VOFN051 - The art of dying
Fig. 51 (p. 134) - A representation of the art of dying in Savonarola’s book ‘Predica dell’arte del bene morire’ (Firenze, 1504). The two-division of life and death is superimposed on a four-division of heaven and earth.
Pp. 267 - 268 in: Vision of Four Notions - Marten Kuilman (unpublished). 'Visions of Four Notions' is the second book of a quadrilogue by Marten Kuilman. The book deals primarily with the theoretical aspects of quadralectic thinking. It was completed in November 2001:
The introduction of das Geviert (the four-fold), in the later works of Martin Heidegger (Vorträge und Aufsätze, 1954), pointed to the interplay of heaven and earth, the holy and the mortal. He saw these four entities as the main constituencies in the creation of space and Being. His visualisation of the four-fold, as a meeting place for man and nature, is a strong reminder to the picture of the ‘art of dying’ in Girolamo Savonarola’s book ‘Predica dell’arte del bene morire’ (see p. 134; fig. 51). This symmetrical woodcut – shaped at the Pivotal Point of the European cultural history (Chapter 6.1; fig. 66; p. 188) – has exactly the components, which Heidegger saw as the ‘world’ (das bauende Hervorbringen).
The boundary between heaven and earth is right in the middle. The Death emphasizes the opposition by pointing his arms to the signs quasu (now written as quassu, an (Italian) adverb meaning ‘up here’ or ‘on high’) and quagiu (now quaggiu, translated as ‘down here’, on earth). The contrast between holy and mortal is envisaged in God and the angels, in the upper half, and Satan (as the fallen angel Lucifer) and the devils in the lower half. These two oppositional pairs (heaven-earth and holy-mortal) represent the basic qualities of any communication in place and time (or in their operational disguises as division and movement).
Heidegger’s Geviert has, although covered in a blanket of hard-to-under-stand terms (‘penetrating the thickets of Heidegger’s terminological jungle’), a strong analogy with Savonarola’s ‘art of dying’. Both renderings try to construct, despite a time gap of 450 years, a ‘life-monument’, which is able to surpass the black-and-white setting of life (and death). The composition of (four) quadrants gives room for a broader picture of reality-itself:
1. God sits in heaven, in a circle of clouds. The blessing figure, surrounded by nine angels (the muses?) amidst stars, is framed in a mandorla with four angels. This holy place bears all the characteristics of the First Quadrant, the invisible invisibility of the quadralectic mind.
2. The holy circle shines its light into a rather empty sky. Only two angels populate this part of the picture, floating on a cloud. Their gestures indicate an invitation to the mortals below. The symmetry of the figures is probably a reference to the First Division, in this case a two-division. They form, together with God in heaven, a trinity in quasu. The invisible visibility of the division-environment is characteristic for the Second Quadrant.
3. The dualism of Life and Death reaches its zenith in the world of the mortal. The richly dressed nobleman, with his purse strapped to his belt, has an encounter with Death. The man tries to plea his innocence, but death is merciless pointing to heaven. It is time to leave the quagui. Two devils are ready to assist the departure of this earth. They form, together with the mortal and the death, a curious quaternity in quagiu. The visible visibility of the Third Quadrant is a place of limitations.
4. The sad cry of victory by a troubled Lucifer, roaring in the half-circle of the earth, represents the opposite face (of power) in the lower quarter of the picture. Four devils surround the Devil, while he is crushing two unlucky mortals. It seems as if there is no mercy in this place of darkness. A comparison with the visible invisibility of the quadralectic Fourth Quadrant might be appropriate here, but it should be noted, that the emphasis is very much on the oppositional aspects.
VOFN051 - The art of dying
Fig. 51 (p. 134) - A representation of the art of dying in Savonarola’s book ‘Predica dell’arte del bene morire’ (Firenze, 1504). The two-division of life and death is superimposed on a four-division of heaven and earth.
Pp. 267 - 268 in: Vision of Four Notions - Marten Kuilman (unpublished). 'Visions of Four Notions' is the second book of a quadrilogue by Marten Kuilman. The book deals primarily with the theoretical aspects of quadralectic thinking. It was completed in November 2001:
The introduction of das Geviert (the four-fold), in the later works of Martin Heidegger (Vorträge und Aufsätze, 1954), pointed to the interplay of heaven and earth, the holy and the mortal. He saw these four entities as the main constituencies in the creation of space and Being. His visualisation of the four-fold, as a meeting place for man and nature, is a strong reminder to the picture of the ‘art of dying’ in Girolamo Savonarola’s book ‘Predica dell’arte del bene morire’ (see p. 134; fig. 51). This symmetrical woodcut – shaped at the Pivotal Point of the European cultural history (Chapter 6.1; fig. 66; p. 188) – has exactly the components, which Heidegger saw as the ‘world’ (das bauende Hervorbringen).
The boundary between heaven and earth is right in the middle. The Death emphasizes the opposition by pointing his arms to the signs quasu (now written as quassu, an (Italian) adverb meaning ‘up here’ or ‘on high’) and quagiu (now quaggiu, translated as ‘down here’, on earth). The contrast between holy and mortal is envisaged in God and the angels, in the upper half, and Satan (as the fallen angel Lucifer) and the devils in the lower half. These two oppositional pairs (heaven-earth and holy-mortal) represent the basic qualities of any communication in place and time (or in their operational disguises as division and movement).
Heidegger’s Geviert has, although covered in a blanket of hard-to-under-stand terms (‘penetrating the thickets of Heidegger’s terminological jungle’), a strong analogy with Savonarola’s ‘art of dying’. Both renderings try to construct, despite a time gap of 450 years, a ‘life-monument’, which is able to surpass the black-and-white setting of life (and death). The composition of (four) quadrants gives room for a broader picture of reality-itself:
1. God sits in heaven, in a circle of clouds. The blessing figure, surrounded by nine angels (the muses?) amidst stars, is framed in a mandorla with four angels. This holy place bears all the characteristics of the First Quadrant, the invisible invisibility of the quadralectic mind.
2. The holy circle shines its light into a rather empty sky. Only two angels populate this part of the picture, floating on a cloud. Their gestures indicate an invitation to the mortals below. The symmetry of the figures is probably a reference to the First Division, in this case a two-division. They form, together with God in heaven, a trinity in quasu. The invisible visibility of the division-environment is characteristic for the Second Quadrant.
3. The dualism of Life and Death reaches its zenith in the world of the mortal. The richly dressed nobleman, with his purse strapped to his belt, has an encounter with Death. The man tries to plea his innocence, but death is merciless pointing to heaven. It is time to leave the quagui. Two devils are ready to assist the departure of this earth. They form, together with the mortal and the death, a curious quaternity in quagiu. The visible visibility of the Third Quadrant is a place of limitations.
4. The sad cry of victory by a troubled Lucifer, roaring in the half-circle of the earth, represents the opposite face (of power) in the lower quarter of the picture. Four devils surround the Devil, while he is crushing two unlucky mortals. It seems as if there is no mercy in this place of darkness. A comparison with the visible invisibility of the quadralectic Fourth Quadrant might be appropriate here, but it should be noted, that the emphasis is very much on the oppositional aspects.