The Beauty (and Apparent Ugliness!) of the Human Form

If every person is beautiful by virtue of being human, why do some people look ugly to me? (And presumably I look ugly to some people too!) We know objectively that man is the most beautiful of God’s creatures. Every person is beautiful by virtue of being human. Yet, we don’t always see this. We can look around us and we see people whom we think are ugly, (although we might hesitate to tell anyone so). Just as with the recognition of all beauty, the lack here is in the one who looks, who cannot see all people around him as they really are, because he lacks love.

Some however reconcile this by looking for two beauties within each person, one physical and the other spiritual. Those who do so would say that if the physical beauty is lacking it is because there is a spiritual beauty that is invisible and it is this that we miss. I feel that this explanation creates a dualism – a separation of body and soul – that is wrong. As I see it, there is no inner beauty that is in contradiction with the outer ugliness; neither is there the converse an outer beauty that masks the inner ugliness. This duality is a fiction. That is not to say that there very often does appear to be such a disparity as in Oscar Wilde’s character Dorian Grey. Rather, that if this is the appearance, we know that the lack is our ability to see or our judgment of the sanctity of the person. The beauty is there in the whole person, body and soul and every person is physically beautiful. We do not see it we must look at ourselves and consider our own lack in love for that person.

When most people talk of beauty in connection with people, they are most likely to be considering sexually attractiveness. Even if we talk of those we are not sexually attracted to, we tend to make the judgment against these criteria. So I might talk of a handsome man. This does not mean that I find him sexually attractive, but that I think that women will. If I talk to those who are much younger than me or much older than me as pretty or handsome, I am usually doing so not in the context of how they appear now, but how they may in the future, or might have been in the past at their most attractive age. For example, with older people I imagine them as they were when at a younger marriageable age.

However, in the ideal I would not consider anyone in this way at all. Only one person, in a perfect world, would appear sexually attractive to me, and that is my wife, whom God intends for me to see in this way. For me to see anyone but her  in this way must involve a selfish non-loving component for it is based upon a desire to do something that is morally wrong.

There is a different love. This is one that looks with the same loving eyes with which a mother looks at her baby. I wrote recently how it has often struck me how often mothers will tell me, without a trace of irony, that their baby is the most beautiful that there is. I remember once chuckling in response and replying: ‘Yes, but every mother says that about her baby.’ ‘That’s true,’ said this mother and she said (without a trace of irony) ‘but my baby really is the most beautiful in the world.’

In fact, the mother is the one who sees this person fully. The fact that I don’t and that the mother doesn’t see everyone as beautiful as her baby is a reflection of a lack of love in respect to all other people. God sees every single one of us with the eyes of love even greater than those that a mother has for her child.

That is not to say that artists do not reveal invisible realities through a visible medium. Icons partially abstract the figure in order to do just that. The point is that these realities would be visible to all if observer and observed were both redeemed. But a painting that shows a distorted ugly human figure portrayed in a painting is not a move towards an inner reality (as an

The artist has a responsibility to represent people so that it inspires a genuinely loving response in the viewer. Consistent with this, when I was learning portrait painting in Florence my teacher always encouraged me to paint people in their best light: ‘Err towards virtue rather than vice,’ he used to say.

Portraits by Francis Bacon (British 20th century), repeated below; George Romney (18th century); Velazquez.

More Russian Statues

I recently posted an article about Russian statuettes of saints at the Museum of Russian Icons. I discussed how surprised I was to see statues in Russia. Generally the iconographic tradition doesn't allow for anything more than relief sculpture. In response to this a reader sent me information about a collection of much larger and more three-dimensional statues that is in the city of Perm in the Urals. I was fascinated by these and posted. They seem to date from 16th, 17th and 18th centuries and have the look of Western gothic imagery. The link through to the museum is here. Once again I can't really explain these and suspect that Russian iconographers of the strict observance would feel that these are not genuinely worthy of veneration.  

 Christ imprisoned

What Teaches Wisdom - Poetry, Clear Prose or Beautiful Art and Music?

 An education in truths that cannot be expressed in words  In his book, the Love of Learning and the Desire for God, Jean Leclerq describes various tensions playing out in education in the medieval period.

One arises from the love of beautiful literature, poetic or prosaic, that is not explicitly sacred. The danger is that at some point the beauty of these works is so compelling that it hampers the spiritual development of the individual, because ‘Virgil might outshine Holy Scripture in the monk’s esteem because of the perfection of his style’[1]. A properly ordered asceticism in this area consisted in a harmonization of sources and sometimes the more humbly written simple prose divinely inspired Scripture is necessary for us so that we focus on the beauty of what it directs us to, he says.

The second tension that Leclercq describes relates to the study of logic, or sometimes called dialectic, which is another of the first three liberal arts that together comprise the trivium. As such it requires an understanding the technical language of logic. It is necessary in order to study philosophy and theology. The difference arose between two different sorts of school, the monastic and the town scholastic schools. The word scholastic is derived from the Latin word meaning ‘school’ and is applied to distinguish it from the monastic setting.

One the one hand is the more traditional monastic school that is more literary, drawing on Biblical language and traditional literary forms.

The monastic schools of the medieval period recognized the value of dialectic, but were suspicious of scholastic Schools in which there was a tendency, they felt, for dialectics to dominated to the detriment of the other liberal arts, and especially those concerned with the beautiful expression of what is true and good. As Leclercq puts it: ‘ The Scholastics were concerned with achieving clarity. Consequently they readily make use of abstract terms, and never hesitate to forge new words which St Bernard [as an example of an authority from the monastic school] for his part avoids. Not that he refuses to use the philosophical terminology which through Boethius had come down from Aristotle…but for him this terminology is never more that a vocabulary for emergency use and does not supplant the bibilical vocabulary. The one he customarily uses remains, like the Bible’s, essentially poetic. His language is consistently more literary than that of the School.’

And in the use of this traditional technical vocabulary there also exists a certain diversity: each monastic author chooses from the Bible and the Fathers his favourite expressions and gives them the shade of meaning he prefers. Within the overall unity there remains a variety which is characteristic of a living culture.’[2]

The strength of this is great flexibility is a noble accessibility and beauty that opens the door and draws in the ordinary reader to receive the wonders they describe; the weakness is its technical imprecision so that it can be ambiguous and this leads to a greater possibility of misinterpretation.

