Delights

I love triptych. Mostly a painting that has two sides with a message: front closed and front opened. Sometimes the backside has a painting too (better: three). In the Middle Ages  the front was closed most of the time - I guess - because it was their way of getting the fellow Christians eager and willing for the beauty of the mystery. 

A couple of times a week, a month the triptych was opened with all it's colours and light. A very strong visual message of how to behave. Be good and you will go to paradise. Be bad and you will go to hell. 

Panels closed ... for me it's the Christian way of a Chinese garden. Seduce them to the mystery.

Panels open ... for me the christians are too black and white. The image of paradise and hell in afterlife is a wrong metaphor. Simply because there is no such thing. It's our 'homo sapiens' projection of evil to the Devil and Others. The painful truth is, we are "evil" here and now. Not the Others but you, me and all other individual 'homo sapiens'. We are sweet and sour. And if we deny our sour we ... 

P.S. The presented triptych 'The Garden of Earthly Delights' is from Hieronymus Bosch (around 1450-1516).

Full of Senses

For the ancient Egyptians to see their God(s), every now and then, with their own eyes in a procession standing on a litter, that's life. To see! Next to that they used all their other senses too, to experience and have direct contact with their God(s) here and now. To see ... and not to read a holy book.

Are we human beings not too biased when it comes to senses getting data for perception? We "common sense" people all are familiar with Aristotle's (4th century B.C.) list of five: sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. But ... there is more. Better: there is more and next to that there could be even more. Never get frozen!

O Yes

Source of image: here.

Moving Silently

What is it? This moving animal in a black something?

A bird? What bird?

Here are original pictures of this #lovely #beautiful object. Mark the head and feathers.

It's a shell chiseled by some artisan into a bird. The provenance of this object is unknown (better: unknown to me). According to the 2012 catalogue from David Ghezelbash (page 43-46) is it a tridacne shell sculpted in the shape of an owl. Phoenician, around 8th century B.C. Belonging to an old private English collection. On sale, in 2012, at a cost of 220 thousand euros. 

Who made it for whom? Grandparent for (grand)child because he/ she loves birds and dreams about flying? A magician for his tribe? 

Why? Out of love for a (grand)child? For a ritual? A thank you for a God(s) or divinity  (ex-voto)? A beg for the ability to fly? I guess we will never know. 

P.S. According  to feedback from a birdman the "bird" is an Boreal Owl (Aegolius funereus). Source image: @alamy.