"But, of course, neurotic!

A multitude of words fly in the press

stirring the soul, channeling blame

"Whites are neurotic!"

"Them!"  "Criminal!"

With appropriate talk, the first walk free

but for the the lesser, Them, the electric chair

When we need think of it, we don't

cause mem'ries prod our heads to shake

and all of that's suppressible

Re-call harms the preset mind

hampers resolves, making a culprit of fear

binding our thoughts in anguished cords

History's acquittals appear just in filtered files

cause scapegoats seek compatible hearts

There's unity in the pointing hands;

pointing hands smoother the guilty

The absolving palm covers all

unbinding hearts and his'try's fictions

challenging fear, suffering in hope

*Reflections of Alan Jones:

  -"In his mercy God suffers with us; for (God) is not heartless." (Origen)

  -There is a cross in the heart of God.

  -Every human being has to decide not so much what is real, but rather the true nature of the reality in which we find ourselves.

  -Art, particularly the best of modern art, has a way of showing us our own patterns of alienation.  Liquid Sky may have something of the prophetic in it.  And, insofar as it is prophetic, it is a work of art.  It shows our lostness and alienation.  Anne Carlisle is right.  We are all behaving like animals in some respects.  If we go on doing so, human lives will be diminished and destroyed.  I cannot, however, be sure that the makers of the movie have understood that somewhere in the middle of creating the film they made a choice about what reality is.  Some people believe that art should be "uplifting" and "wholesome".  But there is the terrible art of prophecy that holds up a mirror to us to show the true condition of things.  The artist is called to show us glory.  He or she is also called to show us how far we have fallen from it.  Art that is only "uplifting" easily degenerates into sentiment and hypocrisy.  Art not only ennobles the soul, it also judges it.  It is said that after a performance of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra in London during the reign of Queen Victoria, a member of the audience asked his neighbor what he thought of the play.  "Very interesting," he replied, "but so unlike the family life of our own dear Queen!"  There are two "realities" to contend with: the wildly irresponsible love affair on Cleopatra's royal barge, and the stuffy formalism of the Victorian court! They are both "real"; both represent aspects of reality that have to be attend to. 

  -The area of freedom is in fact very small; but it is enough to make a different.

  -Soul making is a matter of choosing the reality of love against which all other realities are tested as if by fire.  The choice is ours.