Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires

Anita Mathias's Blog on Faith and Art

Richard Rodriguez, Hunger of Memory–a classic description of writers’ block.

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Writer’s block develops through perfectionism, through not letting go of a piece of work when it is very good, rather than perfect, through viewing your work through the eyes of a imaginary critic.
Rodriguez describes the sterility as he tried to finish his Ph.D.

He wrote “sentences that were overly cautious, timid, strained brittle under the heavy weight of quaifications.  I seemed unable to dare a passionate statement.  I felt drawn to the edge of sterility, capable of no more than pedantic, lifeless, unassailable prose.”
 “I grew to hate the growing pages of my dissertion on genre and Renaissance literature.”
Not surprising.
Writing that nourishes the heart and whole being, flows from the heart and whole being, not solely the head.

Richard Rodriguez, Hunger of Memory–a classic description of writers’ block.

By

Writer’s block develops through perfectionism, through not letting go of a piece of work when it is very good, rather than perfect, through viewing your work through the eyes of a imaginary critic.
Rodriguez describes the sterility as he tried to finish his Ph.D.
 
He wrote “sentences that were overly cautious, timid, strained, brittle under the heavy weight of quaifications.  I seemed unable to dare a passionate statement.  I felt drawn to the edge of sterility, capable of no more than pedantic, lifeless, unassailable prose.”
 “I grew to hate the growing pages of my dissertion on genre and Renaissance literature.”
Not surprising.
Writing that nourishes the heart and whole being, flows from the heart and whole being, not solely the head.

Gothic cathedrals and Medieval Stained Glass: Radiant Windows: Sand transformed by Fire.

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File:Cathédrale de Reims intérieur.jpg Interior of the Cathedral at Reims

 

I researched medieval cathedrals today. They were constructed over generations through a collaborative effort of entire towns.In the 12th Century, in Chartres, women from all social classes carried construction materials and food for the Cathedral builders, and powerful men, proud of their birth and of their wealth, harnessed themselves to the shafts of a cart and dragged along stones and wood. Sometimes, a thousand people, men and women, were harnessed to the same wagon, so heavy was the load. And all this happened in total silence. From time to time, the procession stopped and everyone sung hymns.

Medieval Stained Glass: Radiant Windows–Sand transformed by Fire. 

File:Sainte chapelle - Upper level.jpg
 The 12th century Abbot Suger who essentially invented Gothic Architecture.  He planned to fill his Abbey Church of St. Denis, near Paris, with “the most radiant windows” so that worshippers, surrounded by rainbowed light would feel inspired and closer to God. Medieval craftsman, transformed sand by fire into jewels and More Light, the credo of Gothic architecture.
File:Sainte Chapelle - Rosace.jpg
 
Rose Window at Sainte Chapelle

Favourite passages from Shakespeare

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For Shakespeare who wrote
Where the bee sucks, there suck I;
In a cowslip’s bell I lie;
There I couch when owls do cry.
On the bat’s back I do fly
After summer merrily.
Merrily, merrily shall I live now
Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.
Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
What more can I say?

Amo Ergo Sum

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Amo Ergo Sum
Because I love
      The sun pours out its rays of living gold
      Pours out its gold and silver on the sea.

Because I love
      The earth upon her astral spindle winds
      Her ecstasy-producing dance.

Because I love
      Clouds travel on the winds through wide skies,
      Skies wide and beautiful, blue and deep.

Because I love
      Wind blows white sails,
      The wind blows over flowers, the sweet wind blows.

Because I love
      The ferns grow green, and green the grass, and green
      The transparent sunlit trees.

Because I love
      Larks rise up from the grass
      And all the leaves are full of singing birds.

Because I love
      The summer air quivers with a thousand wings,
      Myriads of jewelled eyes burn in the light.

Because I love
      The iridescnt shells upon the sand
      Takes forms as fine and intricate as thought.

Because I love
      There is an invisible way across the sky,
      Birds travel by that way, the sun and moon
      And all the stars travel that path by night.

Because I love
      There is a river flowing all night long.

Because I love
      All night the river flows into my sleep,
      Ten thousand living things are sleeping in my arms,
      And sleeping wake, and flowing are at rest.

— Kathleen Raine (1908-2003)

Amo Ergo Sum

By

Amo Ergo Sum
Because I love
The sun pours out its rays of living gold
Pours out its gold and silver on the sea.

Because I love
The earth upon her astral spindle winds
Her ecstasy-producing dance.

Because I love
Clouds travel on the winds through wide skies,
Skies wide and beautiful, blue and deep.

Because I love
Wind blows white sails,
The wind blows over flowers, the sweet wind blows.

Because I love
The ferns grow green, and green the grass, and green
The transparent sunlit trees.

Because I love
Larks rise up from the grass
And all the leaves are full of singing birds.

Because I love
The summer air quivers with a thousand wings,
Myriads of jewelled eyes burn in the light.

Because I love
The iridescnt shells upon the sand
Takes forms as fine and intricate as thought.

Because I love
There is an invisible way across the sky,
Birds travel by that way, the sun and moon
And all the stars travel that path by night.

Because I love
There is a river flowing all night long.

Because I love
All night the river flows into my sleep,
Ten thousand living things are sleeping in my arms,
And sleeping wake, and flowing are at rest.

— Kathleen Raine (1908-2003)
 

In Which Jesus Prays for Protection so All Christians May Be One

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Father, protect them by the power of your name,
That they may be one
As we are one.
John 17:11

Protection is something I increasingly feel the need of. Partly it is because of living in the deepest country, where I do need the protection of angels in chariots of fire around our property.

Partly it is because I am a woman of unclean lips, and I live amid a people of unclean lips (as in Isaiah’s vision). So in a world where people lie, slander, deceive, manipulate, and do others down to get ahead, you need protection.
Where do we find protection?
In the power of his name.

And, interestingly, what does Jesus pray for protection for?
For relationships between Christians.

So Jesus, because I love you, let me not do anything to hinder or destroy the oneness you desire among Christians.

Resolving to live more slowly!

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Neither Roy nor I, I in particular, do well with busyness. I simply wilt and find myself quite unable to go on if I have too many uncongenial things to do.

So we have taken a dramatic and drastic decision to next month dramatically and drastically cut Roy’s work hours. I.e., he is going to retire!!

Other things are more important–running a peaceful and orderly household, for instance.

I am looking forward to our family being less busy. Few families do well with it, and few people (except those with a poorly defined sense of self, who need constant validation from the outside world.)