Blasie Pascal (Pensées, #164):
What a figment of the imagination human beings are!
What a novelty, what monsters!
Chaotic,
contradictory,
prodigious,
judging everything,
mindless worm of the earth,
storehouse of truth,
cesspool of uncertainty and error,
glory and reject of the universe.
Romans 7:24-8:1
Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!… There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
Thanks for this, I like it. I wonder if Pascal was riffing on Shakespeare:
What a piece of worke is a man! how Noble in
Reason? how infinite in faculty? in forme and mouing
how expresse and admirable? in Action, how like an Angel?
in apprehension, how like a God? the beauty of the
world, the Parragon of Animals; and yet to me, what is
this Quintessence of Dust? Man delights not me; no,
nor Woman neither…
BTW I like your Prodigal Son, I use that in Sunday School. Last summer we took a Baltic cruise, I was so excited to see the original at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg.
I posted about that last year; it may suit you.
http://platytera.blogspot.com/2009/12/image-ination.html
Thanks Christian. I like your blogspot. Wow, that must have been quite an experience visiting the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. I’m curious, did anyone comment on the hands of the Father, as Rembrandt depicted them? Some have suggested that the right hand of the father looks feminine and the left is the hand of a man. It’s not so clear to me, although I recognize some difference. Richest blessings! Chris
“Some have suggested that the right hand of the father looks feminine and the left is the hand of a man.”
I read this in Henri Nouwen’s book about the painting & parable, and took a good look at the original. My naif’s opinion is: whatever. I believe it’s a case of overanalysis.