Said the muse: "While Romantics
emphasize the beauty of the supernatural and the natural world, Dark
Romantics emphasize humankind's relationship to the obscure
supernatural world and the winter of the natural world. In the Gothic story, the supernatural is sometimes
revealed through vampires and other villains. In Christianity, the
supernatural is revealed through Jesus."
(Mysticism, calvinism and more - philosophical
background. Supernatural forces that doesn't belong in religious communities - folklore and mythology.)
CHRISTIAN SYMBOLISM
Human being are living between (the place usually
called) hell underneath and heaven above. In other words,
the ambivalent human being is
both angel and demon.
William
Blake, Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen, Lord Byron, Johnny Cash and many other dark romantic artists
apply the
Christian symbols - the cross, the saviour, the father, the son - even though none of them are
preachers of traditional Christianity.
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE
The gothic cathedral - like a villains castle - evokes terror or horror.
Therefor, the
ceremony is often powerful and convincing. An ambivalent human being wanders the earth in
the genre Dark Romanticism.
The little statue at the front symbolizes the human being - helpless
next to the powerful forces dwelling inside the building. The cathedral
evelates the soul with a sense of power and infinity.
THE LIFE OF JESUS
Jesus message was that human beings can decrease the distance
to God - the distance between word and flesh. The supernatural world is not far away. The life of Jesus is probably the best story ever told - no
historical person lived in a more passionate
relationship to the supernatural world. He was betrayed and crusified - beacause of his imagination. The human
beings were too narrowminded to grasp divine imagination.
He carried the light message from a more
beautiful world inside of us - he became the man of sorrows. Melancholic and obscure thoughts
tormented him. There are many examples. In Matthew 10:34
Jesus sais he hasn't come to earth in peace
- he has come to fight a war.
 |
|
He will turn son against
father and daughter against mother. The Disciples of Christ
preach that disbelievers will burn in an owen.
Dark Romanticists often
question organized religion. I recommend "Book of
Mercy" by Leonard Cohen
and escpecially "Flesh made word" by Nick Cave. No work has inspired me
more. William blake invented his own
religion. |
MEDIEVAL MYSTICISM
In the
romantic era, authors believed that truth could be apprehended without
reason. It's not suprising a new
religious and superstitious wave swept over Europe at the time. In the first
half of the 19th century many strange assemblies were born. Some of them occult and even satanic.
There
is an emphasis on mystery in Dark Romanicism. The vampire
story is an attempt to find words for the
unspeakable, an attempt to catch eternity in time and space. Byron, Shelley and Coleridge
searched for the supernatural world, just as the
medieval mystics. (For a philosophical explanation of
mysticism and dark romanticism, go to philosophical
background.) I think that medieval
mysticism attracted in a time when the Age of Enlightenment and materialism still haunted society
- when
industrialism was born.
In the Middle Ages,
when Europa was ridden by Plague (industrialism...), some religious mystics turned their
back on the world to unite to God. Especially in England, this individual
religious practice was common - in contrast to organized religion and the catholic
church. The mystics spent their lifes crying and
praying. Selfdenial was central. They longed for holy love
and found it - they said - in revelations.
Two common misunderstandings might be necessary to correct. The mystics
were seldom ignorant of the world outside - they wanted to find out what true love
was before helping other people. Second, I don't think it's fair to say
they were perverts or masochists. Today human beings endure physical pain - with no
other reason than to
look good in the eyes of others.
Imagine your loved one earth, whether you have found
him or her yet or not, instead of God as the reciever of your prayers and these mystics provides the most touching love stories
ever told. Mysticism is a individual religious practice. Mystics longed and
wept when God - or the Goddess - was too
far away, just like love on earth. Praying is dangerous. The authors
of the Bible states that a human being
is vulnerable when he or she opens her heart to God in a prayer- only then Satan
gets a chance to sneak in, sometimes disguised. These persons in the Middle ages took the risk.
Juan de la Cruz and Teresa de Jesús ( see literature
) taught mystics how to unite to God. Step by step they explain how the beginner can reach perfection through certain exercises.
Starting out from the ridiculuos heading to the sublime, painful mistakes
and sorrowful loneliness awaits you along the road, they say. In their
works, primarily written for their confused brothers and sisters, these mystics share their knowledge with us. Richard Rolle
saw Jesus and the cross in his passionate
contemplations. Walter Hilton was a member of religous order, which is
unusual
for mystics. He explain mysticism with systems, tables and lists.
Julian of Norwich is one of the most famous mystics. She
was locked up to pray undisturbed and write
down her revelations to the afterworld. This was done with rigorous
ceremonies - priests closed the door with certain spells and prayers.
People came to talk with her about the mysteries of life - one of them was Margery Kempe. She was an amazing
woman. She dressed in white and spent all her life weeping. Tthe catholic
church opposed her - but she talked herself out of many
demanding siutations. If i could meet only one historic person, it might be
her.
Tomas of Aquino classified all human virtues
and sins and preached that men were in all superior to wimen. Thereby we can leave him, in spite of his wonderful stories. Francis of Assissi preached humbleness. He said that
every good human being must think of herself as worth less than others.
Selfdenial is central. Vergilius. Master Eckhart said that every mystic must
stop praying when another human being is in need. One of the most important mystics, the Cloud Author, is
anonymous.
RASPUTIN
One
mystic that deserves a closer look while studying Dark Romanticism is Rasputin. He lived in Russia in the early 20th century and became an
important - loved and hated - adviser to the tsar. He was considered a
holy man in the aftermath of the romantic, occult era. Rasputin preached a new religion which he practised in his own chapell. He said
that human beings must sin to please God. Without sins we can't beg
for forgiveness. Rasputin healed
miserable women by going to bed with them. He helped people to go into
ecstasy by drinking alcohol and dancing. I think that Rasputin represented the dark
romantic era - like a modern Jesus
inspired by Baudelaire.
If you're not a priest or mystic but an author or musician - all of them might actually
have the same preoccupation
- you should perhaps pray to the gods for inspiration.
Nick Cave speaks of his muse, and
Wiliam Blake believed that inspiration was a gift from God. (Blake's wife always sat beside him through the
nights and prayed to God for inspiration.)
ETERNAL LOVE?
The
mystics wept when God abandoned them and refused them eternal love - the dark romantic artists are tormented by romantic
memories of dying beauty. They both often tell a story where lovers part or where
love is impossible. Why is it so? Is there no such
thing as eternal, luminous love?
When people are married they promise to love each
other until death part them.With other words, Christians doesn't
believe in eternal love. God is eternal - but love is not. I like to think that love is eternal. Eternal love is revealed through a human being. The
revelation fades away when we die - but the disclosed force doesn't. These
are the wonders Jesus spoke of. Believing in eternal love is the same madness as believing in God - or maybe
different names for the same thing. Sometimes we can only see our
loved one in dreams or visions since we have not met her yet. And
there is no longer any doubt when we finally meet her.
Like God the loved one can save us and judge us. Like
God she can have mercy with us. Like Jesus, she carries the light
message from a more beautiful world inside of us. Like God she can't be seen or understood. Like God she disappears
when we stop believing in her. When we say a prayer without faith.
When we imprison her in the perishable and mortal world.
