The Illuminating Eye— Soon at the West End Gallery
The two ways of contemplation are not unlike the two ways of action commonly spoken of by the ancients: the one plain and smooth in the beginning, and in the end impassable; the other rough and troublesome in the entrance, but after a while fair and even. So it is in contemplation: If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts he shall end in certainties.
–Francis Bacon, The Advancement of Learning (1605)
I love this 400 and some year-old passage from Francis Bacon. It pretty much sums up what I have observed about how certainty and uncertainty operate in our lives.
When we cling to certainty, we close ourselves off to the possibility that truths exist beyond our belief. And when those truths ultimately reveal themselves, we are so dug in and defensive of our certainty that we refuse to acknowledge the evidence to the contrary. We are left with nagging doubts about all that we believe to be.
But if we hold on to a bit of uncertainty, acknowledging that we know little, we leave ourselves open to revelation of greater truths. Truths that lead to a validated certainty.
I think this idea represents a large part of what I hope comes across from my upcoming West End Gallery show, Eye in the Sky.I believe much of it is concerned with our search for some evidence of our place and role in this world and universe.
The revelation of a certainty that eases our uncertainty.
I can see this in this smaller painting, The Illuminating Eye, a 12″ by 9″ canvas from the show. For me, this is a piece about how we often search in darkness, waiting for a moment of illumination. And when that light finally reveals itself, a shadow of the darkness remains with us. The light reveals a truth yet some uncertainty always remains with us. That shadow represents the doubt we maintain that allows for an even greater truth, should it ever be revealed.
That’s how I see it for now. I am not absolutely certain that I will see it that way in the future. And, according to Bacon, that might be a bad thing.
Redtree Times 