Those seeking to offer a Catholic education today are likely to draw on both the monastic and scholastic influences. Even in the few Catholic ‘Great Books’ programmes that exist today we can see how a polarization might develop, some favouring either poetic knowledge on the one hand or of a formal Thomistic training on the other. This needn’t be so. As a general principle, I suggest, the way to avoid extremes of an over emphasis on the poetic form on one hand and an overemphasis on dialectic on the other is to make prayer and the liturgy the central, harmonizing principle of the life of the student and professor alike, whether monastic or scholastic. This is something more than encouraging participation in the liturgy. It is making the participation in the liturgy the guiding principle in what and how we learn and teach. The students should understand clearly how everything that they learn is done in order to deepen our participation in the liturgy. In this regard, the liturgy of the hours is a crucial presence, I suggest. Then the praying of the liturgy will in turn illuminate the lessons learnt in the classroom.

In light of this I suggest there are aspects of education that are neglected in Leclercq’s account. He focuses almost exclusively on communication by language. I wonder if this is too narrow a vision. The teaching of truth expressed linguistically is the most important part of study, but it should not be emphasized in a way that excludes the visual and musical. A formal study of perceptible beauty, especially visual and auditory aspects of harmony, proportion and order is in the traditional study of the quadrivium. St Augustine[3] spoke of how the beauty of the form says things that words cannot.

There are levels of understanding that cannot be said in words alone, even poetic words, that can only be communicated visually or through words when they are sung beautifully. Any lover of holy icons would say the same, I suggest, in regard to visual beauty. Giving ourselves a beautiful visual focus for our prayer, especially Out Lady, the suffering Christ and the face of Our Lord is important in this regard.

Liturgy is the place where all of this can be synthesized and one is immersed in God's wisdom and this, deep in the heart of the person, is where we form the culture.

---

[1] Ibid, p124

[2] Ibid, p201

[3] St Augustine, On Psalm 32, Sermon 1, 7-8; quoted in the Office of Readings for the Feast of St Cecilia, November 22nd

Beauty Communicates Something That Words Cannot

A case for making an education in beauty with the liturgy at its heart part of everybody's education I was intrigued by the following passage written by St Augustine in which he talks of communication of truth beyond words. What he is describing is how the beauty of expression in a full integration of form and content adds something that words alone cannot say. As an expression rooted in love it is the fullest form of truth. He is talking specifically about music, but what he says applies just as much, it occurs to me, to sacred art and architecture. Their beauty speaks to us of something that words cannot say. The painting of a saint or of the key truths of a feast speaks to us through the harmonious relationships between its parts, by gesture and expression of figures portrayed, for example.

It occurs to me that this communication goes both ways. So not only is beautiful liturgy the fullest way of communicating in love our praise for God, when that beauty is integrated with it in liturgical music and art it is teaching us as we pray, at the deepest level, the truths that are contained within.

This is something that educators should note, I suggest. If what Augustine says it true, then the wisdom that is the goal of education  cannot be offered by book study alone but only by placing it in the context of a liturgical life for there is much to learn that is 'beyond words'. It is an argument, I suggest for putting a practical education in beauty, with participation in the liturgy as its foundation, at the core of everyone's education.

Here is St Augustine's quotation:

‘Will you ever, do you think, that you need know no fear of jarring on the perfect listener’s ear? This is the way of singing God gives you; do not search for words. You cannot express in words the sentiments which please God: so praise Him with your jubilant singing. This is fine praise of God, when you sing with jubilation. You ask, ‘What is singing with jubilation?’ It means to realize that words are not enough to espress what we are singing in our hearts. At the harvest, in the vineyard, whenever men must labour hard, they begin with songs whose words express their joy. But when their joy brims over and words are not enough, they abandon even this coherence and give themselves up to the sheer sound of singing. What is this jubilation, this exultant song? It is the melody that means that our hearts are bursting with feelings that words cannot express. And to whom does this jubilation most belong? Surely to God who is unutterable. And does not unutterable mean what cannot be uttered? If words will not come and you may not remain silent, what else can you do but let the melody soar? What else when the rejoicing heart has now words and the immensity of your joys will not be imprisoned in speech? What else but “sing out with jubilation”?’

St Augustine, On Psalm 32, Sermon 1, 7-8; quoted in the Office of Readings for the Feast of St Cecilia, November 22nd

My New Icon Corner

I have recently created an icon corner in my home as a focus for  prayer. I try to sing the Liturgy of the Hours every day. We didn't have a lot of room and the place I live in is rented and I am not allowed to bang nails into the wall - which means I can't hang many or heavy pictures. So I had to keep it simple. The bare bones of an icon corner is a cross with the suffering Christ at the centre, a picture of Our Lady on the left and a face of Christ on the right. I have added to it St Isaias and St John the Baptist. I have tried to arrange them so that each is through the line of vision pointing to Our Lady who in turn is presenting to us  her Son. John as the closest in time and the greatest man born of woman apart from Our Lord is placed closest

I have put a little print of the Sacred Heart of Jesus there too. At the end of every Hour that I pray as a personal devotion I always invoke the Sacred Heart and ask for mercy. On the horizontal surface I have a St Benedict medal and a little container with some relics that were given to me when I was confirmed at Farm St Church in London.

I have tried to make this the most brightly coloured part of the room so that it is the main visual focus when you walk in. The other paintings in the room are not religious but I have deliberately chosen them, for example the landscape shown which is an Andrew Wyeth print, so that the colour is muted and it will never distract from the saints. This is consistent with the way that an artist organises the composition of a painting - the main foci are coloured and the supporting parts are less detailed and less brightly coloured.

 

 This was a print of a watercolour landscape by Andrew Wyeth that I found in a consignment store framed. It only cost me $5!

 I chose it because it used mute colours (consistent with the baroque style even though Andrew Wyeth is a modern painter - he died a couple of years ago).

Economics and Culture - Catholic Social Teaching, Taxes and Art!

What should I read to understand this? In my last posting I suggested that I think that social and economic conditions need not be such an influential factor on the culture as some suggest. My sense is that the form of the liturgy and the liturgical forms being produced now that are the driving force for a wider culture of beauty...or of ugliness. I am not a trained economist and so have tried to do some reading recently to try to understand more how this might work. It is important to try to understand this. If we want to create a culture of beauty for the New Evangelisation then we need to understand what influences culture and how in order to try to redress the balance today. furthermore, anyone who wishes the production of beautiful art to be a vibrant force in the modern world must, I suggest, try to understand how this can be funded. Should it be left to free market forces? Or should we seek to subsidize favoured artists for the good of society? I thought I would pass on where my reading has taken me.

