Aesthetics of love & death
Friday, March 4th, 2016[ by Charles Cameron — relics of a catacombs martyr, St Valentine and more ]
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There are times when the DoubleQuote format is confining, and the comparative method it is based on could be uswed effectively with more than two examples. Here consider also:
The Tamil Tiger martyr Jenny, as discussed in a fascinating article by anthropologist Michael Roberts aka Thuppahi, Death and Eternal Life: contrasting sensibilities in the face of corpses:
The Al-Qaida martyr al-Zubayr al-Sudani as screencapped by Chris Anlazone:
And the Irish Catholic martyr Michael Collins as portrayed in death by Sir John Lavery:
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Buddha is reported to have said:
Of all the footprints, that of the elephant is supreme. Similarly, of all mindfulness meditation, that on death is supreme.
The cover of American Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky‘s book of poems, Gulf Music, features a Tibetan Buddhist Dance of Death:
Likewise, the Jesuit St Peter Faber meditates on the crucifixion and death of Christ:
Jesus Christ, may your death be my life
and in your dying may I learn how to live.
May your struggles be my rest,
Your human weakness my courage,
Your embarrassment my honor,
Your passion my delight,
Your sadness my joy,
in your humiliation may I be exalted.
In a word, may I find all my blessings in your trials.
Amen.
while Hans Holbein invites us to contemplate death behind the varied appearances of human life:
