A Bittersweet Resolve

A Bittersweet Resolve Comparative commentary by Gianna French Cite Share Show Bible Passage Adolfo Wildt’s drawing acts as the cover for a book of poems written by Italian poet Antonino Uccello. It's a peculiar object—no bigger than a passport—and begins with a preghiera, a prayer. It’s a prayer that makes three requests, the first for sustenance in the form of a honeycomb, a ‘breadcrumb loaf’, and raisins; the second for ‘the eyes and the pillow of Saint Lucia’; and the third to be spared …the nightmare of those diaphanous fingers of fog now, in the hour of my death. Perhaps some may choose to echo this dualistic prayer, a plea first for sweetness and then to keep the wolves away, to receive the good and do away with the bad. This is arguably our default setting; we categorize and seek order, favouring black and white answers. How might we transcend our need for simplification by taking a page from Ecclesiastes 9:1–12 and embracing paradox while still maintaining a life-affirming, hopeful perspective? There might be affinities here with the Taoist concept of ‘Wu Wei’—action through non-action, where opposites coexist harmoniously. The maturation of our minds is a lifelong endeavour, a discipline to be cultivated daily. Might these images enact a kind of alchemy, transmuting our uncertainty into wonder? Wildt’s figures remind us of the frustration that comes from trying to reconcile the depths of our longing with our inevitable lack of insight. Jessina Leonard’s images honour our impulse to draw closer and closer, while revelling in our limitations—offering our attention as an act of prayer. Leonard writes that through her work, she considers ‘how photography’s failure—the limits of its representation—might be the very source of its revelatory power’ (Leonard 2022). When it all seems too bizarre, Twombly’s drawing (by contrast with the careful restraint of Wildt’s) prompts us to see mystery as a thing of beauty, and even delight. After all, despite the uncertainties of life, there is an undeniable thrill in the possibilities that life brings. Ecclesiastes 9:1–12 may make us uncomfortable. Bold in its questioning, it abandons traditional wisdom, the comforts we rely on when life seems unfair or painful. As Whybray reminds us, the author aims to ‘present reality in its complexity rather than to press home an unqualified conclusion’; it emboldens us to make up our own minds (Whybray 1989: 13). The choice is ours to make, but take inspiration from Twombly’s emphatic marks and choose urgently. After all, as verse 10 states, no plans are made in the realm of the dead—so let us act now. References Bundvad, Mette. 2022. ‘Ecclesiastes’, in The Cambridge Companion to Biblical Wisdom Literature, ed. by Katherine J. Dell, Suzanna R. Millar and Arthur Jan Keefer (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), pp. 184–99 Rohr, Richard. 2023. ‘From Fear to Connection, 2023’, https://cac.org/daily-meditations/from-fear-to-connection-2023-07-23/ [accessed 10 January 2025]