#the sacred in the profane

[pepperhatter]

swap and coworkers AUs

[gnossienne]

Jeanette Winterson, Sexing the Cherry (1989)

[blackswaneuroparedux]

If Caravaggio were alive today today, he would have loved the cinema; his paintings take a cinematic approach. We filmmakers became aware of his work in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and he certainly was an influence on us. The best part for us was that in many cases he painted religious subject-matter but the models were obviously people from the streets; he had prostitutes playing saints. There’s something in Caravaggio that shows a real street knowledge of the sinner; his sacred paintings are profane.

Martin Scorsese on Caravaggio

Michelangelo Merisi, known to most of us as “Caravaggio,” was born on September 29, 1571 in Milan, Italy, to parents who were from the small town of Caravaggio. In the span of his 38 years long life he revolutionised painting with innovations like a unique use of chiaroscuro - with dark shadows contrasting with dramatic areas of light - and a deep sense of realism that later inspired the Baroque movement. But most of all, he developed such an iconic style that most of us can probably look at a painting and know if it’s a Caravaggio, or Caravaggio-inspired. 

Merisi spent the first few years of his life in Milan, studying painting, and later moved to Rome, where his early talent impressed Cardinal Del Monte, who introduced the young painter to other high-profile Catholic figures who became commissioners of some of Caravaggio’s best work. It seemed there was no end to the artist’s creative genius. Caravaggio, much to his patron’s delight, would pump out one masterpiece after another. It seemed the more out of control his personal life became (cheating, brawling and murder were standard fare), the more his art would become more refined, more potent.

In the long list of masterpieces he left behind, both secular and religious works stand out. But it is perhaps in his religious works that the artistic transition of the master is more evident. Caravaggio is, in fact, known to have changed his style after harsh personal life experiences led him to reassess his outlook on life.

In May of 1606 Caravaggio took part in a deadly brawl in Rome and was charged with murder. He fled to Malta, in search of asylum from the Order of Saint John, a Catholic order dedicated to helping the sick and the poor. The order commissioned some of the most important late life works of the Milanese artist.

It is in these works that we notice the shift in Caravaggio’s art, from a strong focus on aesthetics to an interest in the spirituality of his subjects, which critics believe was motivated by his own introspection.

On the streets surrounding the churches and palaces, brawls and sword fights were regular occurrences. In the course of this desperate life Caravaggio created the most dramatic paintings of his age, using ordinary men and women - often prostitutes and the very poor - to model for his depictions of classic religious scenes.

By representing biblical characters in a naturalistic fashion, typically through signs of aging and poverty, Caravaggio's populist modernisation of religious parables were little short of trailblazing. Although not without his critics within the church, by effectively humanising the divine, Caravaggio made Christianity more relevant to the ordinary viewer.

For some, though, his art was too real. Bare shoulders, plunging necklines, severed heads; this raw humanity didn’t always fly in 17th century Rome. As a result, many of his pieces were rejected as altar pieces and as church hangings. One such piece, the Madonna of Loretto (now hanging in a church in Rome) was widely criticised upon its unveiling. The people of the day were shocked to behold the Mother of God leaning nonchalantly against a wall in her bare feet while holding baby Jesus in her arms.

It is ironic that the very art that today we consider “classical” and “iconic” to the Catholic faith was considered questionable and perhaps void of modesty and virtue. Yet, the fact remains that no individual artist has made such a lasting impression on the world of modern art. Truly, many have called Caravaggio the “first modern artist”. It is no surprise, then, that his style has sparked both widespread admiration and imitation throughout the centuries.

Before Pope John Paul II refined a theology of the body beautiful, Caravaggio's paintings suggested a reverence for the inherent beauty of human form.

Troubled though he may have been, his art speaks eloquently of the dignity of the mundane. Though the original medium may be weathered and cracked, the message of beauty still echoes down the centuries. And this same beauty still fuels, escapes and reduces artists to relentless seekers as surely and as forcefully as it did in Caravaggio's life.

[thirdity]

The illusory paradise that represented a total denial of earthly life is no longer projected into the heavens, it is embedded in earthly life itself.

Guy Debord, Society of the Spectacle

[noosphe-re]

Every sacred space implies a hierophany, an irruption of the sacred that results in detaching a territory from the surrounding cosmic milieu and making it qualitatively different.

