{"id":6263,"date":"2012-12-11T18:18:22","date_gmt":"2012-12-11T23:18:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?p=6263"},"modified":"2012-12-11T18:18:22","modified_gmt":"2012-12-11T23:18:22","slug":"give-us-more-to-see","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/12\/give-us-more-to-see.html","title":{"rendered":"“Give Us More To See”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u201cBut how George looks. He could look forever
As if he sees you and he doesn\u2019t all at once.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
Yesterday, I used Georges Seurat (as imagined by Stephen Sondheim in\u00a0 *Sunday in the Park with George<\/em><\/a>) to open up a discussion about* the difficulty of pursuing intimacy with God<\/a> (or, often, other people). \u00a0Play!George might approve of my framing a discussion of truth through artifice, since that\u2019s exactly how he manages to see and comprehend others in the show. \u00a0In \u201cFinishing the Hat\u201d (below), George explains that he can only understand or interact with people from a distance.<\/p>\n<\/iframe>\n<blockquote><p>Entering the world of the hat.<br>\nReaching through the world of the hat like a window<br>\nBack to this one from that.<\/p>\n<p>Studying a face.<br>\nStepping back to look at a face,<br>\nleaves a little space in the way like a window.<br>\nBut to see\u2013<br>\nIt\u2019s the only way to see.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>People are just\u00a0<em>too much<\/em>. \u00a0When he is completely open and present to them, George can\u2019t make any sense out of them. It\u2019s all as much \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.rhapsody.com\/artist\/various-artists\/album\/sunday-in-the-park-with-george-cast-album\/track\/chaos\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Chaos<\/a>\u201d and is as senseless as scanning George\u2019s\u00a0pointillist\u00a0painting dot by dot and trying to understand the whole image. \u00a0But Dot, his lover, either doesn\u2019t\u00a0realize\u00a0that this is what intimacy looks like for George, or she doesn\u2019t trust him that his distance allows him perspective, instead of an excuse to blur out what doesn\u2019t appeal. \u00a0How can she tell?<\/p>\n<p>Maybe George isn\u2019t even engaged enough to merit the accusation that Roger levels at filmmaker Mark in <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Rent_(musical)\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">another musical<\/a> (\u201cYou\u2019re always preaching not to be numb, but that\u2019s how you thrive.\u00a0 You pretend to create and observe when you really detach from being alive\u201d). \u00a0Mark sees the real world, but holds himself back from participation, but Dot justifiably fears that George might not even be withdrawing from\u00a0<em>her<\/em>, just his image of her. \u00a0But I think there\u2019s a hint to the accuracy of George\u2019s vision in the opening of \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=KnizH8lI2Ik\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">The Day Off<\/a>.\u201d \u00a0George sketches a dog and sings:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>If the head was smaller\u2026<br>\nIf the tail were longer\u2026<br>\nIf he faced the water\u2026<br>\nIf the paws were hidden\u2026<br>\nIf the neck was darker\u2026<br>\nIf the back was curved\u2026<br>\nMore like the parasol\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>George doesn\u2019t just see, he <em>alters<\/em>. \u00a0While I was watching the show, I wasn\u2019t sure if this was a positive sign. \u00a0If George is just using his art <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/10\/how-art-thou-fallen-severus-son-of-spinners-end.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">to assert mastery over the world<\/a> around him as he \u201cbrings order to the whole\u201d it looks like a point in favor of Dot\u2019s theory that he doesn\u2019t really know <em>her<\/em>. \u00a0But, in order to alter Dot, or the dog, he <em>must\u00a0<\/em>be able to see them accurately. \u00a0Working to bring the elements of his painting into harmony means that George must be intensely aware of every way they jangle against his imagined ideal.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/84\/2012\/12\/sunday-george.jpg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-6284\" title=\"sunday george\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/84\/2012\/12\/sunday-george.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"474\" height=\"344\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Call it the <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Apophatic_theology\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><em>via negativa<\/em><\/a>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/08\/teaching-fish-the-word-for-water.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">grotesque<\/a>, or the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/08\/the-virtue-of-an-almost-right-solution.