AUGUSTINE'S
DILEMMA
40x26"
Photo: Grace
James: For me, this is the strongest
statement piece in the book so far. To place such an image in
a church using church art is taking quite a bold step - even
for me. Actually, I feel honored to be the vehicle that delivered
this response to Augustine's dilemma. This one goes right to
the core (as it should) in addressing arguably the most radical
concepts ever administered against humanity. Such dogma - the
story of Adam and Eve and the serpent, the subsequent Fall through
Original Sin into a Predestination of Eternal Damnation - has
caused more suffering and fear in our world directly and indirectly
than could possibly be tallied. This is Augustine's legacy to
the Western psyche. I had been brooding on this while doing this
painting. One morning I awoke with the title in my head. Perfect.
.......In my version of Michelangelo's
famous rendition from the Sistine Chapel, I have taken artistic
license and portrayed Adam taking the apple himself - thereby
taking responsibility - and Eve giving a high-five to Lilith
the serpent.
.......Here we present the brave Venus,
whose confident expression seems to say, "Yes, I am a sexual
being. So what?" She is astride her lover - who, by the
way, may or may not be Mars (Hear that, Augustine?) - in a truly
holy way.
.......Yes, it's a strong piece, but
Augustine's dilemma calls for a strong response. The fact that
his paranoia and guilt have so permeated humanity for 1,600 years
and is still going strong to this day is incomprehensible. That's
my dilemma.
Becca: St. Augustine (354-430 CE),
living at the time of the collapse of the Roman Empire, shepherded
the Christian Church into its role of world institution and world
conqueror. His doctrine gave the new power in Rome, through the
papacy, a stranglehold on Western civilization. "Augustine
was the most powerful and influential Christian thinker and teacher
for a thousand years, so his impact was vast." (Bishop John
Shelby Spong, Into the Whirlwind - the Future of the Church).
According to Rev. David Redding, his books "remain the basic
brains of Christianity". The misogynist ideas of Augustine,
St. Paul, Tertullian, and Jerome replaced the more egalitarian
and feminist teachings of Jesus Christ as Church doctrine. Thanks
largely to Augustine, many people up to this day believe that
because of the myth of Adam's and Eve's fruit-tasting fiasco
in the Garden of Eden, all babies are born sinners (and this
"Original Sin" is Woman's fault), women are agents
of evil, sex and lust are disgusting, bodies are to be ashamed
of, and the only relief from the crushing guilt of our natural
state is through absolution by a Church official.
.......In the two months that I contemplated
the painting, I wondered how this one man from a backwater of
the Roman Empire could have reached across the millennia to appear
in my earliest Sunday school lessons in the Midwestern US. I
learned about his life: his juvenile delinquency, his guilt,
his mother ever trying to convert him to Christianity, his zealous
study of the classics, his rise to power. My reading of his Confessions
and other writings revealed not only a brilliant intellectual,
but also a tortured man. This allowed me to transcend the considerable
anger I felt about what Augustine's doctrine had wrought for
women and the Western world, so that by the time I wrote the
poem, Venus' compassionate voice came through.
.......In the poem, Venus is looking
down from the painting and addressing Augustine about the struggle
he feels between Nature (his body) and his perception of Heaven
(his mind). Since he was versed in classical Greek literature,
he would have recognized Terpsichore, Muse of Dance, who appears
to lend rhyme and rhythm to the ending lines of each stanza.
Other women appear: Maria (Jesus' mother), Monica (Augustine's
mother), and the Great Goddess (Earth Mother) - who, along with
Venus, challenge him to accept them as well as to accept his
own feminine side. In order to ground him in his body, Venus
repeatedly refers to our physical nature (eyes, ears, arms, feet,
groin) and sexual potential ("sweaty dance", "delicious
friction", "Creation"). Venus uses Christian terminology
to speak to this Church Father: "avert your eyes",
"Creation", "sword", "worship",
"eternal damnation", "salvation", and of
course, "confession". The central themes of Augustine's
teachings are danced into the ground by Terpsichore: separation
("split"), fear, blame, shame, control ("tame"),
hell, punishment, and the authority of the Church (Rome). Venus
humorously rebukes his stance against Nature - his putting on
a "mask of suffering" - as short-sighted penile vision,
i.e. "cock-eyed". She reminds him that he, like everybody,
is part of Nature. The Goddess of Love then entreats him to follow
his natural homing instinct - as if it were a flight path to
the yoni - and unite the Feminine and Masculine in his inner
and outer being.
.......Augustine's dilemma is not only
whether to accept or deny his physical nature, but that his actions
as Bishop of Hippo will sever him from his humanity as well as
his spirituality. Venus dares him to become whole by receiving
her unconditional love, guiltlessly and effortlessly.
_____________________________
Excerpted
from The Pillow Book of
Venus and Her Lover - Reinventing the Myth by
Becca Tzigany and James Bertrand
©
2004 Copyrighted material
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