St. Thomas Aquinas says that art does not require rectitude of the appetite, that it is wholly concerned with the good of that which is made. He says that a work of art is a good in itself, and this is a truth that the modern world has largely forgotten. We are not content to stay within our limitations and make something that is simply a good in and by itself. Now we want to make something that will have some utilitarian value. Yet what is good in itself glorifies God because it reflects God. The artist has his hands full and does his duty if he tends to his art. He can safely leave evangelizing to the evangelists. He must first of all be aware of his limitations as an artist – for art transcends its limitations only by staying within them.
—Flannery O’Connor, “Catholic Novelists and Their Readers” as quoted in Life & Letters, Brett Lott p30
This week “something simply a good in and by itself” isn’t working for me.
It frequently is, and life is more straightforward then.
Unfortunately, this week I think my sense of “good” is banged up and bruised, and I’m not sure what to do while it heals.
Plus I’m still staring at the empty page that is SFD #3, wishing for a concept.