A Very fine Mess Stanley

I was looking for a site on the programme "Omnibus" and only found a very limited list of old programmes on the BBC site. However I have found a subject for today's entry. I am afraid it is art again. One of my favourite paintings is The Resurrection, Cookham I am afraid that this online version at the Tate is far too small to give you any real insight into the depth of this work. The painting is 5.5 metres wide by 3 metres high and filled one wall of the ground floor gallery when it was exhibited at the Tate in Liverpool. I used to spend long periods just looking at at and every time I found more detail. At first sight it doesn't seem to have that much detail; it just seems to boil with things happening, so much so, that you begin to think it is a film rather than a painting. It is so far removed from the horrors of Jheronimus Bosch. that you begin to wonder how one religion can bring forth two such visions of the same event. In analysis, I suppose it is because I am familiar with the environment of Cookham and I am not familiar with 15th/16th century Europe. Spencer's paintings seem to be about making religion familiar and knowable and attractive rather than using fear to keep people in line. The Cookham Resurrection suggests a colourful but comfortable summer with extensive foliage and hiding places for children. Sometimes, when the worst of the modern world throws up something to worry about, I imagine a shady hiding place in a wood somewhere; it can be raining which is even better. When I was a child, although there were things which made me unhappy, they never lasted too long. Nowadays, worries extend because my mind analyses them. I keep telling myself that I should accept that there is pain and worry in everyone's life. It is only by accepting this that you can begin to rise above it. This, of course is Buddhism :-

The Four Noble Truths

At the core of the Buddha's enlightenment was the realization of the Four Noble Truths: (1) Life is suffering. This is more than a mere recognition of the presence of suffering in existence. It is a statement that, in its very nature, human existence is essentially painful from the moment of birth to the moment of death. Even death brings no relief, for the Buddha accepted the Hindu idea of life as cyclical, with death leading to further rebirth. (2) All suffering is caused by ignorance of the nature of reality and the craving, attachment, and grasping that result from such ignorance. (3) Suffering can be ended by overcoming ignorance and attachment. (4) The path to the suppression of suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path, which consists of right views, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right-mindedness, and right contemplation. These eight are usually divided into three categories that form the cornerstone of Buddhist faith: morality, wisdom, and samadhi, or concentration.

"Buddhism," Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 98 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

I am not sure about all that right views etc. How do you decide what is right? Maybe when it is "right" you just know. Kids do many things which are wrong but most of them know that a wrong thing is a wrong thing. Maybe we just know that a right thing is a right thing. Maybe the pain is caused by living your life doing wrong things but knowing that they are wrong. The trouble is these days that it is pretty obvious that the meek are not inheriting the earth and that the only way to get ahead is to stand on everybody else's toes. I wear soft shoes though.

Of course, you have to visit here :-




All this of course links cleanly back to resurrection.