One tidbit I picked up from reading Chaim Potok’s fantastic novel, My Name Is Asher Lev, is that when an author paints a nude, it is a test of his character. Will the painter be overwhelmed by the beauty of the girl being painted, or will he be controlled enough that his desires won’t hinder him from creating a great painting? If the painter is not temperate enough, his painting will show it; and, if the painter is temperate, than he will be able to see the subject clearly and to paint her effectively.
As the painter during the painting of the nude is tested, I am sure that the author of books about sexuality, marriage, and the like is tested. If the author is temperate, he can gaze at his subject (so to speak) and discern its essence, its inner workings. If the author of such a book is not in control of himself, then the book will be a disaster, without as much depth of insight and generally stuck up on issues that are not of the essence of the subject.
We all know that lust clouds our thinking, making it nearly impossible to think clearly, leaving us mentally blind until the bout of lust either passes, is fought off, or is run away from. This is what struck me as I read the long, scholarly, and insightful apologetic for the Catholic Church’s stance on marriage, Theology of the Body, written by the late Pope John Paul II. That a celibate man can write such a profound book on the topic of marriage is astounding to me.
It is obvious to me that John Paul II was very temperate, that is, very much in control of his thoughts and desires. If he were not temperate, he would have been unable to share so profoundly, as a master painter, his insights into marital life, as his mental vision would have been clouded by other, probably less pure, thoughts. It is easy for the mind to wander, to be clouded, for the power of intellectual sight to be blurred, but this is not the case with John Paul II’s Theology of the Body.
May we all be so temperate, so clear-minded, and so profound. This will be difficult in a sex crazed culture. John Paul II is a testament, a witness, to the possibility of temperance in our time.
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5 comments:
Hey, these are cool thoughts. Do you know of any examples of nude paintings where you think the painter got overwelmed in lust? Just curious about what that would look like.
Is it a chracter test if a female paints a nude female? I think that the feminine form is 'beautiful' in a way that a masuline one isn't, but it isn't to say that I'm attracted to it. Does that make sense?
Thanks for your comments Colette!! Unfortunately I do not know of any nude paintings that have gone awry due to intemperance. Actually, I do not know much about paint and I am afraid that I am not quite temperate enough to look at nudes with temperate eyes. However, some of the pictures in the stalls in men’s bathrooms come to mind, as those ‘artists’ obviously cannot seem to see real beauty, but get caught up on their lust. Lol. I was simply going off the knowledge of a painter to know that the nude can be a test of the painter (Chaim Potok, the author of My Name is Asher Lev, likes to paint… and I wholeheartedly recommend that book by the way.)
Temperance is the perfect state of virtue where we are in control of the primordial desires such as the desires for food and sex. This means that we can be temperate about anything to do with sex or food, and the more temperate we actually are the more natural and easy it will be for us to approach food and sex without sin.
Absolutely, the female form is more beautiful than man’s! Beauty is usually about things like colour, symmetry, and shape; and men have little of any of those. My wife has said that women are beautiful and men are more about function. I was somewhat insulted at the time she said this, but now I think it is totally true.
Women can be sexually attracted to other women, and so I am sure that the beauty of another women can be a hindrance to some; so, this is an issue of temperance. Fortunately, most men and women are not attracted to people of the same sex, and so most people are temperate in this way.
But also, there are two sides to intemperance (1= desire too much; 2= desire to little). And so people who do not love beauty for what it is worth are not temperate either; and those who feel uncomfortable painting nudes (of models of the same or opposite sex) who feel uncomfortable are not really being temperate either.
Sorry for the (way too long) response! Hopefully this all made sense.
Yeah, it does make sense! Well, I've never been inside a men's bathroom stall, but I can imagine what those pictures probably look like. In the case of photography, then yeah, the world has no shortage of images where evoking lust wasn't even an accident due to lack of temperance, it was the prime objective.
But photos are so split second. I was curious about the paintings because a painting takes hours to complete. I know that within a few hours, your outlook on something can potentially change drastically. And people can get used to things quickly. I envisioned one painter starting out with the sentiment of "Holy cow, a naked woman!!" and beginning his painting in lust. But gradually moving to a state of, "Yes, a naked woman," and finishing the painting in a more controlled manner, merely appreciating her beauty. But then there was the painter beside him who began his painting with temperance, but yet, the more he looks at her, the less control he has over his desire. He starts in temperance but ends in lust. As an artist myself, I really do wonder how the two finished paintings would differ.
I guess the timing of your post kind of got me too, because earlier this week I began a picture (not a painting, but a piece of art in Adobe Fireworks) of an angel in profile, waist up. Struggling with what she should wear, I thought, "maybe nothing?" And then read your post hours later. The coincidence was just funny ;)
Haha. Actually, I didn't mean "pictures" as in "photographs", but as in "some-dude-took-a-sharpie-marker-
and-drew-something-extremely-
inappropriate." Bathroom stall art.
I love the scenario you set up with those two painters...and I would add two other painters. 1) the completely temperate painter; and, 2) the completely intemperate painter. Very interesting.
Yes, there have been some funny conincidences with this post and some readers. You have been the second to report such a coincidence. And if you go to my Facebook homepage, find where I linked to this post, and look at the comment my buddy Josh put on. Now that was hilarious to read!
Ahaha, that's hilarious!
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