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In Andrei Rublev’s icon of the Trinity, all three figures have blue in their clothing: a bright azure blue which stands out from the predominant warm golden yellows.

Commentaries on the icon refer to this as the blue of the sky, representing divinity. Investigating the correlation of blue with divinity takes us down some surprising and intriguing avenues.

In A Field Guide to Getting Lost, Rebecca Solnit discusses ‘the blue of distance’. As she explains, the sky is blue because light at the blue end of the spectrum is scattered by air molecules as it travels from the sun to us.

It is the ‘light that does not touch us, does not travel the whole distance, the light that gets lost’ which ‘gives us the beauty of the world, so much of which is in the color blue’. She continues:

For many years, I have been moved by the blue at the far edge of what can be seen, that color of horizons, of remote mountain ranges, of anything far away. The color of that distance is the color of an emotion, the color of solitude and of desire, the color of there seen from here, the color of where you are not. And the color of where you can never go.

Blue, therefore, would seem to be a particularly apt colour with which to represent divinity.

The association of divinity with blue goes back much further than Rublev and fifteenth century Russia.

Over a thousand years earlier, the fourth century monk Evagrius of Pontus (an intellectual who fled Constantinople for the solitude of the desert after falling in love with a married woman) wrote of prayer: ‘Prayer is a state of the mind that arises under the influence of the unique light of the Holy Trinity’ (Reflections 27).

He specified the colour of that light:

When the mind has put off the old self and shall put on the one born of grace, then it will see its own state in the time of prayer resembling sapphire or the colour of heaven; this state scripture calls the place of God that was seen by the elders on Mount Sinai. (On Thoughts 39)

If someone should want to behold the state of his mind, let him deprive himself of all mental representations, and then he shall behold himself resembling sapphire or the colour of heaven. (Reflections 2)

The light of the Trinity, which suffuses the mind in the highest forms of prayer, is sapphire blue, the colour of heaven. Evagrius did not reach this conclusion as a result of abstract thought, but on the basis of a particular biblical verse: Exodus 24:10.

In the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible (the Septuagint) with which he will have been familiar, it reads: ‘And they saw the place, there where the God of Israel stood, and that which was beneath his feet, like something made from sapphire brick and like the appearance of the firmament of heaven in purity.’

At this point in Exodus, the Ten Commandments have already been given, and Moses has been commanded to ascend Mount Sinai once more, along with Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders.

In the Hebrew Bible they see the God of Israel; but the Greek translation is more circumspect, and there they only see the place where the God of Israel stands. Either way, beneath the feet of God is a pavement of sapphire blue.

This ‘sapphire’ (Greek sappheiros, Hebrew sappir) is not the transparent gemstone, but lapis lazuli, a stone prized for its intense deep blue. The word ‘Lazuli’, along with the adjective ‘azure’, derives from the Persian name for the stone. Rublev will have used lapis lazuli as the pigment for his blue.

The Hebrew version of Exodus 24:10 says that lapis lazuli is ‘like the very heavens for clearness’. The stone often includes minute golden pyrite crystals, which shimmer like stars in the night sky.

The Greek translation brings in the word ‘firmament’, which sends us back to Genesis 1:6, where God says, ‘Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters’. The firmament was imagined as a solid dome, separating the waters above (the heavens) from the waters below (the sea).

When the prophet Ezekiel has his terrifying vision of the heavenly chariot, he sees four angelic ‘living beings’ (with four faces, and four wings) carrying a crystalline firmament over their heads, upon which is a sapphire (i.e. lapis lazuli) throne.

On the throne is ‘the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord’ (Ezekiel 1:28). In other words, Ezekiel has a vision of God at three removes: a fiery being on a blue throne.

In the biblical descriptions of Genesis, Exodus and Ezekiel, physical and spiritual heavens are intertwined. The blue of the sky merges with the throne of God. Evagrius begins a process of interiorising these descriptions, just as Rebecca Solnit interiorises the physics of scattered blue light.

For Evagrius, Mount Sinai becomes a landmark in the geography of the soul. And the colour blue symbolises the internal state of the mind at prayer. An internal state no doubt Rublev aimed to foster with his use of divine azure blue.

The post The divine colour blue appeared first on OUPblog.

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This year’s Brooklyn Book Festival brought more than three hundred writers to the literary borough.

Brooklyn Borough president and event founder Marty Markowitz boasted that it is now the third largest literary festival in the country.

Each year, the festival recognizes a literary figure whose work embodies the Brooklyn spirit with the Best of Brooklyn, Inc. award (BoBi). Two-time Newbery medalist Lois Lowry won the award this year.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

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sapphire blue, to be exact.

working on Iris, September's mermaid this week. still slowly recovering from c spine surgery so i can't paint as quickly or as much as i'd like.

the nervous system never ceases to amaze me. especially how neck surgeries affect your arm and your hand. i guess that's why those neurosurgeons get paid the big bucks! they certainly deserve it! amazing how all that stuff works...

hoping to have beautiful little Iris done soon! :)

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There is a deep and pervasive hunger for a less fragmented and more integrated way of understanding and inhabiting the world. What must change if we are to live in a sustainable relationship with other organisms? What role do our moral and spiritual values play in responding to the ecological crisis? We sat down with Douglas E. Christie, author of The Blue Sapphire of the Mind, to discuss a contemplative approach to ecological thought and practice that can help restore our sense of the earth as a sacred place.

