Monday, April 27, 2009

Blaugustine's 6th Birthday

April 27, 2009 is the 6th birthday of my blog, Blaugustine.

Augustine is my cartoon alter ego and the blog was supposed to be her space. However, I seem to have taken it over.

Go to the blog if you want the full story:

www.nataliedarbeloff.com/blaugustine.html

Formats available: MPEG4 Video (.mp4)

Friday, April 10, 2009

WHOLLY HOLY REFLECTIONS

Where do I stand in the religion debate? It's easier to say where I don't stand.

Not in the Church of Atheism led by fundamentalist preacher Dawkins and fellow missionaries. Nor in the Church of Self-Idolatry frequented by insecure over and under achievers. Nor in the patchouli-scented New Age Temple of Anything Goes. Nor with the EveryWordWrittenHereIsTrue scripture-shouting Bible-thumpers. Nor with the spiritual-but-not-religious consumers and purveyors of magical recipes for getting everything you want. Nor with the guitar-strumming popsterising church huggy-muggers. Nor with the unbending Orthodoxydon't-ists. Nor with the mockers and takers of the Name in vain. Nor with the counters of angels on pinheads or eggheads. I could go on. But where do I stand?

If you've seen my God Interviews you've guessed that I'm a believer. But what does this mean, believer? Do I worship a balding cartoon character wearing a white t-shirt stamped "God"? Do I use humour to avoid the whole tricky issue? Maybe. I know that I believe in God and I know that this belief is not wishful thinking. I don't know why I know this. For me, 'Bible' and 'God' are not synonymous. Maybe 'religion' and 'God' are not synonymous either. I don't know whether the God I believe in features in the Bible or the Koran or the Torah or any other sacred book but none of them can either strengthen or weaken my belief. The faith I have seems not to depend on any of those traditions, including the fringe ones, which claim to have the last word on Divinity.

To celebrate this weekend, here is something I see as wholly holy inspiration. I had never heard of Donald Pass and luckily found him via a Google search for 'resurrection'.

Donald Bass at work

I am very impressed by his work and have no doubt he did experience what he relates here and in this video. You can see Blake and El Greco as influences but I think it may be that they shared similar mystical experiences rather than artistic styles. More paintings by Pass are here.

Donald Pass "Gabriel" watercolourpainting


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