object:2.01 - The Picture
book class:Hymn of the Universe
author class:Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
subject class:Christianity
class:chapter
The Picture
"At that time," he began, "my mind was preoccu-
pied with a problem partly philosophical, partly
aesthetic. I was thinking: Suppose Christ should
deign to appear here before me, what would he
look like? How would he be dressed? Above all, in
what manner would he take his place visibly in the
realm of matter, and how would he stand out
against the objects surrounding him? . . . And con-
fusedly I found myself saddened and shocked at
the idea that the body of Christ could stand in the
midst of a crowd of inferior bodies on the world's
stage without their sensing and recognizing,
through some perceptible change, this Intensity so
close beside them.
"Meanwhile my gaze had come to rest without
conscious intention on a picture representing Christ
offering his heart to men. The picture was hanging
in front of me on the wall of a church into which I
had gone to pray. So, pursuing my train of thought,
j began to ask myself how an artist could contrive
to represent the holy humanity of Jesus without im-
posing on his body a fixity, a too precise definition,
which would seem to isolate him from all other
men, and without giving to his face a too individual
expression so that, while being beautiful, its beauty
would be of a particular kind, excluding all other
kinds.
"It was, then, as I was keenly pondering over
Christ in the World of Matter 37
these things and looking at the picture, that my vi-
sion began. To tell the truth, I cannot say at what
precise moment it began, for it had already reached
a certain degree of intensity when I became con-
scious of it. The fact remains that as I allowed my
gaze to wander over the figure's outlines I suddenly
became aware that these were melting away: they
were dissolving, but in a special manner, hard to
describe in words. When I tried to hold in my gaze
the outline of the figure of Christ it seemed to me
to be clearly defined; but then, if I let this effort
relax, at once these contours, and the folds of
Christ's garment, the luster of his hair and the
bloom of his flesh, all seemed to merge as it were
(though without vanishing away) into the rest of
the picture. It was as though the planes which
marked off the figure of Christ from the world
surrounding it were melting into a single vibrant
surf ace whereon all demarcations vanished.
"It seems to me that this transformation began at
one particular point on the outer edge of the figure;
and that it flowed on thence until it had affected its
entire outline. This at least is how the process ap-
peared to me to be taking place. From this initial
moment, moreover, the metamorphosis spread rap-
idly until it had affected everything.
"First of all I perceived that the vibrant atmos-
phere which surrounded Christ like an aure-
ole was no longer confined to a narrow space about
him, but radiated outwards to infinity. Through
this there passed from time to time what seemed
like trails of phosphorescence, indicating a continu-
ous gushing forth to the outermost spheres of the
38 Hymn of the Universe
realm of matter and delineating a sort of blood
stream or nervous system running through the to-
tality of Bfe,
"The entire universe was nlbrantl And yet, when
I directed my gaze to particular objects, one by
one, I found them still as clearly defined as ever in
their undiminished individuality.
"Ail this movement seemed to emanate from
Christ, and above all from his heart. And it was
while I was attempting to trace the emanation to its
source and to capture its rhythm that, as my atten-
tion returned to the portrait itself, I saw the vision
mount rapidly to its climax.
"I notice I have forgotten to tell you about
Christ's garments. They had that luminosity we
read of in the account of the Transfiguration; but
what struck me most of all was the fact that no
weaver s hand had fashioned them — unless the
hands of angels are those of Nature. No coarsely
spun threads composed their weft; rather it was
matter, a bloom of matter, which had spontane-
ously woven a marvelous stuff out of the in-
most depths of its substance; and it seemed as
though I could see the stitches running on and on
indefinitely, and harmoniously blending together in
to a natural design which profoundly affected them
in their own nature.
c< But, as you .will, understand* I could spare only
a passing glance for this garment so marvelously
woven by the continuous cooperation of all the
energies and the whole order of matter: it was the
transfigured face of the Master that drew and held
captive my entire attention.
Christ in the World of Matter 38
"You have often at nighttime seen how certain
stars change their color from the gleam of blood-
red pearls to the luster of violet velvet You have
seen, too, the play of colors on a transparent bub-
ble. So it was that on the unchanging face of Jesus ;
there shone, in an indescribable shimmer or irides-
cence, all the radiant hues of all our modes of
beauty. I cannot say whether this took place in an-
swer to my desires or in obedience to the good
pleasure of him who knew and directed my desires;
what is certain is that these innumerable gradations
of majesty, of sweetness, or irresistible appeal, fol-
lowing one another or becoming transformed and
melting into one another, together made up a har-
mony which brought me complete satiety;
"And always, beneath this moving surf ace, up*
holding it and at the same time gathering it into
a higher unity, there hovered the incommunicable
beauty of Christ himself. Yet that beauty was some-
thing I divined rather than perceived; for whenever
I tried to pierce through the covering of inferior
beauties which hid it from me, at once other indi-
vidual and fragmentary beauties rose up before me
and formed another veil over the true Beauty even
while kindling my desire for it and giving me a
foretaste of it.
"It was the whole face that shone in this way.
But the center of the radiance and the iridescence
was hidden in the transfigured portrait's eyes.
"Over the glorious depths of those eyes there
passed in rainbow hues the reflection — unless in-
deed it were the creative prototype, the Idea—of
everything that has power to charm us, everything
40 Hymn of the Universe
that has life. . « , And the luminous simplicity of the
fire which flashed from them changed, as I strug-
gled to master it, into an inexhaustible complexity
wherein were gathered all the glances that have
ever warmed and mirrored back a human heart
Thus, for example, these eyes which at first were so
gentle and filled with pity that I thought my
mother stood before me, became an instant later,
like those of a woman, passionate and filled with
the power to subdue, yet at the same time so im-
periously pure that under their domination it
would have been physically impossible for the
emotions to go astray. And then they changed
ag^in, and became filled with a noble, virile
majesty, similar to that which one sees in the eyes
of men of great courage or refinement or strength,
but incomparably more lofty to behold and more
delightful to submit to.
"This scintillation of diverse beauties was so
complete, so captivating, and also so swift that I
felt it touch and penetrate all my powers simulta-
neously, so that the very core of my being vibrated
in response to it, sounding a unique note of expan-
sion and happiness.
"Now while I was ardently gazing deep into the
pupils of Christ's eyes, which had become abysses
df fiery, fascinating life, suddenly I beheld rising
up from the depths of those same eyes what
seemed like a cloud, blurring and blending all that
variety I have been describing to you. Little by lit-
tle an extraordinary expression, of great intensity,
spread over the diverse shades of meaning which
Christ iriiheWoM of Matter 41
the divine eyes revealed, first of all permeating
them and then finally absorbing them all. . „ •
"And I stood dumbfounded.
Tor this final expression, which had dominated
and gathered up into itself all the others, was inde-
cipherable. I simply could not tell whether it
denoted an indescribable agony or a supera-
bundance of triumphant joy. I only know that since
that moment I thought I caught a glimpse of it
once again — in the glance of a dying soldier.
"In an instant my eyes were bedimmed with
tears. And then, when I was once again able to look
at it, the painting of Christ on the church wall had
assumed once again its too precise definition and its
fixity of feature."
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