therefore edited my comments. One cannot tell what is going on. It’s too complicated. All I can say is that Prince Harry loved the military. He has suffered a loss.

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—ooo—

Love to everyone 💕

Nicolas Pellerin et les Grands Hurleurs interprètent « La Lurette en Colère »
André Derain, 1880 – 1954 (spaightwoodgallery.com)

© Micheline Walker
27 March 2021
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Didier Barbelivien chante “Jean de France”

25 Thursday Mar 2021

Posted by in French songs, la Chanson française

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Didier Barbevilien chante « Jean de France »

This song, « Jean de France », is very touching. For several hundred years, France was a monarchy. Didier Barbevilien sings that we do not recover from our childhood. No one does. « Nul ne guérit de son enfance. »

Le Salon du duc d’Orléans par Louis Carrogis dit Carmontelle (commons.wikimedia.org)

© Micheline Walker
25 March 2021
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Les Frères ennemis, again and again

25 Thursday Mar 2021

Posted by in France, French Literature, Royal Houses, The Royals

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Louis-Alphonse de Bourbon, Duc d’Anjou

I doubt very much that France would ever revert to a Monarchy. But if it did, Louis-Alphonse de Bourbon would be a pretender to the throne. He belongs to the House of Bourbon.

Louis XIV, a Bourbon king, had a brother, Philippe. Philippe or Monsieur frère unique du Roi, was Duke of Anjou from birth. In 1660, when his uncle Gaston d’Orléans died without issue, Philippe became Duke of Orleans. The House of Orléans is a cadet branch to the House of Bourbon.

Philippe I, Duke of Orleans, Louis XIV’s brother, was a fils de France (son of France) and, from birth, he was second in the line of succession. He was his Royal Highness, son altesse sérénissine. Jean de France, Comte de Paris is not a brother to Louis-Alphonse de Bourbon, but he is a rightful pretender to the throne of France. The last king of the French was Louis-Philippe 1er, 1830-1848 (House of Orléans).

Jean de France, Comte de Paris (Photo Credit: Wikipedia)

Prince Harry

Prince Harry is Prince Charles’ son and Prince William’s brother. He is sixth in the line of succession to the throne of England, which is an accident of birth and privilege. Prince William was the firstborn, primogeniture. Prince Harry served in the British Military and founded the Invictus Games. He was ‘spotted’ by terrorists and he is a target.

The crisis in Britain’s royal family saddens me, so I hope it will soon end. Princess Diana loved both her sons, but inequality can lead to enmity.

In literature, frères ennemis is a topic. One is reminded me of Jean Racine‘s La Thébaïde ou Les Frères ennemis (1664), not to mention Cain and Abel.

They are not brothers, but both Alphonse de Bourbon and Jean de France claim they are heirs to the throne of France. Rivalry… However, Jean de France is a descendant of the last roi des Francais, the above-mentioned Louis-Philippe Ier, of the Maison d’Orléans.

I am pleased that my excellent mother could and did treat her children as equals. I then became a loving husband’s “princesse.”

Sir Elton John sings “Candle in the Wind”
Prince Harry of the House of Windsor

© Micheline Walker
24 March 2021
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The Human Condition in the Days of Covid-19

22 Monday Mar 2021

Posted by in Covid-19, Epidemic, Fables

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Illustration de J.-J. Grandville (1803-1847)
fable Jean de La Fontaine : Les deux rats, le renard et l’oeuf (la-fontaine-ch-thierry.net)
End Book IX : Address to Madame de La Sablière ; The two rats, fox and egg (la-fontaine-ch-thierry.net)

Once again, I am writing mostly unprepared, but happy to have been vaccinated the day after I dialled the correct telephone number. The better approach is to make an appointment online. Telephone lines are busy. In other words, I was lucky.

I have not fully recovered. On Saturday, I ran a low grade fever, and I felt a little dizzy and exhausted. On Sunday, I was tired. I remain tired and my lungs hurt. However, being infected with Covid-19 is a greater evil than the side effects of the vaccine.

AstraZeneca was used. I was told that the source was safe. A poor source may have slowed down the Vaccination Campaign in some European countries, but it is not too late.

If one reads The Hare and Tortoise, Le Lièvre et la Tortue (VI, 10), one may think that the “cautious” countries wasted precious time. But there is a little godliness in human beings. La Fontaine wanted to illustrate that animals had a soul, not a human soul, but a soul. His two rats find a way of carrying their egg to safety. Animals have all the wit they need to stay alive. And, by and large, so do human beings.

