Some Feelings about the Sacred

SOME FEELINGS ABOUT THE SACREDEric ArnouldACR 2012

All images from my personal collection

HAFIZ SAYS EVERYTHING…

I LIKE THIS ANCESTOR (NOMMO) WATCHING OVER ME…

Dogon

I FIND IT REASSURING THAT NIMBA SURVEYS THE RICE FIELDS

Liberia

MAYBE I HAVE A SPIRIT TWIN, IS THAT WHY I’M LONELY?

I’VE SEEN ENOUGH NOT TO MOCK THE THUNDEROUS POWERS

Shango staff, Benin

AND SOME SACRED POWERS SCARE ME DEEPLY, NOT ONLY THIS BUT…

The fetish is not a representation, it is.

THEM

I TREASURE THE ENIGMA OF THE SACRED

The Dogon say the Telem could fly; if they could make this, why not?

Obviously they also cut off heads

Telem, ca. 14-15th century, Mali

4cm

THE SACRED IS ALSO ALIEN, DON’T GET COZY These were made

for hundreds of thousands of years everywhere on earth according to the same basic pattern

They weren’t made by H. sapiens

Acheulean hand axe

OBVIOUSLY, IMAGES ARE NOT THE ONLY LINK TO THE SACRED

And sometimes reaching the sacred takes discipline…

But drinking the ink can bring a blessing

Slate with Quranic text, Niger

INHABITED, EMBODIED LINKS

HAFIZ SAYS WE NEED SILENCE TO LET THE BELOVED IN

SACRED THINGS CAN BE Active and passive Immanent and present Alien and familiar Powerful and impotent Reachable and out of reach Enigmatic and mundane Being and nothingness Frightening and reassuring Ethereal and embodied

BUT ALWAYS INTENSELY FELT

A LIBATION FOR YOU

Drinking millet beer in Bobo Dioulasso