MAN’S RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

Whenever one puts pen to paper, there is a chasm between what one desires to express and what is written down. It is the same if one puts paint on canvas, or carves marble with chisel; there is always a chasm between the imagination and the expression. With words in particular, all words have a variety of meanings, as any dictionary makes clear, and even those meanings change with usage in contemporary speech. It is a completely forlorn task to try to define exactly the meaning of words, unless for some temporary expedient, such as the interpretation of an Act of Parliament. The Hebrew Prophets tried to overcome this difficulty by saying, “This is the very word of the Lord”; but even they, marvellously inspired as they were, overlooked that their God had to speak to their characters, which would necessarily interpret the still small voice in the light of the promptings of experience and conscience. Perhaps with music, which is called the language of the soul, the chasm is most nearly bridged, but not quite. It is interesting to consider the last works of, say, Beethoven; the last string quartets to some people are sublime, to others just the work of a musician who was obviously deaf. Or Bach's Musical Offering and Art of Fugue, which he no doubt considered the consummation of his art; much as I love his Church Cantatas, I find these two works almost unbearable to listen to. The fault no doubt is mine; but for me beauty is left too far behind. I know all too well that beauty, even incredible beauty, can be flawed, so I do not agree that truth and beauty are synonymous; but I go along with Keats that it is difficult to separate them. The “last works” that I do find sublime are Michelangelo's Captives. The unfinished human figure seems to be struggling to escape from the discipline of chisel and marble into a world of pure spirit; and it is spirit which is the reality that can never be imprisoned in words, or in paint, or in marble. Hence there is always a chasm, and must always be a chasm; otherwise spirit would cease to be the reality, and matter (even beautiful matter) would take its place. Similarly there is always a gap between people, however well they know…