Fors Revisited - Previous Letters from John Ruskin's Brantwood
| Friday, 3 December, 2004 | |||
| MAKING A MIRACLE | |||
| Tis the season in celebration of the Miraculous..... | |||
| A recent television documentary on Venice detailed the generations over which that amazing city had grown and the path of its recent decline. In the trendiest of tones, an aristocractic descendant of the city detailed his love for it and indulgently dramatised its history. But in his lisping English he fell for the modern historical drama documentary trap – the desire of our age to explain away anything seemingly miraculous by reducing it to the motivations we understand – our own. And so we learned that Venice became Venice because of sex, greed and corruption. As if, somehow, this distinctive cocktail was a unique formula. On that basis, I guess, we have simply to have some sexual intrigue in a power-hungry and money-oriented sort of a way, and we’ll find ourselves creating Venice-like cities all over the place. | |||
| Why does Venice inspire and amaze? Because in spite of sex, money and avarice – in other words, in spite of the usual human obsessions – it measured up to some other values that simply transcend our understanding, but honour our souls. Every man and woman will in some inner moment desire to build their Venice. Every society hungers after a city that is somehow a city fit for the divine. But in our modern cynical fashion we’ve precious little faith that we can – it’s easier to degrade and deny the miraculous heights of our ancestors than to admit that we can’t go there because we can’t work together. For Venice to exist, the piles had first to be driven into the lagoon – work that in itself was hardly a vision of crystal loveliness – but a lifetime’s work, nonetheless. The possibilities of something wonderful are always in the air if we dare to dream, but the creation of something wonderful requires something much more amazing and strenuous: blind acts of love. | |||
| ...And may all your dreams come true. | |||
Merry Christmas from The Slipper . Com |
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