(no subject)

[adrienmundi]

I've always kind of liked The Prophecy. Aside from the obvious reasons (Christopher Walken, a war between angels, etc.), what really made this memorable for me was Viggo Mortensen's portrayal of Lucifer, which is arguably the best I can recall ever seeing on screen. The defining moment for me was when he was explaining to Elias Koteas what damnation was really about:

"Do you know what hell is? It's being removed from god's sight."(1)

That's always stuck with me, despite being about as agnostic as you can find; (2) I think it was the sentiment with which I identified, not the specifics.

Today, pondering my relationship with aesthetics, that kept bubbling up from my subconscious. The applicability finally hit me, specifically in regards to that slight-to-sometimes-huge feeling of sadness/unfulfill-ed/-able longing that accompanies an appreciation of the beautiful. So, with appropriate substitutions:

"Do you know what hell is? It's being removed from the beautiful."

That pretty much sums it up, alright.





(1) paraphrasing from memory; forgive potential inaccuracies.
(2) a gnostic (wannabe) with no experience of gnosis

Comments

[scottopic.livejournal.com]

I'm reading Zelanzy's Lord of Light, and there was a passage that addresses that almost word for word. I"ll dig it out and post it.

(Still hunting for mp3 version of the Bill Hicks stuff I wanted you to experience)

[adrienmundi]

Regarding gnosis, or aethetics?

Yes.

[scottopic.livejournal.com]

It's more of a Buddhist spin on it.
It's too long for a reply, so I made a page.
Zelanzy wasn't as sublime of a fantasy-scifi-dry-humor writer as say Moore or Gaiman, in my opinion, but I think you'll get the gist of it.

Re: Yes.

[adrienmundi]

Interesting, and I agree with your assessment of Zelazny; he aspired to be like Sturgeon, but couldn't pull it off, and so injected a dry/sly humor that didn't quite connect, in my opinion.

I guess I was alluding to what feels like a necessary precondition for aesthetic appreciation, namely a seperation from the beautiful, and a desire, possibly hopeless, to connect with it.

[chapel-of-words.livejournal.com]

That was indeed a most kickass movie. It came out about the same time Shades of Divinity was being released so there was a lot of hope one would spark interest in the other, it didn't of course but was still fun. =)

Have you read City of God by Augustine? Prophecy is pulling in part from his tradition that hell/evil is simply what is outside of the sight of God.

Tim C.

[adrienmundi]

I've read exerpts of City of God; Augustine remains my favorite of the Catholic saints, simply because he doesn't disavow his past.

[anansi133.livejournal.com]

I think most people make their arguments from a place of aesthetics, they believe in what is beautiful to them first. Then when they've made up their mind, that's when they invent rational arguments to support their ideas. But it's beauty that comes before truth.