80 Liter Water Bottle, 2004
Ichi Ikeda (Japanese, born 1943)
mixed media with photographs
66 x 52 x 20 in.
mixed media with photographs
66 x 52 x 20 in.
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The San Antonio Museum of Art has an exhibit entitled, The Missing Peace. I am a fan of mysteries and puzzles. The Missing Peace is an interesting and provocative play on words that has stayed with me, as have many of the images, including the cupped hands trying to hold water that will inevitably run through the fingers.
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Peace is missing from our lives. The day after seeing this exhibition about the Dalai Lama and Buddhist understanding of compassion, I saw a young man, barely twenty downtown, riding his Segway, standing tall on two high tech computerized artificial legs. He was a visual reminder of all the young men and women who have been fighting in Iraq and Afganistan. Peace in this world is missing.
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The legislators in Texas are talking about a bill allowing them to take concealed handguns in places that bar guns from the general population, places like bars and hospitals. One legislator fears assassination and says they need to be able to defend themselves. The movies and the books are filled with apocalyptic images, end of civilization or just violence on the rampage. This week a new vampire-after-the-destruction-of-civilization movie came out. I wonder why we are drawn to vampires and zombies in our films. Twilight, a vampire love story, has captured teens both in book and in film form.
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This is the puzzle – why can we not live in peace? Even in the church? Especially in the church.
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When non-church people look into our stained glass windows, what do they see?
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Is there more love in these communities than in the world around? In many cases, there is more dissension and animosity.
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Will the peace continue to run through Christ’s fingers? Where is the peace and the love and the compassion of Christian for Christian?
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The Dalai Lama believes in working for peace. And, although I respect him and Buddhism, I love and respect Christ even more. Where are the Christian voices and Christian leaders who would be recognized throughout the world? Where are the Neibuhrs and Bonhoeffers and Barths of today?
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Where is that missing peace?
Hope Talks 
Really interesting blog! Check out mines and let me know what you think 🙂
I was watching an excellent movie about the Dali Lama on Saturday. It was called” Seven years in Tibet.” Why can a whole country follow a path of gentleness and not be Christian. How did Christians miss the boat on love and gentleness?
It is the call of the world, Phyllis. The world has a wisdom that is in opposition to the gospel. And, yet, sometime, I think war is necessary — even if we strive constantly for peace.