WHY ARE WE LIKE THIS? We Don’t Need Art or Literature for Our Survival So What is it in Fantasy and Fiction that Yearns for the Transcendent. PART II

Michael O’Brien is a professional artist and iconographer and the author of several works of fiction and non-fiction, including his seven-volume series of novels published by Ignatius Press.

In Part One of this series - Michael O’Brien states:

     Why do we so often, especially in the Arts of many, make what we are trying to          communicate beautiful and gripping to the imagination of another?

Prose and Pale Ale observed that this contention is grounded in the author’s understanding of the Natural Law. O’Brien believes it is because:

                         “Beauty is a foretaste of what we are intended for in eternity."

To clarify his meaning, the author, speaking at Kolbe Academy\Trinity Prep in Napa, California digs deeper. His topic for the evening is “Catholic Fiction and Restoring Culture in an Age of Escapist Illusions." Mr. O’Brien assures us this is not conjecture on his part nor limited to faith-based ignorance assigned to him by would-be perveyors of Scientism. Rather, the works of C.S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien make his case for him.

Michael O’Brien makes the case that fantasy stories and literature have been a constant in all ages and all cultures despite religion, non-religion, or religious differences. It is the way that humankind externalizes internal questions while tasting delightful forms and frightening images of himself and his transcendence. Man himself recognizes he is more than a physical being.

More of O’Brien later........

Life is Art ....Beauty it's Evidence of God

Judy Joyce - Editor