Thompson, Richard

Digital Commons @ Butler University

Eternal Quest-:Richard ThompsonMankind probably first became aware of beauty as asubject for discussion during the heyday of ancientAthens. The citizen of that city in the sixth centuryB.C. might, if he wished, join a circle of thinkers and discussthe subject at great length. Each little group of mind-proberswould attach itself to some thinker who for some reason orother had attained eminence in his field. Exultantly theywould pursue the eternal for hours, thinking neither of per-sonal comfort nor of work, producing great quantities of ver-biage together with 'some leavening of original thought. Oneschool of thought which devoted itself a good part of thetime to the pursuit of beauty - that is, the concept of beauty- eventually arrived at the conclusion that beauty, along withtruth and goodness, is eternal. While they were congratulat-ing themselves on the propounding of this dictum, the phil-osophers carefully ignored the industrious slaves who werebusily chipping away at columns and friezes, who were pol-ishing exquisite statues, who in short were constructing,that heritage of beauty which is today our principal legacyfrom ancient Greece. Grimly the philosophers clung to theiresoteric ideas, battling to the death with other dissident phil-osophers and in the end bequeathing to us their opinions.Ever since then. in age after weary age. that schismbetween thinkers and doers has been repeated with variations.In the middle ages it was the scholars and clerics who arguedendlessly over esthetical points while the more humble crafts-men erected soaring cathedrals, symphonic stained glass win-dows and mosaics, and a host of beautiful objects too humbleto be considered by the pundits. In a later age a new genera-tion of self-styled "wise men" would glance at these trulybeautiful works and dismiss them with the scornful comment,"gothic" a synonym for "barbarous." The thinkers could sim-ply not understand the simple and intuitive standards of beautyemployed by the doers. They scoffed and in scoffing· madeeternal laughiingstocks of themselves. .Today the "struggle" continues. While the writers andcritics of a score of periodicals pour forth nonsensical state-ments and disjointed reasoning, the doers for once are striv-ing to follow their leadership without noticeable success.Nothing satisfies the remarkable standards of the guild ofMANUSCRIPTS 41mind-probers. The 1110stfantastic conglomeration of line, colorand psychological analysis, when put on canvas or carved instone, is regarded by these as "too tame" or else "insincere."The last phrase is the most accurate ever included in severalvolumes of nonsense, for most of this art is insincere. Whenartists are so overawed by the writing trade that their initia-~ive and standards of beauty suffer, no sincerity is possible111 art.The exact relationship of all this to the topic of beautymay at first be hard to see, although actually it is quite sim-ple. That standards of beauty are necessary to the artist isundeniable, but these standards ought to be his own idea, notthe product of some critic whose principal motive is to sellbooks. No one can deny that we have discarded traditionalstandards of beauty or, rather, that writers and artists havephey's insomnia purely psychological. Sleeping pills nothingcling to our outmoded instincts, as is evidenced by the vaguedisgust felt by Mr. Average Citizen towards the vitriolic greensand clashing reds which are now regarded as the ultimate inartistic beauty. The only consolation is that the artists, hav-ing gone so far, can go no farther./:t-§+ +§+ +§+Mr. Fix~itShirley Jo WaltzAs I write this, I can look across the room and see a gray-haired gentleman whom I call Daddy. There is a twin-kle in his eye, and although he laughed when I toldhim that he was the subject of my theme, I think he is secretlypleased. As he sits there in his favorite easy chair, his slipperswings on his long foot in time to the music which is softlypouring from the radio. The only lights in the room are fromthe radio and the Christmas tree. Daddy has always liked tosit quietly in a room with soft lights and music. In his dayhe was quite a dancer and a Sir Gallahad too, I understand.He is still very handsome and gallant, in my opinion, eventhough he is getting a "middle-age spread" and his hair issilver.My friends all like to come to our house in order to talkto Daddy and to hear him laugh. The children in our neigh-borhood say that Mr. Waltz laughs just like Santa Claus. His

Eternal Quest

http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2118&context=manuscripts

Eternal Quest

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Digital Commons @ Butler University