Thread by @KevinHeider

I've been thinking about these words from filmmaker #IngmarBergman since the news about #NotreDame broke earlier today:

"There is an old story of how the cathedral of Chartres was struck by lightning and burned to the ground. Then thousands of people came from all points..."

"...of the compass, like a giant procession of ants, and together they began to rebuild the cathedral on its old site. They worked until the building was completed — master builders, artists, labourers, clowns, noblemen, priests, burghers. But they all remained anonymous..."

"...and no one knows to this day who built the cathedral of Chartres. Regardless of my own beliefs and my own doubts, which are unimportant in this connection, it is my opinion that art lost its basic creative drive the moment it was separated from worship..."

"...It severed an umbilical cord and now lives its own sterile life, generating and degenerating itself. In former days the artist remained unknown and his work was to the glory of God...Thus if I am asked what I would like the general purpose of my films to be, I would reply..."

"...that I want to be one of the artists in the cathedral on the great plain. I want to make a dragon's head, an angel, a devil — or perhaps a saint — out of stone. It does not matter which; it is the sense of satisfaction that counts..."

"...Regardless of whether I believe or not, whether I am a Christian or not, I would play my part in the collective building of the cathedral."

As an artist, as a person of faith, and as one who sees + seeks the value in beauty, mystery, and orienting the work of human hands toward something greater, I find so much hope in Bergman's words.

#NotreDame #Paris #France