tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34011427.post3699338150564223539..comments2024-03-26T07:00:11.620-05:00Comments on Wisdom of the Hands: Our hands are tied...Doug Stowehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13003845322415622289noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34011427.post-62404397427969361842015-04-29T12:28:14.444-05:002015-04-29T12:28:14.444-05:00Tim, I would say our society is detached and deran...Tim, I would say our society is detached and deranged. Interesting use of the plane in the lap of justice. A sharp plane can take thin shavings.Doug Stowehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13003845322415622289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34011427.post-47421161527819881652015-04-29T11:43:59.869-05:002015-04-29T11:43:59.869-05:00"We thought that by freeing the hands from to..."We thought that by freeing the hands from toil, we would be made clean, but instead we were made stupid." So well said, Doug. We live in a debased society—debased from material engagement with nature that is the work of sustaining life, and debased from true and wise justice that underlies good and legitimate government. This is the wisdom in Lorenzetti's mural in Siena's Sale de Pace, where the figure of harmony ("Concordia"), a hand plane in her lap (symbolic of social smoothing, leveling and strong communal joining/cohesion), sits at the feet of the figure of Justice. On the adjacent wall, the effects of this image of good government shows a happy city of artisans and builders, farmers coming and going with their livestock and produce from a thriving landscape just outside the city gates. And over this scene the angel of Security hovers.<br /><br />The opposite wall, showing the antithesis, the effects of bad government, justice, the land and the crafts of civilization destroyed, is where we are today.Tim Holtonhttp://www.holtonframes.comnoreply@blogger.com