It seemed to me that there are two things that I need to have clear in my mind in trying to understand this field. The first is what is the just society that we are seeking to move towards. There are many aspects of what this might be, but in terms of social conditions the encyclicals of the Church of the last 120 years seem most applicable. Rerum Novarum was my starting point. This was written in 1891 by Pope Leo XIII. Then I focussed on the following: Quadragesimo Ano written by Pope Pius XI to mark the fortieth anniversary of the first. Then I skipped forward to the encyclicals of John Paul II: Laborem Exigens, Solicitudino Rei Socialis and Centesimus Annus. After that the recent encyclical by Pope Benedict XVI seemed to have much to say that was relevant. Another aspect in trying to understand this,  is to try to see historically what the social conditions were like that the Popes were commenting on. I am just starting here, but I have recently read T S Ashton's The Industrial Revolution, 1760-1830. 

The second thing is to try to understand how to get there. In order to do that I must, it seems to me, try to understand something about economics. My starting point is a book by the economist Thomas Sowell called Basic Economics. I have just finished reading this. First thing to say is that I don't know how he does it, but this is an economics textbook, intended for use by university students as an introduction, but it is entertaining and throughout. Thomas Sowell explains clearly and easily what controls the generation of wealth and its distribution, whether it is in a market economy or a government controlled economy, the same principles apply (although obviously their application is very different in each case). He points out where moral decisions are to be made, but does not attempt to answer those questions for you, his goal is to show you how the economic choices made are likely to achieve the end desired. So Catholics would want to read Catholic social teaching as well so as to direct our picture of a just society. Sowell tests hypotheses with statistical data, so answering questions such as: does a lowering taxes in increase tax revenue or reduce it? He points out common errors used in economic argument such as equating the justice of a policy with its intended effect rather than what it actually causes (rent control policies  and the detrimental effects that they have on the availability of housing for the poor being one example he discusses; he talks of the error of looking at the economy as a zero-sum game in which economic policies seek to redistribute a finite pot of money, rather than being aware also that policies can affect the creation of wealth for all and increase the size of the pot for all involved, both rich and poor. He discusses the true causes of the 1930s depression and the current financial crisis and in the case of the Great Depression, the reasons that it ended (very surprising and exactly the opposite of what I thought in every aspect). He discusses error of assuming that all the economy behaves as one small part - this leads to policies that protect certain groups of workers or employers, but neglect the effect - usually much more detrimental overall - on others with the community as a whole. he calls this the 'fallacy of composition'. On each occasion he details the intentions of any stated policy, the actual effect with reference to statistical data. I found a real eye-opener and much of what he says overturns many of the assumptions I have made about how economics works for most of my adult life. I wholeheartedly recommended it.

I have put an interview with Mr Sowell in which he discusses this book, which is YouTube below. He is as entertaining in interview as his writing.

And finally, here is a book I haven't read yet, although I am about to start. It is It Didn't Have to Be This Way: Why Boom and Bust is Unnecessary - and How the Austrian School of Economics Breaks the Cycle (Culture of Enterprise). This is written by Harry Veryser who has taught economics at Thomas More College. He is currently runs the Master program in Economics at the University of Detroit. I am interested in this book particularly because here we have an economist who understands economics deeply, and who is a devout Catholic interested in a just society. I will keep you posted!

C. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOMksnSaAJ4

Does Mass Production and Industrialisation Automatically Mean Ugliness?

A look at British china and porcelain from the 18th and 19th centuries might suggest otherwise Since the period of the industrial revolution in the mid-17th century and in the 19th century when it took hold in society, I would contend along with quite a few other I think, that the culture has generally been in decline. But does this mean that the first is the cause or even a contributing factor to the decline? It is assumed by many to be the case, and we do, in my opinion, see clear signs of a decline in some areas of the culture at this time (especially so in the case of liturgical art and music). But I am not convinced that mass production or industrialisation are primary causal factors. I have always felt that the underlying design is the most important factor in the beauty of objects. There is nothing inherently less mass-producable or expensive about beautiful design. Beauty and elegance in design can be as cheap as ugliness. If we had designers who understood how to create beautiful objects, then mass production allows for the creation of lots of beautiful and affordable objects. This is a good thing, isn't it? Of course, if designers create ugliness, then mass production will churn lots of ugly objects of the production line too, without being the cause of it.

Also, just because two events, the increase in mass production and the decline in some parts of the culture coincide, it doesn't mean that one causes the other. Correlation does automatically mean cause and in this case, the correlation doesn't seem to me to to be as strong as one might at first suspect. 

In his book the Spirit of the Liturgy Pope Benedict XVI talks of a break between the culture of faith and the wider culture. The question is which declined first and which is the most powerful influence on that decline? In my assessment, it is the liturgy that is the primary influence on the culture of faith, and without a Catholic culture of faith

If industrialisation and mass production were the primary causes, (or more generally economic and social conditions) one would expect the negative effects since the 18th century to be most pronounced when the laissez faire, liberal economics were are their most present, which is this period of the 18th and especially the 19th century. However, that is not what I see. The mundane art and music of the period is still strong in many respects and it was not even uniformly bad yet in the realm of the sacred - sacred architecture flowered in the forms pioneered by the English Catholic convert WA Pugin. The general picture seems to be one of a slow decay in the liturgical forms first, with the wider culture following later.

The period when the decline of culture really accelerated is not this period, but the one following it, the 20th century. Traditional ideas of proportion and harmony were not finally and universally rejected in architecture until after the Second World War, for example. Yet in the 20th century, economic and social conditions improved and the supposed excesses of the capitalist system were curtailed by regulation in the West. 

A look at some mass produced objects of the period would help of course. Recently I was reading TS Ashton's economic history of the period The Industrial Revolution (Oxford University Press, 1968). He remarks at one point that the Wedgwood and Spode factories were founded in the 18th century and produced china and porcelain right through this period. So here I give you pottery from the factories of Wedgwood and Spode. This are made in Staffordshire in England and the factories are situated in the Midlands, right at the heart of where the British industrial revolution took place.

You can decide for yourself. Do you think they are ugly mass produced objects? If we think they are beautiful this suggests that mass production is not inherently bad. Given the improvements in the techniques of mass production, one would expect that degree to which a product reflects faithfully the original design is even greater than it was at this time. 

It is worth making the point also that Ashton discusses at length the living and working conditions of the poor during this period and compares them with the period before - the early 17th century and the 16th century. It is interesting that in his assessment things generally improved. He makes the point that although there were poor working and living conditions by today's standards, they weren't uniformly poor, and says that workers houses were as likely to be well made and well proportioned as not. Also he notes that people at the time were quick to respond to injustice and so laws protecting the conditions of workers were introduced from the early 19th century onwards. We should have a look at the workers cottages that were made in Britain at the time. There are plenty of Victorian terraces which are now sought after places for the well to do in the best parts of town - for example in Chelsea and Fulham. But that is another blog posting for the future.

