fortable with emptiness, which I believe is the same as having faith, is to tolerate a free fall into a life made up of mysteries rather than facts... (for) spiritual emptiness does not lead to resignation or depression; on the contrary, it gives hope and frees us from the anxiety of having to be in control. Some people can't fly in an airplane because it asks for a degree of trust they can't muster. Similarly, some people can't be "religious" because they feel such a strong need to know and be in control. The solution is to tread more lightly on the earth, to be more hollow than solid and to trust more and believe less." (The Soul's Religion,p. 13)
Souls far wiser than I have pointed to the opening lines of Dante's Inferno as a mid-life reflection on what it might mean to embrace emptiness as an act of faith: "Midway upon the road of our life I found myself within a dark wood, for the right way had been missed." Certainly Robert Taplin's (check it out: www.roberttaplin.com/) contribution to the "These Days: Elegies for Modern Times," currently on display at MassMoCA starts with this wisdom. His exploration of the collapse of civilization is sobering and tragically beautiful. He points to the signs of destruction all around us - starvation, refugees, war and despair - yet concludes with Dante surviving his journey on the River Sty
x. It is a hauntingly clever invitation for each and all of us to go deeper into the emptiness of both our soul and society.George Bolster's work in this same MassMoCA exhibit, "Reckoner," urges a similar deep journey by placing Christian religious iconography alongside Radiohead's song, "Reckoner" in a stylized chapel of mirrors where the icons literally weep for the world. Upon first entering the chapel, however, the tears are neither obvious nor experienced - you have to wait and let the new context surround you -before you see and feel the tears from above fall upon you in sadness. It is a powerful experience that builds on the religious fervor surrounding other weeping Madonnas throughout the world. And it asks those who enter the chapel to feel what all creation in heaven and earth knows: tears are the key to compassion and healing.
A musical artist who is calling to my soul these days is Rosanne Cash - especially her new work. On "The List," a collection of songs her father, Johnny Cash, said were essential for singing with conviction and integrity, she shares a duet with Springsteen and reworks this old country standard, "Movin' On." I've done this song for years first hearing it in a speed freak rendition by the young Rolling Stones. Cash slows it way down - makes it more of a blues than a smart-mouthed slight of a loved one - and fills it with longing. Clearly, she knows something of the emptiness and makes good use of it.
And that is one of the gifts of our dark, dry or empty times: to make good use of it. As Moore says elsewhere, THIS is the real purpose: to cultivate a "constructive means for being open to the influence of mystery."
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