What is the blue sapphire of the mind?

It is an image used by Evagrius of Pontus, a fourth century Christian monk, to describe the condition of the mind transformed by contemplative practice: it is pure and endless and serene, capable of seeing and experiencing union with everything and everyone.

What is “contemplative ecology” and what does it have to do with this idea?

Contemplative ecology has two distinct but related meanings. First, it refers to a particular way of thinking about and engaging ecological concerns, rooted in a distinctive form of contemplative spiritual practice. Second, it refers to a particular way of thinking about spiritual practice, one that understands the work of transforming awareness as leading toward and including a deepened understanding of the intricate relationships among and between all living beings. The underlying concern is to find new ways of thinking about the meaning and significance of the relationship between ecological concern and contemplative spiritual practice, that can help to ground sustained care for the environment in a deep feeling for the living world.

What possible meaning do you think such a contemplative approach can have in an age of massive and growing environmental degradation?

Contemplative traditions of spiritual practice, including those grounded in monastic forms of living, have long occupied the margins of mainstream society. The work of such communities is often hidden from view. Because of this, their contributions to work of social and political transformation can seem, on the face of it, negligible. But a careful examination of the historical record suggests that such communities have contributed and continue to contribute significantly to the project of cultural, social and even political renewal — primarily through their unwavering commitment to uncovering the deepest sources of our bonds with one another and with the living world. In our own moment of ecological and political crisis, these traditions of contemplative thought and practice can help to awaken in us a new awareness of the deepest sources of our shared concern for the world.

Is this a matter of particular concern to religious communities?

Yes, and no. Certainly, environmental degradation is a concern that religious communities around the world are waking up to in a new way, and this includes the particular contributions of monastic communities. But the distinctively contemplative dimension of this renewal transcends religion (at least in narrow terms) and touches on a wider and more fundamental human concern: to truly know ourselves as part of the rich web of life. Contemplative ecology addresses anyone who wishes to think more deeply and carefully about what it is to be alive and attentive to the natural world, and to respond with care and affection.

Douglas E. Christie is Professor of Theological Studies, Loyola Marymount University, and the author of The Blue Sapphire of the Mind: Notes for a Contemplative Ecology and The Word in the Desert: Scripture and the Quest for Holiness in Early Christian Monasticism.

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Image credit: Dissolving fractured head. Photo by morkeman, iStockphoto.

The post Douglas Christie on contemplative ecology appeared first on OUPblog.

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"Aster" - Flower of September

Yuppers, it's turnin' into autumn!

First thing's first...

The new Flower of the Month fairy for September is finished! It's been finished for a few weeks (sorry for my delay in posting). I have started November, she should be out by the end of September, if not the first week of October.

My Mama

My mother's birthday is in September, so any time I do a piece that has to do with Libra, September, Sapphire, or Autumn I tend to show features that resemble my mom.

She's a constant source of inspiration for me in the women I wish to show having courage and maturity. Plus, she has long gorgeous black hair. That inspires me EVERY time. :)

View the entire image and print listing on Etsy:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/79669617/print-fairy-september-sapphire-flower


A Painting for Halloween

I don't normally paint for Halloween. It's been years since I even had the desire to. Now...that's not saying I don't like Halloween, but my work tends to be something that could be used year round. I like that. But I do so love a good mask, so I thought I'd paint one. :)

Here's the work in progress. She's pretty small; a 4x6 painting. Something quick but elegant. I have always wanted to throw a Masquerade Ball, hopefully someday I will. But until then, I must live through my paintings.

I hope to have her finished by the end of the week. If not, I'll go crazy! Not quite sure what to call her yet...

Have you ever been to a Masquerade Ball? If so, was it as much fun as they look? I want to know!

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I remember when Push by Sapphire was published. It was the late 90’s and I heard how riveting the book was. I tried to read this book, but I couldn’t. It was just too “raw.” Too much. I put it down and didn’t pick it up again.

So, here it is. Ten years later and I finished reading PUSH this weekend. Again, it was a hard book to read. Very disturbing and heartbreaking. But also shows how the main character, despite all the obstacles, never gave up.

So what made me decide to finally finish this book? First, I must admit it is because of the movie, Precious, which is based on the novel. Plus, writer friends like Jeannine Montgomery, wrote raves about it. But I think what made me really want to give this book another try was looking at two recent interviews with the author.

Borders Media has an interview with the author and she said some things that really struck me. I’m paraphrasing but Sapphire says that Precious was stunted in language so it was hard and painful for her to verbalize her thoughts (hence the wording and dialect in the book), but at the end, she “owned” her language. The language that had defined her as less was now hers to define herself as whole. The author’s goal was not to portray Precious as someone to pity but as someone to empathize.

The author is also in another interview @Katie Couric. In this interview, Sapphire talks about the seeds of the novel idea as well as the journey to the movie screen. I thought the interview was enlightening and it also gave me more insight to what the author was trying to achieve.

Was the book still hard to read? Absolutely. It brings home to me the effect of how parenting and education can affect a child’s life and opportunities. Some children are given some terrible circumstances to endure. Some of them make it. And some of them do not.

Now ten years later, it’s almost surreal that Sapphire and I share the same agent. I have been affected by this book in a way that I’m still trying to comprehend. I plan to go see this movie, and I know it will be difficult. But if there was one lesson that I learned from this book is that sometimes you must push. Push through the circumstances, push through the difficulty, push through the obstacles to get to the other side.

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