Mircea Eliade, The Sacred and the Profane

[tio-trile]

I watched the show first, and then the book, and I have to agree about the dove.

Like Show Azi is such a lovely soft character and then that last episode hits, and he's gonna kill Adam? Huh?? This guy ???¿?? I was gobsmacked, it made no sense at all. But it was also only one part and all's well that ends well, so I didn't question it.

Then I read the book. And Aziraphale is. Well, he's trying to be nice. He gives away the sword and he's polite to everyone. But the people who menace his shop disappear, and he's very comfortable with lying, and making temptations, and he kills a dove and doesn't even care. Ah, yes. This is someone who would consider killing Adam to save the world. He'd feel so bad about it! But he absolutely would. Hot take: Aziraphale would've thrown the basket.

Oh yeah, it makes way more sense for Book!Aziraphale's character, because show!Aziraphale has always been so soft and so good. I hadn't thought about how someone who watched the show first would react to that before, haha! And yes, you are correct about book!Aziraphale. That bastard.

[utilitymonstermash]

There's a certain portion of the online right that views the "obvious falseness" of some of the left's sacred truths as something akin to a loyalty test or occasionally a demonstration of submission.

Well the literal corporeal resurrection of Jesus Christ has got to be one of the most obviously absurd and false "sacred truths" of all time.

[gaasuba]

The Fine Line Between Sacred And Profane

Tags: Fluff. Comfort. Gayatri needs and gets a hug

Preview: "Miles..." Gayatri's voice is quiet, and she sounds uncertain as she looks at her lap. It's so unlike her. Pavitr grips Miles' hand tightly as they wait for her to continue. "Do you and the others... not like me?"

Link to AO3

Miles barely manages to not stumble when he lands on the other side of the portal in 50101. He hasn't seen Pavitr in so long, both of them busy with school work, but now that it's summer break he can pop in unannounced without worry! Or.... Almost without worry. His excited grin falters when he sees Gayatri's startled expression. Of course he forgot to check if she was here. He feels incredibly embarrassed by his lack of consideration. She and Pavitr are sitting like they were just having tea together.

"Oh! H-hey you guys. I'm sorry. Is this a bad time? I can... go..." he says awkwardly, pointing back at where his portal just closed.

"Of course not!" Pavitr shouts, ecstatic to see him after being apart for so long. He does a flip over the kitchen table between them then pulls Miles into a tight hug, lifting him and spinning a full 360 on his heel, "I've missed you so much!" Miles laughs and hugs back just as tight, briefly reassured by Pavitr's words, but when he glances at Gayatri she still seems upset.

"Miles..." Gayatri's voice is quiet, and she sounds uncertain as she looks at her lap. It's so unlike her. Pavitr grips Miles' hand tightly as they wait for her to continue. "Do you and the others... not like me?"

"Gayatri, no!" Pavitr answers instinctually, but the unexpected question leaves Miles stunned for a moment. "Why would you think that!?" Bless Pav for asking what he's thinking.

"Everyone seems kind of... afraid of me?" As she speaks, Pavitr lets go of Miles' hand and runs the short distance back to the table to hold her's instead. "Everyone seems so disappointed to see me when they show up unannounced. Like you did just now." Her words along with the crack in her voice make their hearts ache. Pavitr sits to pull her into a firm hug from her side and she leans into it. "Even Hobie, who's usually so affectionate with all of their friends, they still keep their distance... At first I thought it was maybe just that I'm a celebrity. I'm used to that!" her voice spikes near the end but lowers again as she continues, her tears finally spilling over, "I thought if I was patient you would all get over it and I could finally be a proper part of everything, but-"

"I think you're amazing!" Miles blurts out, cutting her off and causing her to look up at him in surprise. He kind of surprised himself.

"Then why...?"

Pavitr starts fidgeting with his watch to send a group message.

"Because you're so cool and beautiful and... You!" Miles gestures at her as if that makes his language failure make more sense, and he can feel his face grow hot in embarrassment. "Pav is so crazy lucky to have you, and...!" He pauses to get his volume back under control, "and you've been so chill about the whole polyamory thing. None of us wanted to mess that up by being too much, you know?" Gayatri looks like she's going to cry harder. Miles' watch beeps with his notification for the cule's group chat and resists checking it, figuring it must be what Pavitr was typing.