Here is some china for you. When I was young, my parents had a period when they collected antique china and porcelain from this period and seeing the Spode particularly reminds of me china they used to possess. These works have passed the test of time for beauty that I always like to apply in trying to assess the beauty of, for example, a work of art. Has it transcended its own time? Do people today still see this a good and beautiful or is appreciation of it subject to the vagaries of fashion and so only temporary? The antique markets of the world suggest the former.

Photgraphs from top: Wedgewood designed by Lady Templeton, c1790-1800; Spode mid-19th century; Wedgewood vase, 1790; Spode vase 17th century; Spode 19th century plate.

A Wedding in the Chapel at Thomas More College, Merrimack, New Hampshire

I recently attended a wedding at the chapel of Thomas More College. The bride was stunningly beautiful, the music was sublime, the art was gorgeous. I probably should declare at this point that my opinion on this matter is not wholly impartial: the art was my own;  the programe for the music was devised by my good friend Dr Tom Larson (who teaches the choir at TMC), who also lead the singing. The Ordinaries for the Mass were composed by another great friend Paul Jernberg, who was also singing in the choir. The propers were the  simple English propers for a Nuptial Mass composed by someone called Adam Bartlett (who I don't know and who wasn't at the wedding). I had not listened to these before, but they are in my inexpert opinion excellent. The psalm tones for the accompanying meditations were composed by myself and were chosen so that the mode matched that of each proper and these were harmonised into 4-part harmonies by Paul Jernberg (see examples here).We had an additional meditation for the incensing of the bride and groom. The celebrant was my friend Fr Roger Boucher who as ever said Mass with great dignity and reverence. (His name may be familiar to some of you: I have written a couple of articles about his farm in rural New Hampshire and more recently our working together in bringing the liturgy of the hours to the US veterans' hospital in Manchester, New Hampshire.) In addition we closed with the St Michael Prayer  (a traditional Byzantine tone arranged by Paul with a little contribution from myself) and then the Te Deum sung in four-part harmonies, which is traditional Anglican chant. (The Jernberg Mass Ordinaries can be found at this website, here.)

Here was a novus ordo Mass in English with most of music composed within the last couple of years. The language now, with the new translation, is dignified and elegant and befitting of high quality music. Because all had the timeless qualities of chant there was integration that gave it a sense of a unified whole. Even the insertion of one much older piece in Latin - 16th century polyphonic version of the Ave Maria written by Victoria for when flowers were taken to the statue of Our Lady added a heightened comtemplative element but it did not seem out of place with the general tenor.

Even the beautiful flowers were arranged by another friend, Nancy Feeman, who has written gardening articles for this blog in the past.

Oh and one further detail, the lucky groom was ...me. Yes, it was my own wedding. No one was more surprised that me to find myself walking up the aisle at my advanced age, but here we are. I met Edna about four years ago on a return trip to England at the London Oratory summer fete. I handed my number to her and said, 'If you are ever in the US please do look me up.'  Three years later, she did.

For those who like this sort of thing I have included some photos. In the first one below you can see Fr Boucher, Edna and I, Bess the maid of hour holding flowers and the choir is beyond, all crammed into the tiny chapel.

and later at the reception...

As a friend said on seeing this photo: happiness is having a bride on one arm and a banjo on the other. Unless you're an old style mormon in which case it's having a bride on each arm...or an Appalachian, in which case its having a banjo on each arm! (h/t Simon Ramage)

The Feast of Mary, Mother of God

Today is the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. I offer two paintings for consideration. The first is Italian baroque from the 17th century. The artist is called Sassoferratu. It is in the National Gallery in London. I regularly used to pass the gallery on my way home from work and used to go in and look at paintings sometimes for just 15 minutes - this is possible when you don't have to pay to get in. Long before I ever converted to Catholicism I was drawn to this particular painting which I found strikingly beautiful. The serene expression of the Virgin was a source of great delight to me.

The second is an icon painted by myself (based upon a Greek prototype) highlighted the personal relationship between Mother and Son.

Have a wonderful Feast day!

The Liturgy and the Trinity and the Heart of Man

St Irenaeus and St Augustine on 'seeing' God Here are two short excerpts taken from the Office of Readings. The first, from St Ireneaus, is from Advent and the second, from St Augustine, is from the Octave of Christmas. Both, it occurs to me, can be read in the light of the following: first is that we are made to see God the Father, in union with Him in heaven. When we  'see' God we know him deeply in the deepest form of knowing which is love. The action of love that draws us into in this mystery is worship of God in the liturgy.  The first reading describes how the Trinity is active in this process. The Spirit draws us into the Son. . Through the personal relationship with the Son, we participate in His personal relationship with the Father. We are part of the mystical body of Christ, the Church, most fully when our actions are liturgicalThis is what liturgy is: the worship of the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit.

‘Man does not see God by his own powers; but God of his own will appears to men, to whom he wills, and when he wills and as he wills. For God can do all things: he was seen in former times prophetically through the Spirit, He is seen in the Son by adoption, and he will be seen in the kingdom of heaven as Father. The Spirit prepares man for the Son of God, the Son brings him to the Father, and the Father bestows on him incorruptibility for eternal life, which comes to everyone from his beholding God.’ (St Irenaeus, Against the Heresies. taken from the Office of Readings, Wednesday WkIII of Advent.)

The second reading emphasises that this highest form of knowing is loving. Seeing God is not a spectator sport, is a loving interraction.

‘So the life itself was made manifest in the flesh, because it depended upon “manifestation”, that a reality only perceptible to the heart might also be visible to our eyes, and thus heal our hearts. For the Word is seen only by the heart, but the flesh is seen also by bodily eyes. There was in fact a way in which we could see the Word: the Word became flesh which we could see, in order to heal the heart, the means by which we could see the Word.’ (St Augustine: Commentary on First Letter of St John. Excert from Office of Readings, Feast of Apostle John, December 27th.)

If we think of the heart as the deepest place inside us that represents the person - the vector sum of our thoughts and actions. A pure heart by which we can see God, is a state we experience when there is no inner  conflict in the person and all is in conformity to the will of God: the body is governed by the soul, which is in turn governed by the spirit within it and which is the closest part of us to God. (The spirit referred to here is the spirit of man, an aspect of the soul, not the Holy Spirit. Follow the link through above for more information.) Our purity in this respect has a profound influence of the culture incidentally, for it affects all that we do, even the most mundane. The liturgy is not only the place that this ideal should first be manifested, but also the activity that gives us grace to achieve it. The Liturgy, which has the Word made flesh at its centre, is the most effective activity by which we can grow in love through God's grace and see Him.

Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God! The model of purity of heart is of course the Sacred Heart of Jesus himself. The two images shown are painted by me. The first, which is more iconographic in style is in the chapel at Thomas More College of Liberal Arts; and the second, which has baroque influences, is in the chapel at the Maryvale Institute in Birmingham, England.

 

The Nativity, Our Lord, Our Lady and St Joseph

Happy Feast of Christmas. Here is a beautiful modern icon of the Nativity. This is an Eastern image and so I thought I would point out one figure who is portrayed somewhat differently here than in the West, St Joseph. As I understand it, the standard interpretation is that by tradition in the East, St Joseph was a widower before he married Our Lady and so is always portrayed as an older man. He is hunched not just because of age, but also to reveal an inner turmoil. He is in doubt about whether or not he is witnessing a Virgin birth. The figure beside St Joseph, also as a hunched old man but in ragged clothing is the devil tempting him. All is resolved in the end for St Joseph loves his wife and through her prayers resolves this doubt. The physical separation in the icon emphasises also the point that St Joseph played no part in the conception of Our Lord.

My personal reaction to this is that this does not diminish the stature of St Joseph at all, rather it serves to elevate that of Our Lady. St Joseph is a great saint. He is the protector of the Holy Family, foster father and guardian of Our Lord. This demonstrates by contrast with the figure of Our Lady how she is even greater. In this sense St Joseph might be seen as an examplar of all other saints and so Our Lady is greater than all the other saints and angels.

Pictures of the Installation of Christ in Majesty in Thomas More College Chapel

Just before the Christmas break the latest and largest painting was installed in the college chapel. It is Christ in Majesty. In painting this and placing it behind the crucifixion I had in mind two things: first that we are on a pilgrimage from this earthly life to the heavenly. In this life Christ bears our suffering and in the next we partake of his divine nature. We cannot complete this journey in this life, but we can move along the path by degrees by participation in the sacrificial life. 'In the earthly liturgy we take part in a foretaste of that heavenly liturgy which is celebrated in the holy city of Jerusalem toward which we journey as pilgrims, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, a minister of the holies and of the true tabernacle; we sing a hymn to the Lord's glory with all the warriors of the heavenly army.' [Sacrosanctum Concilium, 8]

Second is to provide a focus during the liturgy of Christ as victim and Christ as King, sitting on his heavenly throne. The words from the Mass are: 'In humble prayer we ask you, almighty God: command that these gifts be borne by the hands of your holy Angel to your altar on high in the sight of your divine majesty, so that all of us who through this participation at the altar receive the most holy Body and Blood of your Son may be filled with every grace and heavenly blessing.' If you look at the foot of the cross there is a six winged seraph bearing the sacrificial victim up to heaven.

All that we have to do now is change the lights so that we have more discreet spotlamps, rather than the single suspended light.

Fr Anthony, a priest from St Benedict's Abbey, Still River, prepares for Mass

Three Examples of the Geometric Pattern, the Quincunx, in England

Henry III is inspired by Roman patterns to create a two church floors Continuing a theme of traditional floor patterns from a few weeks ago, here are three variations on the quincunx. The quincunx is the name given to an arrangement of five shapes, (usually the same, for example five circles, but not necessarily so) in which four sit around one centrally placed. The first is Roman and is at an ancient site at Hurcott in Somerset. The second and third were both created under the patronage of Henry III during the 13th century. The second is the Westminster Pavement, which is reasonably well known. The third is at Canterbury Cathedral and until I read about it in an article in the Glastonbury Review, here, I was not aware that it existed. This article suggests that Henry, who was patron of two geometric floors, was inspired by seeing Roman patterns. He is shown top left processing with a controversial relic, the precious blood of Christ. All of this is detailed in the Review article.

Those who wish to know more about the quincunx and its place in the Christian tradition of geometric art can read about it here.

The Instrinsic Morality of the Free Economy

Defending the Free Market: the Moral Case for a Free Economy, by Fr Robert Sirico Is commerce and trade instrinsically moral?

Critics of capitalism would say no. Some, who acknowledge that the free market works to a degree when considered in cold economic terms only, argue that it is impersonal and encourages a selfish, individualistic outlook that is contrary to the principle of love that governs properly ordered personal interraction. Therefore, they say, it undermines faith and contains the seeds of its ultimate demise. This view can be reinforced, strangely, by some advocates of capitalism who say that in consideration of the economy, the generation of wealth is the only thing that matters and provided no laws are broken, then all moral considerations are private and for each person to sort out for themselves in isolation. Some Catholics who believe in the free market struggle to reconcile this with some papal encyclicals on Catholic social teaching that are critical of some aspects of capitalism. They do so by saying that in some matters the popes go beyond their authority. They might correctly highlight social injustice, they say, but when they start to analyse the economic causes and recommend economic policies to help, they are misguided and what they say is wrong and will not work.

Fr Sirico in his book does not take the position of any of these camps. He argues for the good of the free market, and does so on two counts. First he emphasises the good of what the market produces, quite fairly in my opinion: the importance of wealth generation, especially for relieving poverty and how it is he most effective way of achieving this aim. Second, he goes further and argues that the basis of trade, the interaction of human persons freely entering into an agreement, is intrinsically moral. In doing so he never neglects the dignity of the human person in his thinking. He establishes his argument for the value of the free market from the basis of a human anthropology that is personal (that is one in which personal relationships are critical) and cites Catholic social teaching as the basis for it. He does not  say that selfishness is a virtue, or greed is good (as some who would expect to disagree with him might expect). Neither does he argue that consideration of what is most profitable entitles anyone to disregard any other aspects of morality. On the contrary he makes that case that consideration of the common good and of others in any transaction is essential if the free markets are to work. And furthermore where this love is greatest, business flourishes the more.  Of course naked selfishness does exist as it does in all spheres of human life, but he makes the point that point that the free market is remarkably efficient in channeling even actions motivated selfishly towards the common good. This is good to know, for which of us is totally absent of selfishness in dealing with others?