The human condition is at times merciless. So, it could be that in the humbling days of Covid-19, one chooses the appropriate, i. e. reassuring, fable. Ingenuity could correct a delayed start.

Sources and Resources

Pierre Jules Stahl (éditeur) et Jean-Jacques Grandville, Vie privée et publique des animaux is [EBook #57075]
J.-J. Grandville, Les Métamorphoses du jour is an Internet Archive publication

***

Love to everyone 💕

Image publicitaire, Ets Bourcheix & fils, nouveautés, draperie, à Clermont-Ferrand

© Micheline Walker
21 Mars 2021
revised 22 March 2021
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Covid-19: Vaccination in Quebec

19 Friday Mar 2021

Posted by in Covid-19, Epidemic, Quebec

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L’Hiver, illustration (George Barbier (illustrator) – Wikipedia)

I apologize for the delay.

An Incident

It all started when my telephone rang in the middle of the night. Someone was at the main door to the building asking me to unlock the door. He said he was delivering groceries. I let him in. It then occurred to me that he could be an intruder and that he could harm one of my neighbours. If so, it would be my fault. I dialed 9-1-1. Two police officers, a man, and a woman came to my door. I told them that I had foolishly let someone into the building and asked them to check the corridors. They didn’t check the corridors. I also told them that persons did ring the door to my apartment occasionally and then disappeared. But matters were different. This time, I had let a person enter the building.

They asked several questions, reassured me, and left. The building was quiet. The next morning, I realized that one of my neighbours had played a joke on me. Who else would know that my groceries are delivered and by whom? Later in the day, I phoned the police and spoke with a person who knew about this incident. I said that, in my opinion, a neighbour had played a joke on me. The gentleman wanted to know how I felt. I was fine. My neighbours were not the target, I was the target.

I have since wondered whether this incident is related to Covid-19. I have been inside my apartment, alone, for a year. However, someone delivers groceries once a week.

The Covid-19 Vaccine

I did leave the apartment two days ago. On Tuesday I received a letter from the government informing me personally that the vaccination programme had begun and that all I had to do was telephone the number I was given or go online to make an appointment. I dialed the telephone number and was vaccinated the following day. Covid-19 is so aggressive that all Canadians will be vaccinated before June 24, the first injection, if AstraZeneca is used. That goal is realistic for Quebec. The team is working so efficiently that several hundred persons are vaccinated in a matter of hours. The government hired a small army.

After the injection, one sits for 15 minutes and, if all goes well, one disinfects one’s hands and goes home. A gentleman called a cab for me. He made me sit comfortably while I waited and he helped me get into the cab safely.

The AstraZeneca vaccine was used. My mouth was very dry after the injection, but there were bottles of water. I was given water. I was not otherwise affected.

Long Covid

The Washington Post reports that many victims of Covid-19 who have been cured are not able to return to a normal life. I suspected this would happen. I caught the H1N1 virus in early February 1976. It triggered Myalgic Encephalomyelitis which did not relent, except for very brief periods, for forty-four years. ME ended when Covid-19 began. Long-Covid patients are vaccinated and it is reported that many patients start feeling better. Do not look upon them as malingerers.

Some long-haul covid-19 patients say their symptoms are subsiding after getting vaccines – The Washington Post

Would that awareness of complications had been present in 1976! I could handle a normal workload by going to bed early and living cautiously. But my workload grew to include too many areas of literature, and the creation of language lab components. I fell to exhaustion and was not replaced, which shouldn’t have happened. I was then maneuvered into selling my house and leaving Nova Scotia. Two years later, I was fooled into accepting an arrangement that ended my tenure without my realizing it. I still ache.

Conclusion

Let’s just say that Covid-19 has been a curse, but that the government vaccination programme is very rapid. I have not experienced adverse effects. As for my neighbours, I sent management a letter they will never forget.

Love to everyone 💕

Leonard Bernstein plays George Gershwin
La Belle aux moineaux, illustration (George Barbier (illustrator) – Wikipedia)

© Micheline Walker
19 March 2021
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Le Vent du Nord: Lettre à Durham

11 Thursday Mar 2021

Posted by in Foklore, French songs, Music in Canada

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Le Vent du Nord‘s Lettre à Durham with Julie Fowlis, in Glasgow

Le Vent du Nord‘s Lettre à Durham

Le Grand Dérangement: the Expulsion of Acadians

A discussion of the concept of anamnesis could take us to Plato but it also leads to Canada and, more precisely, to both provinces of New France: Acadie and the current Quebec.