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">virtue of an almost-right solution<\/a>, but this seems to be exactly what Lewis called for in the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0060652934\/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0060652934&linkCode=as2&tag=unequyoked-20\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><em>Screwtape Letters<\/em><\/a>; an awareness of the inadequacy of the constructed image. \u00a0By noticing <em>where\u00a0<\/em>the representation fails, you gain a better understanding of the thing you still may not be able to picture. \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Uncanny_valley\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><em>Almost<\/em>-convincing androids<\/a>\u00a0show us what we recognize as human; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0307476707\/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0307476707&linkCode=as2&tag=unequyoked-20\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">nearly-plausible chatbots<\/a>\u00a0teach us what we value most about conversation.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s a practical example. \u00a0Most days, I pray Morning and Night Office from the <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Liturgy_of_the_Hours\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Liturgy of the Hours<\/a>. \u00a0When I\u2019ve got a bit of extra time, I try to translate the psalms into ASL as I go. \u00a0I\u2019m pretty terrible at this, since my vocabulary and syntax are patchy, and that ends up being pretty\u00a0<em>helpful<\/em>. \u00a0I might read something like:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>My dwelling, like a shepherd\u2019s tent,<br>\nis struck down and borne away from me<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>And see how close I can get with<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><a href=\"http:\/\/lifeprint.com\/asl101\/pages-signs\/m\/my.htm\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">MY<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/lifeprint.com\/asl101\/pages-signs\/h\/home.htm\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">HOME<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/lifeprint.com\/asl101\/pages-signs\/b\/break.htm\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">BROKEN<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/lifeprint.com\/asl101\/pages-signs\/l\/leave.htm\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">LEAVE-ME<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lifeprint.com\/asl101\/pages-signs\/a\/alone.htm\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">ALONE<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>An actual translator could pull something similarly poetic, but I\u2019m like a Deaf toddler. \u00a0The inadequacy of my vocabulary is\u00a0<em>frustrating,<\/em> and it draws my attention back to the nuances of the prayer I\u2019m making. \u00a0\u201cLeave\u201d isn\u2019t really like \u201cborne away.\u201d \u00a0Someone could leave on their own, but if my home is being borne away, I might reasonably wonder who\u2019s doing the bearing and what use they plan to make of it.<\/p>\n<p>Or sometimes, I\u2019ll be surprised by the appropriateness of the sign that reveals something\u00a0visceral I was missing in the English. \u00a0I can\u2019t find a decent ASL video of the Agnus Dei, but it\u2019s a lot harder to gloss over the\u00a0magnitude\u00a0of \u201cHave mercy on us\u201d when you actually have to inflect the mercy sign as directed to you from God.<\/p>\n<p>We may long for the beatific vision, but we can\u2019t achieve it on our own efforts. \u00a0The best I can do is to be present enough to be discombobulated by the lacunae in my model. \u00a0Because if I have a hole, I must have a kind of sense of what it fits (or, at least, what it doesn\u2019t).<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yesterday, I used Georges Seurat (as imagined by Stephen Sondheim in\u00a0Sunday in the Park with George) to open up a discussion about the difficulty of pursuing intimacy with God (or, often, other people). \u00a0Play!George might approve of my framing a discussion of truth through artifice, since that\u2019s exactly how he manages to see and comprehend […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":6281,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68,27,177],"tags":[220,178],"class_list":["post-6263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-epistemologyphilosophy","category-parsing-catholicism","category-spiritual-practice","tag-grotesque","tag-prayer"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>"Give Us More To See"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Yesterday, I used Georges Seurat (as imagined by Stephen Sondheim in\u00a0Sunday in the Park with George) to open up a discussion about the difficulty of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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