In reading this, it struck me that personal freedom, properly understood, is a crucial and vital component to this for it preserves the dignity of the human person in all these interactions. It is this personal freedom that fosters the genuine love for the other in all our interactions and economic interactions are no different. It is this participation in love, properly ordered to an economic interaction, that fosters the creativity which is so much part of an economy flourishing for the common good. The place of the law and regulation in this is robustly to preserve personal freedom. The natural tendency for many in a particular market can be to try to preserve or enhance market share by restricting the access to others. Those with the power to do so will influence government to introduce laws and regulations that stifle competition and so personal freedom. Fr Sirico does not support this form of capitalism and in this regard is in the same camp as some who I have met who consider capitalism wholly bad, because it is the only form of capitalism they know of.

In 1991, John Paul II wrote: 'Can it perhaps be said that, after the failure of Communism, capitalism is the victorious social system, and that capitalism should be the goal of the countries now making efforts to rebuild their economy and society? Is this the model which ought to be proposed to the countries of the Third World which are searching for the path to true economic and civil progress? The answer is obviously complex. If by “capitalism” is meant an economic system which recognizes the fundamental and positive role of business, the market, private property and the resulting responsibility for the means of production, as well as free human creativity in the economic sector, then the answer is certainly in the affirmative, even though it would perhaps be more appropriate to speak of a “business economy”, “market economy” or simply “free economy”. But if by “capitalism” is meant a system in which freedom in the economic sector is not circumscribed within a strong juridical framework which places it at the service of human freedom in its totality, and which sees it as a particular aspect of that freedom, the core of which is ethical and religious, then the reply is certainly negative.’ (Centesimus Annus, 34, 42)

I do not know if JPII created the phrase 'free economy', but Fr Sirico's use of this phrase in the title of the book suggests to me, that he is deliberately making a connection with the encyclical here.

What has this got to do with the Way of Beauty some might ask? If artists are to flourish, they not only have to paint well, but also must be able to sell it. It seems to me that whatever system maximises 'free human creativity in the economic sector', to quote from the paragraph above, is going to be the best to support cultural renewal.

Fr Sirico's book is available from Amazon here. He is the founder of the Acton Institute, www.acton.org, the mission of which is to promote a free and virtuous society characterized by individual liberty and sustained by religious principles. This organisation, among other things, publishes books and organises lectures and educational programs. Every year has is four-day residential even which offers many lectures by an excellent faculty called 'Acton University'. residential

Psalm Tones for English - Learn to Sing Them in Half and Hour

Anyone can learn to sing the psalms Following a recent article about us singing Vespers at a local hospital, a number of people have been asking me about the music for the psalm tones that we use when we sing Vespers and Compline for the US Veterans at the VA hospital in Manchester, New Hampshire. In response to this I have put all the tones we have on a newly published page on this blog 'Psalm Tones' (see above). Before I describe what you will find there, I would just like to describe the last time we went to the veteran's hospitial in Manchester, NH. We arrived as usual and were greeted by Fr Boucher in the chapel. Nobody else was there. Fr Boucher thanked us warmly for coming and told us that several veterans had wanted to come but were too ill to go from ward to chapel, and two had died earlier that day. Fr Boucher wanted us to know how important therefore, our prayer was. So we sang Vespers and Compline just as intended and as beautifully as we could for those who could not hear us.

Coming back to the tones: these are so easy to pick up that even I can do it. Just to give you an idea, I am at the level of being able to pick out a tune on the piano with one finger reading notes from a treble clef (bass clef is beyond me).

There is an instructional video and sheet music for all the tones we have developed so far plus about a dozen examples of recorded psalms, most with scrolling score so you can see how the tone is applied to the text.

Because they are adaptable to any text, you don't need to buy any books or expensive CDs. You can apply them to your psalter - the video tells you how to mark the text so that you can do it. This means also that if you know even just one tone, then you could sing the whole psalter. As you learn more tones you can apply those too to the same text without any changes, you use exactly the same marks for each tone.

If you want sheet music for the harmonised psalm tones that you hear, then contact me direct. If we find that lots of people want them, then we'll put them up on the blog page too.

If you want  further information, sheet music or instructional CDs for the music of Paul Jernberg, including his Mass of St Philip Neri, contact Paul at cathedralchoirschool@gmail.com

Just to give you a feel for one, here is the English version of the Nunc Dimittis.

http://youtu.be/m6tmDQPgRog

And here is a plane tone without harmonisation - Mode 5

http://youtu.be/enPlj4trQ50

Statue of St Nicholas

For the feast of St Nicholas, here is an unusual representation of the saint. It comes from the Museum of Russian Icons in Clinton, Massachusetts. It is not generally part of the iconographic tradition to have sculpture, although relief carving is common. I am told that statues are not banned in Eastern churches, but it is not part of the tradition. This makes sense to me. The iconographic tradition seeks to portray man partaking of the divine nature in union with God. In accordance with this, icon painters seek to destroy the illusion of depth in icons to represent the heavenly realm which is outside time and space. Sculpture by its nature is three-dimensional so would undermine this convention. Relief carving, is common, however, this is really creating a two-dimensional image in shadow rather than creating three dimensional images; and so is consistent with the iconographic prototype. At the Museum of Russian Icons they have a large collection of Russian St Nicholas statuettes. I am always intrigued by these. They are not fully three-dimensional, but neither are they as flat as a relief carving. They remind me of early gothic sculpture in their degree of three dimensionality and because they are polychrome.  I have explanation as to why these statues were made. Or why it only seems to be in connection with certain saints. St Nicholas is one and at the museum they have a lot of similar statues of another Saint Nil, but only these two.

Send Out the L-Team - Making a Sacrifice of Praise for American Veterans

Recently when I went home to England we had a reunion of old college friends of mine. Most were not believers of any sort - I had known them since I was eighteen and so the friendships pre-date, by a long way, my conversion (I was 31 when was received into the Church and have just turned 50 fyi). It was great to catch up with everyone and see how they were getting on. I was interested by a recent decision of one. She had  given up teaching genetics at Imperial College, London and was now working for a company that would go into investment banks in the City and teach executives how to meditate to help them deal with the stress of the job. She been introduced to meditation when she took up yoga for the physical benefits and then was attracted to the 'spirituality' that is attached to it. In order to convince the executives that there is something to this Eastern meditation, they would be armed with statistics from scientific research. She said that there had been observable improvements in the condition of heart patients in hospitals when people meditated. The research shows, she said, that even if the patients did not meditate with the visitors or even if they were unaware it was happening, just have meditation going on in the building seemed to have a positive effect.

I was happy to believe that she was right and that the research backed her up. However, my reaction was that if anything good was coming out of this, then it was because it was participating in some way in Christian prayer, whether they knew it or not. I would contest that the fullness of what they are doing is in the traditional prayer of the Church and there is every chance that this would be even more powerful if done.

