"La journée sera rude" ("The day will be hard"). -Robert-François Damiens, speaking on the morning of his death by dismemberment at the hands of the state (it's Wikipedia, but I still wouldn't click the link if you have a normal stomach) for his attempt on the life of French king Louis XV. Spoiler It was indeed a hard day for him. People suck. I don't think the artist was sympathetic to Mr Damiens either.
Yes, I've read this one before (and Ravaillac was punished in the same manner before him). And you're right: Spoiler people suck. It makes me wonder why humanity thinks that Absolutist Monarchy, where the monarch is seen as being so close to a god, is such a wonderful system. Ideas, anyone?
"A spring morning alone in the woods. Sunrise: the enormous yoke of energy spreading and spreading as if to take over the entire sky. After that: the ceremonies of the birds feeding in the wet grass. . . . Then the quiet, totally silent, dry, sun-drenched mid-morning of spring, under the climbing sun." Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander Happy Easter morning, all.
Happy Easter, Graham. Lots of folks must have, otherwise they wouldn't have continually plopped for the monarchical system ... or trued to be the king. Not always. In July 1830, Charles X of France abdicated, and his son Louis-Antoine (the last “Dauphin”, or heir apparent) succeeded him as King Louis XIX. But within 20 minutes, Louis-Antoine also abdicated, thus becoming the shortest reigning monarch in history. Royal squabbles always remind me of the "Crucifixion Scene" in The Life of Brian. "I'm the king!" "No, I'm the king!" "I'm the king, and so is my wife!"
That quote puzzles me, because the name "Gianna" is female, but the speaker identifies as male ('grandson' etc.) I looked up the name and found it should really be Gianni Crow. He has a profile on X, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, and also makes art.
Job 1:7 - The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the Lord, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.”
So Satan was a drifter! Cool. I can just imagine him trying to hitch a ride ... in the 60s ... with a guy who's just been to Woodstock and is therefore stoned. "Hey, where you goin', man?" "Nowhere special." "Cool. Haven't been there in ages. Hop in, Child o' Darkness." "That's Prince of Darkness!" "Whatever, man, it's cool. Hop in."
“The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.” ― Elie Wiesel
No problem. And thank you for asking. By the way, just so you're aware ... I paraphrased the "nowhere special" joke from the ending of "Blazing Saddles", a film I very much respect and admire. (Happy Trails, Gene Wilder, Cleavon Little, Madeline Khan, Harvey Korman and friends. Mel Brooks FTW). If you've never seen the movie, you should. Everyone should see that movie at least once. And preferably many times. It skewers bigotry of many kinds (racism, sexism, and homophobia) so neatly, so subtly, it's even possible to overlook that it's a parody, until you start thinking for a second. Here's the scene: Sorry for the (short) rant. Thanks for listening.
"Once you open, you're open to the whole thing -- both the sorrow and the beauty. It's a whole different experience of being alive." Pema Chodron.
Just re-watched it a couple weeks ago but didn't catch your reference. Thanks for the idea of Satan as a rambler!
Hmm. This reminds me so much of the following quote: 'Magrat would be the first to admit that she had an open mind. It was as open as a field, as open as the sky. No mind could be more open without special surgical implements. And she was always waiting for something to fill it up. What it was currently filling up with was the search for inner peace and cosmic harmony and the true essence of Being. When people say “An idea came to me” it isn’t just a metaphor. Raw inspirations, tiny particles of self-contained thought, are sleeting through the cosmos all the time. They get drawn to heads like Magrat’s in the same way that water runs into a hole in the desert.' (Terry Pratchett, Witches Abroad) You're very welcome. (Sorry, upcoming rant-slash-maybe-discussion). I'm no theologian, but I was wondering what Satan-as-drifter would be like. There are so many names for this entity - Satan, the Devil, Lucifer, Father of Lies, the Arch-Tempter etc. - that I was recently surprised to be reminded that the name 'Lucifer' means 'bearer of light' or 'morning star' (and incidentally, also the name for the planet Venus, because it's the brightest of all planets). Satan was the greatest of all the angels, and he rebelled. Why? The details differ depending on who is writing the story, but there is never much detail. Could there have been a world in which Lucifer and God were reconciled? No 'War in Heaven', as the Book of Revelation puts it? What would it be like? I'm sorry if that sounds naive or irreligious. I'd like to know. A world with no Great Enemy, a world locked in stasis, with God and his angels forever in amity, and mortal-kind never advancing beyond the Garden. On the other hand, no Satan means no temptation for Eve; no Original Sin; no sin at all; and no need for hell or redemption. We would all be perfect in God's eyes, and He and his angels would love us all very much and admit us all into heaven. Perhaps this is what Satan-as-drifter would ask himself: why would a world like that be so bad? Why must there be conflict? To ask the old, trite question: Why can't we all get along? And if I knew the reason for that, I'd be a genius ...
In my WIP, there was no "War in Heaven" exactly, it was a union action by a group of angels, led by Satan, who were suffering from PTSD after the slaughter of the firstborn in Egypt. They went on strike, and as part of the eventual settlement were exiled to Hell (which isn't that bad of place, really) and became tied to linear time instead of the Eternity that God and the loyal angels live in. It's a comedy. With some really tragic moments that make even Satan Herself cry.
