Page 97 - maxim art monograph

In art as in any act of creativity (artists are not just painters or musicians), there is a blessed cele- bration and sanctification of the world.
In the twentieth century Greek poetry, where the multi-layered meaning of the word logos is of- ten in harmonious rhythm with images from life, we discover the primordial lyric. Thus, in a poem of Maria Polidouri we read, “I was born just because you loved me” (μόνο γιατὶ μ ‘ἀγάπησες γεννήθηκα), which provides us with a sense of awareness that makes the reverse perspective the prime law of op- tics. Poetry (and art in general) finds its raison d’être only when it speaks very quietly to one reader at a time. This helps us to find our purpose in the lives of others (the Greek word ἀνιδιοτέλεια, selflessness, means that one’s purpose in life is to serve others, not oneself). Then we come to realize how deeply we have forgotten the other person, “I cry because I forgot you, and not because I do not have you,” (κλαίω ποὺ σὲ ξέχασα καὶ ὄχι ποὺ δὲν σὲ ἔχω), says the poet Michális Ganás. It is a state in which, according to the verses of Odysseus Elytis, we feel as if we were someone else, and not ourselves, marching on in life (σὰ νά ‘μουν ἄλλος κι ὄχι ἐγώ / μὲς στὴ ζωὴ πορεύτηκα). From such experiences the truth emerges that the beauty of our journey does not consist in beautiful landscapes but in how they alter the way we see the world. To put it in a Proustian way, it is not the landscapes that make a journey memorable, but the way we look at them. Or, as Ivo Andrić says of bridg- es, the most valuable are “those who have seized and held my imagination and my spirit the longest.”
We look to the future with our eyes washed by repentance and, by the grace of the Resurrected God-man Who restores us to life every day, we con- tinue to march on through history until the Day of the Lord—the brightest of all days. Repentance thus becomes a symptom of the series of unmerited, wondrous encounters with the King of Glory Who will come from on high and sit upon a great, white throne (cf. Rev. 20:11).
We will probably see a real picture (icon, image) of all the different beings and personalities around us—who are sometimes covered with thicker and at other times thinner veils—in their marvelous beau- ty only when the lively hues of paradise become part of our permanent setting. In the meantime, the appearances and costumes that we use to cover up often serve sometimes as a shelter, sometimes as a camouflage.
The sincerity of a child’s smile is the only reme- dy that can help us remove the masks of superfici- ality and pretense, and in so doing conquer worlds, present and future. This is a necessary condition for the sudden visit of the Spirit, who will pour out on young generations (“and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,” Acts, 2:17) the freedom and genuineness of the Last Day.
By His incarnation, the Lord was enthroned and “robed in beauty” of the human person and cosmic creation (which was contaminated with sin, cor- ruption, suffering and mortality).
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