I was inspired, after writing about my summer art experience, to revisit "Walking On Water: Reflections on Faith and Art". Consider these thoughts from Madeline:"From Coleridge comes the phrase, the willing suspension of disbelief, that ability to believe which is born firmly in all children, and which too often withers as we are taught that the world of faerie and imagination is not true."
"One of the great sorrows which came to human beings when Adam and Eve left the Garden was the loss of memory, memory of all that God's children are meant to be".
"The artist, if he is not to forget how to listen, must retain the vision which includes angels and dragons and unicorns, and all the lovely creatures which our world would put in a box marekd Children Only."
and this. . . on TV:
"Creative involvement: that's the basic difference between reading a book and watching TV. In watching TV we are passive; sponges; we do nothing. In reading we must become creators. Once the child has learned to read alone, and can pick up a book without illustrations, he must become a creator, imagining the setting of the story, visualizing the characters, seeing facial expressions, hearing the inflection of voices. The author and the reader "know" each other: they meet on the bridge of words".
I LOVE that :-)
And, one last thing (it's hard, this book is so FULL of good things)!
"In art we are once again able to do all the things we have forgotten; we are able to walk on water; we speak to the angels who call us; we move, unfettered, among the stars. We write, we make music, we draw pictures, because we are listening for meaning, feeling for healing. And during the writing of the story, or the painting, or the composing or singing or playing, we are returned to that open creativity which was ours when we were children. We cannot be mature artists if we have lost the ability to believe which we had as children. An artist at work is in a condition of complete and total faith."
2 comments:
I've been thinking about your quote from L'Engle on TV and I think her observation is absolutely correct, or it used to be. I think that in general that's still true, but there are a few shows that have become huge phenomena and it's because they are the opposite of passive. I'm thinking of shows like Lost where the audience is invited to search the show for clues and obscure references to the mythology of the show, where a major part of the joy of the show is spinning your theories on what the heck is happening. There are shows where you immediately call your friends after watching and compare notes, or you go online to a "community" of fans and discuss theories.
My opinion is that these shows have found something that people didn't even know was missing from their story telling experience. It's not exactly like books, and I'd still pick a book, but in a weird way shows like Lost prove L'Engle's point actually; we have a need to interact and participate in our stories.
I can't disagree with your comment on LOST - it certainly grabs my imagination, and yes, makes me want to grab the phone and call my friends to see what they saw that I missed, and vice versa! I am eagerly awaiting the new episodes :-)
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