Intersections of Religion, Art and Science Whither
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Picton Intersections 7 Whither 2017 Disappointed Souls, 1892 Intersections of Religion, Ferdinand Hodler Art and Science Whither Death comes to everyone: All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath. (Ecclesiastes 9:2) For many the thought of death conveys terror. Hodler was deeply concerned with death. We have already seen one of his sketches of his mistress Valentine Godé-Darel as she was slowly dying from cancer. This earlier painting shows five men in various stages of despair. There is a solemn symmetry to the group who progress from the periphery to the center - from awareness through despair to complete grief. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. (Genesis 3:19) I am not sure where the striking photograph originally comes from. (I found it at an Islamic site). 1 Picton Intersections 7 Whither 2017 The quotation is from God as he sends Adam out of Eden. Adam was made out of dust – God molded him and then breathed life into him. Now he is to be returned to dust. Though this is from the first book in the Torah of Judaism and the Bible of Christianity, it is a view that is very similar to that of most modern scientists. We are made of atoms. At our death the atoms that were so wondrously organized begin slowly to disperse. Dust we are and unto dust shall we return Modern human beings began to bury their dead over 40,000 years ago. The act of burial may have begun simply as a means to stop attacks by scavenging animals or to prevent contamination from the decaying corpse. However, burial soon became an intensely social act. It recognized the individuality of the person who was no more; it demonstrated the relations of that person to the community; it created a memorial both in the mind of the mourners and in the objective world; it suggested that the person might continue in some form. The illustration shows the Pentre Ifan Dolmen in Pembrokeshire, Southwest Wales. The monument dates to about 3500 BCE. This and similar structures were probably used either as tombs or as a memorials to the dead. 2 Picton Intersections 7 Whither 2017 Appointment in Samarra There was a merchant in Baghdad who sent his servant to market to buy provisions and in a little while the servant came back, white and trembling, and said, Master, just now when I was in the marketplace I was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned I saw it was Death that jostled me… told by Boris Karloff adapted by Donald Justice W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) Death comes to us all. Often when we least expect it. This combination of certainty and unpredictability is the basis of much human art. Boris Karloff gave this reading of Maugham’s story as part of the 1968 movie Targets (Peter Bogdanovich’s first commercial film) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lu9ZIRB79xk In the movie he plays an aging horror-film icon. While discussing an upcoming promotional appearance, he tells the agents that they do not understand the subtlety of true horror and recites the Somerset Maugham story. This was first told in his 1933 play Sheppey. John O’Hara used the story as an epigraph to his 1934 novel Appointment in Samarra. Samarra is a city in Iraq with a famous mosque. The Somerset Maugham story continues She looked at me and made a threatening gesture; now, lend me your horse, and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate. I will go to Samarra and there Death will not find me. The merchant lent him his horse, and the servant mounted it, and he dug his spurs in its flanks and as fast as the horse could gallop he went. Then the merchant went down to the market-place and he saw me standing in the crowd and he came to me and said, Why did you make a threatening gesture to my servant when you saw him this morning? That was not a threatening gesture, I said, it was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Baghdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra. Donald Justice’ 1967 poem Incident in a Rose Garden provides a variation on the original story The gardener came running, An old man, out of breath. Fear had given him legs. Sir, I encountered Death Just now among our roses. Thin as a scythe he stood there. I knew him by his pictures. 3 Picton Intersections 7 Whither 2017 He had his black coat on, Black gloves, a broad black hat. I think he would have spoken, Seeing his mouth stood open. Big it was, with white teeth. As soon as he beckoned, I ran. I ran until I found you. Sir, I am quitting my job. I want to see my sons Once more before I die. I want to see California. We shook hands; he was off. And there stood Death in the garden, Dressed like a Spanish waiter. He had the air of someone Who, because he likes arriving At all appointments early, Learns to think himself patient. I watched him pinch one bloom off And hold it to his nose– A connoisseur of roses– One bloom and then another. They strewed the earth around him. Sir, you must be that stranger Who threatened my gardener. This is my property, sir. I welcome only friends here. Death grinned, and his eyes lit up With the pale glow of those lanterns That workmen carry sometimes To light their way through the dusk. Now with great care he slid The glove from his right hand And held that out in greeting, A little cage of bone. Sir, I knew your father, And we were friends at the end. As for your gardener, I did not threaten him. Old men mistake my gestures. I only meant to ask him To show me to his master. I take it you are he? 4 Picton Intersections 7 Whither 2017 As in the Somerset Maugham’s story, we often personify the process of death. During medieval times Death was often seen as a dark-robed figure carrying a scythe. This clip from Ingmar Bergman’s 1957 film The Seventh Seal shows the first meeting between the knight played by Max von Sydow and Death played by Bengt Ekerot. As death appears, the sound of the waves disappears. The knight challenges Death to a game of chess. This derives from a painting in a Swedish Church from around 1490 by Albertus Pictor. The original painting is at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_playing_chess Epicurus (341-270 BC) Epicurus believed neither in God Is he willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is impotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Whence then is evil? nor in any life after death Death, therefore, the most awful of evils, is nothing to us, seeing that, when we are, death is not come, and, when death is come, we are not. The common Epicurean epitaph was Non fui, fui, non sum, non curo (I was not, I was, I am not, I care not). 2nd Century BCE Roman copy of Greek original Epicureans believed that human life was limited to the period between birth and death. We should not care about before or after. Life itself should be enjoyed since it is all we have. 5 Picton Intersections 7 Whither 2017 Most scientists are Epicureans. They believe neither in God nor in immortality. In the US believers make up about 80 % of the general population, about 40 % of scientists in general and less than 10 % of scientists in the National Academy of Science. The Epicurean view sometimes seems to miss the fact the death is indeed a tragedy. Basically it is the end of the person – the end of one particular point of view, one set of memories and experiences that others will never have. To illustrate this I have chosen a clip from the 1982 movie Blade Runner, directed by Ridley Scott. The sequel to this movie has just opened. This particular scene shows the death of a replicant – a robot and not a true human being. But the loss of one particular individual experience is the same for man or robot. Harrison Ford plays Rick Deckard whose duty is to find and kill rogue androids. Rutger Hauer plays Roy Batty one of the replicants. Though stronger and smarter than Deckard, Batty is dying because he has been programmed not to live forever. As he dies, he remembers events that no other being, human or replicant, has ever experienced or can ever experience: I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All these moments will be lost in time like tears in the rain. Time to die. The speech was created by the actor Rutger Hauer from a longer version in the script by David Peoples.