When I got back to the US I contacted local hospitals and asked if they would like a small group of people to come and sing Vespers on a regular basis. What is surprising and some ways dismaying, is that I couldn't find anyone who had ever heard of this being done before. There are Christian prayer groups who visit hospitals, but I don't hear of people making regular commitment (beyond the occasional concert) to pray the liturgy. Shouldn't the liturgy of the hours be one of our most powerful weapons as part of the New Evangelisation?

I didn't expect anyone to welcome us with open arms. All I wanted was for us to be tolerated, so that we could pray the Office for them. If nobody wanted to come we didn't mind, we wanted to pray for them regardless. The point in my mind was to make the personal sacrifice in prayer, praying for the well being of the patients and for the hospital as a community. Having said that, we would make every effort to chant beautifully for God regardless of how many others attend.

I was delighted when the Catholic chaplain at the VA Hospital, the American armed services veterans hospital in Manchester, New Hampshire, invited us to come in every other Monday evening. Fr Boucher is an old friend of mine and the college. Since September, myself and Dr Tom Larson from Thomas More College have been leading a group of male students in Vespers and Compline on Monday evenings. Because we were singing the psalms, we have presented it as ecumenical and administratively this enabled us to fill an available slot in the chapel and it has attracted a few non-Catholics

The veterans at the hospital know that we are there but very few have been able to come each time. Most are too ill or injured even to be able to get up one floor from the ward without someone dressing them and bringing them up and those helpers aren't always available. Even then, I am not fooling myself that large numbers want to come but can't make it. This is an unusual thing. But we are undaunted. A regular group of up to a dozen guys has been going in and singing the psalms. We keep the door open and sing loud enough so that it floats down the corridor for the wards to hear. They are always surprised at the effort we make to sing well on their behalf and in order to praise God. It has been gratifying to hear how readily those who come, many who have never been to any Office before, can sing with us, and want to. We are singing in the vernacular so that any visitor can understand and join in. Nevertheless the tones are modal and have the feel of the plainchant tradition and this I think draws them in. (They were developed for the liturgy at the college).

I am not usually the sort for public prayer. I wouldn't go out and sing in public, in this way if I didn't feel that we have is is beautiful and accessible and fits naturally with the language  I have done processions in public before, cringing with embarrassment at the songs we are singing and having to offer it up as a penance in order to keep doing it. Unlike those, I am happy to sing these in a in the range that is natural to me. They feel vigorous and masculine, yet pious and respectful of God, so we hope promoting the right internal disposition. We are doing this for soldiers after all.

For any who are interested we did some very recordings of what we have been singing (the recordings below). Some are in unison and some are harmonised.

Although I would love to see this tested, I can't comment on whether or not it measurably reduces the stress levels of heart patients, but regardless I am happy that this is benefitting these people and this community in ways that cannot be measured. I make the point to the students who come along, that one thing we can be certain of is that this is a sacrifice that is worth making. We jokingly call ourselves a crack squad from the 'L-team' (L for liturgy!)

I would like to finish by acknowedging how gracious and positive the hospital staff and the priests and ministers of various denominations at the hospital have been towards us, in allowing us to come and offering personal encouragment.

Here is the Our Father we sang (which was originally composed by Paul Jernberg, Thomas More College's Composer in Residence for his St Philip Neri Mass)

http://youtu.be/UC8kqYYbJEc

...and the Magnificat sang:

http://youtu.be/oElTV1jogS8

as you listen to these, try to remember they are not professional recordings. They are recorded on a cell phone by a group of amateurs. One of the great things about Paul's arrangements is that someone who sings as badly as me can learn my part and sing it.

Universality, Noble Accessibility and a Pop Culture that will Save the World

The principle of universality is not something I had considered in any depth at all until recently, when it was mentioned in a talk about sacred music. I have been reflecting on its meaning in other aspects of the culture and what it says to me about how I should approach my own painting. Here are some first thoughts. The word ‘catholic’ means universal. The Catholic Faith is offered to and has meaning for every human person regardless of where and when they live; Catholic culture should always, to some degree be universal too, that is, it should appeal to all peoples in the world;. recently I heard universality in the context of sacred music described in  the following way: something will have universal appeal if it does not exclude anyone from any other culture from appreciating it.

The idea, it seems to me, is an extension of that expressed also by the phrase ‘noble accessibility’ (previously discussed in this column), which says that the music that is meant to be sung by a congregation must be simple enough so that they can; and the music that is more difficult to perform and so realistically can only be sung by a choir, must be easily appreciated by the congregation and not abstruse. At the same time, there must be no compromise on the ‘nobility’ that is the beauty of any piece of music. This principle makes high demands of the composer, but not of the listener. The principle of universality says that music, and by extension all aspects of the culture should portray this noble beauty and be accessible to all people, of all times and all places. To the degree that we are able to think about this it should be there in anything that we do, but most obviously this will always apply in the arts – painting, music, architecture for example.

Some have interpreted this principle of universality as meaning that it does not belong to any place or time at all. They are saying that something is universal only to the degree that it is a-cultural, that is culturally neutral and does not characterize any time or place. As I understand it this is not what is being said at all.

Every general principle, which is understood as an abstract idea, must be manifested in a particular example. By looking at the particulars, we discern the general. Every work of art, every piece of music is a product of its time and place. A work of art that is universal is therefore both timeless and timebound, it is both homeless and planted in a particular place.

We can think of the iconographic tradition in painting to illustrate this. Every painting conveys information through what is painted – content; and how it is painted – style. While the content, for example we might paint Christ on the cross, is proscribed by the tradition, there are other traditions that legitimately portray Christ on the cross, such as the gothic or the baroque. It is the stylistic features of an icon that make it an icon, unite it with the tradition and also differentiate it from other forms of sacred art. Each characteristic element participates in the essential principles that describe an icon. These are timeless and homeless. Nevertheless every icon has a time and a home as well. Each bears the stylistic mark of the person who painted it, and as a product of a time and a place, it bears therefore, some indication of those two factors. They may not be deliberately imposed upon it by the artist, but they will come out naturally as he works. Learned students of the iconographic tradition are able to look to a previously unseen icon and just by observation of the style pin down the geographic region in which it was painted and date it to within about 50 years. Even individual painter styles are recognizable.

The purest forms of universality, I suggest, are those therefore in which every particular speaks of both a general principle and a particular time and place – and, inversely, there is no element that is time or place bound in its form and is not participating in the timeless as well.