In an earlier article, October 1837, I wrote that the deportation (1755) was cruel. It deprived 11,500 Acadians of their home, and exiles were put pêle-mêle aboard ships that sailed in different directions, including England and France. Families were divided. “Approximately one-third perished from disease and drowning.″ (See Acadians, Wikipedia.) Some sailed down Britain’s Thirteen Colonies and walked from Georgia to Louisiana. They are the Cajuns of Louisiana. Some exiles returned to Acadie, but not to their farms.

Antonine Maillet’s Pélagie-la-Charrette

Errance et Résistance, an article, is my reading of Antonine Maillet‘s Pélagie-la-Charrette (1979). The novel is an anamnèse. Pélagie is a deported Acadian walking back to Acadie with other deportees using a charrette, a cart. When the group reaches Acadie, they exclaim: la terre rouge, a reference to the biblical mer Rouge, the Red Sea. The soil is rouge, which may result from the huge tides of the Bay of Fundy (from fendu, split). Pélagie-la-Charrette earned Antonine Maillet the Prix Goncourt 1979 (France).

The Bay of Fundy (fendu)
The Bay of Fundy (fendu) between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and inside Nova Scotia (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Lord Durham’s Report

In 1838, George Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham was sent to the two Canadas to investigate the Rebellions of 1837-1838. In his report, he depicted French Canadians as culturally inferior to English Canadians. Although it was not the grand dérangement, Lord Durham’s Report was humiliating. French-speaking Canadians did not have a history and lacked a literature. French Canadians quickly built a literary homeland: la Patrie littéraire, which was an anamnesis.

Comme bien des Britanniques de l’époque, Lord Durham est convaincu que les valeurs et les politiques anglaises sont supérieures à celles des autres nations et qu’en les appliquant, une société est vouée à la prospérité. À l’opposé, il considère les Canadiens francophones comme étant un peuple sans histoire et sans littérature. [As did many Britons in his time, Lord Durham believed English values and policies were superior to those of other nations and that a society putting these into practice was bound to prosper. Contrarily, he looked upon francophone Canadians as a people without a history and without a literature.]   

Le Rapport Durham | Alloprof

These were inebriating days for Britain’s Empire. What does the Sun Never Sets On The British Empire Mean? – WorldAtlas. In his Report, Lord Durham recommended that the two Canadas be united, which led to the Act of Union of 1841. Lord Durham’s Report was humiliating. It was hoped that the Act of Union would lead to an assimilation of French-speaking Canadians. You will hear the words: à genoux, on their knees and cicatrices (scars). However, after the two Canadas were united, Robert Baldwin (1804-1858) and Sir Louis-Hyppolite LaFontaine (1807-1864) built a government for a bilingual Canada with a responsible government. Then came Confederation (1867). Its precedent was Durham’s Report, not the Canada envisaged by Baldwin and LaFontaine.

Matters have changed. The Patrie littéraire, an anamnesis, was successful. However, during the 1960s, terrorists, the Front de libération du Québec (the FLQ) killed and maimed, but they ceased to be active after the October Crisis of 1970. Pierre Vallières (1938-1998) published Les Nègres blancs d’Amérique (The White Niggers of America) in 1968, but he had killed as a member of the FLQ. During the 1960s the Felquistes (FLQ) put bombs in mailboxes and other locations. Vallières converted. It was a troubled decade.

There are ups and downs, les hauts et les bas, but we live peacefully.

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Sources and Resources
Le Vent du Nord – Home

Love to everyone 💕
I had to modify this article. I have been suffering from mental fatigue and my memory fails me.

© Micheline Walker
11 March 2021
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Remembrance: Anamnèse

05 Friday Mar 2021

Posted by in Creation

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William Blake’s Newton (1795), depicting him as a divine geometer. Image Credit: William Blake Archive/Wikipedia (universetoday.com)

No, you have not been forgotten. You are precious to me. I have been occupied and preoccupied. So, I do not have an article ready, but I would like to mention the concept of anamnesis, anamnèse, in connection with the Bibles moralisées. I will, however, exclude the word moralisées. I do not have a facsimile of one of these Bibles, which means I have not read them.

Anamnèse is a term used in medicine primarily. A doctor researches a patient’s history to make a correct diagnosis and choose the appropriate treatment.

However, an anamnèse may occur elsewhere. In Catholic liturgy, it refers to a prayer which, in the Mass, follows the Consecration and evokes the Redemption (une “[p]rière qui, dans la messe, suit la consécration et rappelle le souvenir de la Rédemption). This prayer is relatively recent. I could not find it in my ageing missal (See Anamnèse, CNRTL.fr. and Parts of the Mass.)

