Posted on: August 19th, 2011 @ 07:01
Temples, cathedrals, epics, plays, and other works of art focus and hold up to a culture what counts as a life worth aspiring to. Works of art in this sense do not represent something else–the way a photograph of one’s children represents them. Indeed, Heidegger says explicitly that the temple “portrays nothing”. Rather, works of art work; they gather practices together to focus and manifest a way of life. When works of art shine, they illuminate and glamorize a way of life, and all other things shine in their light. A work of art embodies the truth of its world.
—From All Things Shining by H. Dreyfus & S.D. Kelly