"So... So you've just been trying to be polite? All this time??" A portal opens before Miles can answer, it's art style obvious, and Hobie shoots out of it, landing more gracefully than Miles had.

"So what's the emer-"

Pavitr interrupts them by quickly snatching up Gayatri and shoving her into their arms, startling them both. Then he steps back, covering his mouth and nose like he's praying the hug will cure her of a deadly poison and barely believes it's possible.

"So... what's all this then?" Hobie asks, holding Gayatri at the hight he had handed her to them, and Pavitr briefly uncovers his mouth to answer.

"Gayatri thinks you hate her!" he shouts, then returns his hands to his face.

"I think," Miles continues uncertainly, "I think she's wanted to be a part of the cule ever since Pavitr joined." Hobie's eyes widen, their brow furrows, and they hug Gayatri tighter.

"Every movie night," Gayatri says, her voice muffled by Hobie's shoulder as she hugs them under their battle jacket, "you get comfortable with someone in your lap." Her breath hitches before she continues, "Anyone but me." There's a brief silence filled with nothing but Gayatri's sob and attempts to catch her breath. In that moment, Gwen's portal appears and she leaps out gracefully.

"What's the emergency??"

"Emergency movie night," Hobie replies curtly, walking past her as they lift Gayatri's legs to hold her proper, then shifting their full attention to her. "You got a regular comfort show, love?" She nods against their shoulder. "You got that then, Pav?" they ask a bit louder while Miles and Gwen follow attentively behind, not wanting to miss a moment they might be needed.

"Of course!" Pavitr replies, rushing past them all to start setting up.

[vincentpriceofficial]

The Vampire Lestat / The Sadeian Woman

[majestativa]

Oh if you could see yourself shaking […] While the melodious saint whom you had to entice spills clouds of incense on his knees thanking the Lord and you cannot love him Christus vicisti The ivory of the crucifix overcomes the ivory of your belly.

— Dino Campana, Orphic Songs, transl by I. L. Salomon, (1968)

[gnossienne]

P I E T À Sancta Maria, Mater Crucifixi: lacrymas impertire nobis crucifixoribus Filii tui, nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen. interview with the vampire, 1x07: and the thing lay still (2022) // crespi (1626) // di ribera (c. 1633) // bouguereau (1876)

[blackswaneuroparedux]

The concepts of the holy and the sacred are, or ought to be, of considerable interest to the philosopher. For they show how great the disparity can be, between the concepts through which we perceive the world, and those which we use to explain it.

- Sir Roger Scruton

St.Isaac's Cathedral, St.Petersburg, Russia.

[thirdity]

By virtue of creation, and still more the incarnation, nothing here is profane for those who know how to see.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Divine Milieu

[noosphe-re]

A whole volume could well be written on the myths of modern man, on the mythologies camouflaged in the plays that he enjoys, in the books that he reads. The cinema, that "dream factory," takes over and employs countless mythical motifs—the fight between hero and monster, initiatory combats and ordeals, paradigmatic figures and images (the maiden, the hero, the paradisal landscape, hell, and so on). Even reading includes a mythological function, not only because it replaces the recitation of myths in archaic societies and the oral literature that still lives in the rural communities of Europe, but particularly because, through reading, the modern man succeeds in obtaining an "escape from time" comparable to the "emergence from time" effected by myths. Whether modern man "kills" time with a detective story or enters such a foreign temporal universe as is represented by any novel, reading projects him out of his personal duration and incorporates him into other rhythms, makes him live in another "history."

Mircea Eliade, The Sacred and The Profane: The Nature of Religion

[tio-trile]

after watching s2 i have decided to simply ignore most of it. i found it entertaining enough and i liked some parts of it, but it doesn't feel canon. canon is a sliding scale and s2 is only slightly above my favorite non-canon compliant fanfic.

That's good that you're able to enjoy it as fanfiction! I unfortunately require even my fanfiction to be canon-compliant and in-character.

[gulava]

When the darkness falls, will we be found worthy of the precious light the legend speaks of? I must have these answers.