In the New Testament, we read that Jesus was incarnated: « le Verbe s’est fait chair » (John 1:14). God the Son, of the Holy Trinity, a mystery, was made flesh. He is the Word, la parole, or logos, but He is God the Son and incarnated. Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit from the forbidden tree and were driven out of Paradise. They were redeemed. That is the Biblical account and it is also John Milton’s Paradise Lost. Catholics added an anamnèse to the Mass, referring to the Redemption.

Jesus was born to Mary in a humble crêche where He was visited, first, by the shepherds and, later, by the Kings of Orient. He was crucified and died, but he was resurrected and remains the Redeemer. For many Christians, although Jesus is invisible, He is still among us. Christians pray to him and they pray to his mother, Mary. The Virgin Mary is viewed as a kind woman who may speak to her son Jesus and ask Him to help us in times of grief, such as pandemics, wars, or social upheavals.

I asked theologians if Jesus had left a message. Jesus Himself did not. He did not write a text. Jesus’s disciples told his parables and that He taught unconditional love. The Sermon on the Mount, however, was told by his disciples, Matthew to be precise. Moreover, Jesus did not found a Church. Christianity was founded by Roman Emperor Constantine the Great (CE 306–337).

Icon depicting the Emperor Constantine (centre), accompanied by the bishops of the First Council of Nicaea (325), holding the Niceno–Constantinopolitan Creed of 381 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As for our thirteenth-century Gods, they may have satisfied the medieval mind and my rather childlike mind, but they border on Paradox literature. Not only does God use the compass, which has yet to be invented, but he also looks like the human beings he is creating. He created us in his image. This history called for other accounts of Creation, such as the Big Bang (le Grand Boum). But the Bible, the Quran, Epics, Mythologies, Sacred Texts, and the disputed Totemism are anamnèses that explain the human condition somewhat naïvely at times but also beautifully. These provide proof that we need to know where we come from and that we wish to ennoble ourselves.

So, there was a great deluge, but Noah’s Ark saved humanity and its animals. Jonah, a prophet, was inside a whale that protected him. Moreover, although there was no compass before man[1] was created, humans themselves have created extraordinary machines. Man has travelled to the moon and man has created works of art, works of literature and music we call divine. We cannot create an autonomous human being, but we have been creators.

There is a measure of godliness among mortals.[2]

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[1] Man includes women.
[2] This discussion is to be continued.

Love to everyone 💕

Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci

Micheline Walker
5 March 2021
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On the Bibles Moralisées

01 Monday Mar 2021

Posted by in Illuminated Manuscripts, Illustrations, Spirituality

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Die Schöpfung from Europe a Prophecy, by William Blake (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In an earlier post, I mentioned that Pierre Séguier owned the French collection (Paris) of the Oxford-Paris-Londres Bible. Pierre Séguier was one of a handful of individuals who ruled France in the seventeenth century. He purchased the Paris selection of the Bible moralisée. However, he also conducted the trial of Nicolas Fouquet, France’s Superintendant of Finances (1653-1661). (See RELATED ARTICLES.)

A Portrait of Pierre Séguier, Chancellor of France, by Charles Le Brun, 1655 (Photo credit: Larousse)

In the same post, I described our four Bibles as paradox literature. That paragraph is no longer part of my post. I may have erased it mistakenly or it may have been removed. It could wait. Paradox literature is defined as follows:

In literature, the paradox is an anomalous juxtaposition of incongruous ideas for the sake of striking exposition or unexpected insight. It functions as a method of literary composition and analysis that involves examining apparently contradictory statements and drawing conclusions either to reconcile them or to explain their presence.

(See Paradox in literature, Wikipedia) [1]

Yes, there is a paradox. God used an instrument that man would create: the compass. The artists who illuminated the Creation depicted tools that would make sense to their contemporaries, not to mention the artists themselves. In fact, these examples showed that man was creative. God Himself had to be recognizable. The four depictions of God we have seen could be understood by the humblest among us. Northrop Frye writes that:

Present things are related to past things in such a way that cognition becomes the same thing as re-cognition, awareness that a present effect is a past cause in another form.

Northrop Frye [2]

So, we have created myths, stories (mythoi) of causality.

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[1] Rescher, Nicholas. Paradoxes:Their Roots, Range, and Resolution. Open Court: Chicago, 2001.
[2] Northrop Frye, Creation and Recreation (University of Toronto Press, 1980), p. 59.

Love to everyone 💕

Haydn: Die Schöpfung Hob. XXI:2 / Erster Teil – 1A. Einleitung: “Die Vorstellung des Chaos”
Codex Vindobonensis 2554 

© Micheline Walker
1st March 2021
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