Document Type
Freshman Seminar Essay
Publication Date
1997
Excerpt
In his essay "Art and Ultimate Reality," the famed theologian Paul Tillich explains the relationship between the two concepts in the title. In it, he describes ultimate reality by saying: "Ultimate reality underlies every reality, and it characterizes the whole appearing world as nonultimate, preliminary, transitory and finite .... [T]he God of religion is more than ultimate reality" (219-20). To him, ultimate reality is that which is at the base of all being; that constant "lasting in the flux of transitoriness and finitude" (220). Although this ultimate reality is almost impossible to find, Tillich says that "ultimate reality becomes manifest in works of art." One type of this "manifestation" he calls "sacramental" (223). In it, a very common object, something which is not considered to be holy; is given a sense of holiness and ultimate reality. However, these things should not "be used as mere symbols," for then they lose "their independent power of expression" (224). Annie Dillard's story of the burning moth in her book Holy the Firm is a competent example of the connection between art and ultimate reality.
Recommended Citation
Lose, Christy, ""The Moth Incident" (1997)" (1997). The Valpo Core Reader. 179.
http://scholar.valpo.edu/core_reader/179