In music Pius X isolated several aspects that are essential for music to be sacred and that are best portrayed in Gregorian Chant, which was for him the exemplar of universality in music: The more closely a Church composition approaches Gregorian Chant in movement, inspiration, and feeling, the more holy and liturgical it becomes; and the more it deviates from this supreme model, the less worthy it is of the temple.”

The most powerful manifestation of the culture is when the timeless and time- and place-bound aspects all speak to us. Every traditional aspect of Catholic culture speaks us because of its universality. However usually, because it originates in a different time and different place, part of it seems alien until we become very familiar with it. If we wish to speak instantly and powerfully to modern people then we must strive to compose and create new works of art that are consistent with the tradition but speak to people today. This is why we paint icons now and never rely on the canon of past works. So we should be thinking of composing new Gregorian chant tones for Latin and the vernacular.

There is a tendency today to assume that popular culture is low culture, but if we truly had inspired composers and artist creating new works that are universal, they would outshine the works of the secular culture and create a noble pop culture. It would appeal to the masses, not just the cognoscenti .

Let us hope that today's artists and composers can do this.

(For those who do not know what it means, you can rest assured that you are not one of the cognoscenti: the cognoscenti are the sort of people who know what cognoscenti means!)

Pictures below are of a crucifixion with figures of Our Lady and St John painted in the last two years by David Clayton. They are an early gothic style.

New Icon in the Style of the 12th century St Albans Psalter

Here is a recently completed icon by the British icon painter Peter Murphy which caught my eye. It is an image of the three angels from the account of the Hospitality of Abraham and it is in the style of the St Alban's Psalter. For comparison, the curious may wish to visit the Wikipedia page of the original psalter, which dates from the first part of the 12th century, is here.

I find the images in the Romanesque period psalter very interesting because stylistically they always strike me in the design of the figures and drapery as owing something to earlier Ottonian styles of art; but also some of the faces are in profile, anticipating an element of the future gothic style. Peter has captured all of this in his work very well I think.

It is good to see an artist seeking not only to reproduce works from the period that he loves, but also seeking to produce original designs in that style. Very helpfully for me, it arrived in my Inbox just as I was writing last week's piece about how important creativity in traditional forms is if we re-establish our traditions as living traditions.

For any who wish to contact him, Peter Murphy's email is  murphype@aol.com

Bill Nelson and Be Bop Deluxe

I have not met a mother yet who does not think that her baby is the most beautiful baby there is. When I first heard a mother saying it, I thought perhaps there was some element of irony. All babies are beautiful, I thought, but you don't really believe that yours is the most beautiful do you? I once aired these doubts. I laughed and said to the mother that every mother I had met thought that. Yes, she replied in absolute seriousness, without even a trace of irony: 'Except that my baby really is the most beautiful.' This is how the eyes of love see the beloved. I imagine this might give us insight into how God sees every single one of us. The mother is not blinded by love. Just the opposite - the scales have fallen off her eyes so that she sees the true value of that one small person. It may exist, but I have never seen the same level of devotion from fathers. In men this natural instinct seems to be misdirected and applied to more superficial things. I have seen devotion to fourth rank professional soccer team, Tranmere Rovers (who at this time in the early Eighties were averaging gates of 800 people) so great that when I asked him to explain why his beloved team was languishing at the foot of the table he replied in all seriousness, again no irony whatsoever, that it was all down to a complete season of 'bad refereeing'...nevertheless he was convinced that this wouldn't contintue, that the future held hope and tipped them for promotion the following season. This, I suggest, is blind devotion.

On a similar level of superficiality, guys have a blindness to the awfulness of the rock or pop music they grew up with. There is nothing worse than listening to somebody else's greatest hits collection on their iPod; and nothing better than listening to your own. Especially when its a 50 year old man and everything dates from the strictly delineated time period of 1973-1988, after which time all pop music 'went downhill' so demonstrating that the youth of today listen to tuneless, raucous, inane rubbish barely meriting the categorization of music (so different to what we used to listen to). After 1988 this typical man started to branch out into jazz and classical and maybe now listens to chant and polyphony. But he still won't let go of all of the rock music he grew up with, and is convinced that it has genuine artistic merit.

I might say that this hypothetical example described above applied to me...except that the music I have downloaded onto my iShuffle really is the best from a golden age of popular culture when there was genuine musicianship and that everybody should be able to appreciate it!

And to prove it here is a video of the singer/songwriter from one of my favourite groups from the late 1970s, Bill Nelson whose group was Be Bop Deluxe. When I was surfing around the net one day, I was amazed to come across this old interview with him in which he does describe the process of inspiration as something that comes from God. This is all I need, I thought, reference to God will justify its inclusion in this blog....

Joking aside, regardless of what you think of my taste for out-of-date pop music (which is probably slightly worse than I think it is), I would love to see a new popular music appear as part of the New Evangelisation. It is an assumption of many people today that what sells appeals to the lowest common denominator and can never raise people's souls to God. I do not agree. However, the answer is not, repeat not, Christian rock as we hear it today (which is just a pale version of the forms) which no self-respecting rock fan would every really listen to. Rather, it is up to Christians to find music that is entertaining and accessible, that is powerful and beautiful. If what is good appeals to something that is ordered in us, it will always have a greater appeal than that which appeals to what is disordered in us. This will involve consideration of harmonic forms as well as the words and might well include also modern developments in rhythm and electrical manipulation of sound. Just like any aspect of the culture, provided it is employed discerningly it can be transformed into something good.

I do not know what such music will sound like. While I think it is unlikely that it could convert, it can begin to open the door to something better. The groups that I gravitated to when I was listening, I found out afterwards, were often those who avoided the rock'n'roll blues scales and harmonies, and used more conventional harmony and counterpoint. It may be a surprise to some that such groups did exist and I know of one or two trying to do this now. George Sarah in California is one. This stimulated a desire for something more that took me to classical music and ultimately liturgical.

So for any whose interest persists, here is some music by the 'fastest guitarist in Wakefield' Bill Nelson. Some from their heyday in the Seventies and a recent recording of him playing the 1975 song Maid in Heaven, now 63 and still very sharp and clear in voice and instrumental technique. The first one is the interview of him after this in the 1980s when he became more art-house in his approach. In regard to this it is interesting that even in guitar playing he describes how important, just as in the training of painting, the imitation of great masters was in helping him to learn (in this case the Old Masters were his boyhood guitar heroes!)

Interview from the 1980s

Kiss of Light

Surreal Estate

Maid in Heaven - 2012