Image of the Week: The Word Became Flesh
© Durga Yael Bernhard
If you google the title of this painting, you won't have to type more than two words before the rest of the phrase comes up. This essential concept of spirit manifesting in human form comes from the Gospel of John, who "came as a witness, to testify concerning the light." As I understand it, this refers to John the Baptist, a Jewish spiritual leader who foretold the coming of Jesus Christ. As with many parts of the Bible, the author of the text is unknown, and is the subject of much scholarly debate.
Christianity grew out of Judaism, and the root from which they diverged is easy to see in this passage. The Torah (Hebrew Bible, or "Old Testament") begins with God uttering the words "Let there be light" – and light is created, overcomes darkness, and brings the first day into existence. The creation of the world and all its creatures follows, all issuing from the word of God. The Book of John begins: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God . . . and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."
This was a world in which people were struggling to overcome the pagan belief systems that had ruled for thousands of years – far longer than the time that has passed since then. Ten thousand years ago, cave-dwelling tribes believed material objects – known as idols – contained supernatural spirits. Five thousand years ago, the wandering desert nomads known as Hebrews began to replace these polytheistic beliefs with a monotheistic concept of a single, transcendent, intangible God. The material world and the spiritual world became two separate but related realms. Two thousand years ago, an offshoot of this belief system began to grow, in which the spirit of God manifested in human form – that of a single man, the son of God.
The dichotomy of spirit and flesh may be found in many belief systems. I won't delve into other examples here. I was merely pleased, upon receiving this illustration assignment, to find a common root of two of the world's great monotheistic traditions, in language – and referring to language itself.
Language truly is a mystery and a miracle. That the words I type may convey meaning to a future reader is amazing to me. To bring something intangible into material form is nothing less than alchemy. Whether it's transforming a goal into action or a concept into an end product, it's satisfying and real. The society into which Jesus Christ was born was hungry for this fulfillment – for spiritual healing, and ideas that could transcend the reality of suffering and death under the brutal oppression of the Roman occupation. In this ideal state, a spiritual concept is invested with material form, and thereby penetrates the world. Heaven and earth, language and flesh, transcendent and mundane are united, bringing comfort for all humans.
These polarities have always intrigued me as an artist. For me, the best thing to illustrate is a union of opposites, a duality that seeks oneness. Thus the figure shown above is partly in and of the material world – composed of dark, earthy colors – and partly sky, with a transcendent bird, symbolic of Jesus, taking flight. This dichotomy of darkness and light reflects both texts cited above. It could be a Jewish or Christian illustration – or something else entirely. I like that. The publisher liked it, too.
If I had this assignment to do over again, I'd try to explicitly symbolize the word – language itself, and its mysterious, generative power – visually. To bring actual words into the picture would be trite; I would have to find another way. As plants grow from seeds planted by human hands – a seminal concept in the agricultural revolution that was still unfolding in Biblical times – so much grows from human intentions in the form of words. Best of all is bringing images and words together – which is why I like writing this blog, and building bridges between art and life.