We visited the Cloisters yesterday, a museum that looks exactly like its name at the very northern part of Manhattan. As I walked by a sculpture of a woman’s head with the title, “Head, perhaps of an Angel,” I thought, that’s interesting. (You’ll find a photo of the piece at on-emotions.com)
The entire description read, “a key Parisian sculpture from the thirteenth century. Several stylistic and technical features link it with sculpture made for Notre-Dame Cathedral, but its exact origin and function are unknown.” It was dated around 1250.
Studying the piece further, I began to appreciate and even enjoy how we know something about it, but much eludes us.
Calling it “perhaps, of an Angel” is also so evocative, as that wonderful title invites us to consider if what we know about that piece, and by extension even our life, the world, and God – and all that yet remains elusive – is “perhaps, of an Angel.”
Meaning, perhaps in our midst is a presence of holy dimensions, perhaps help is beside us, perhaps there is more to all of this that we can fathom and calculate. And – if we think about it – one can interpret the word “perhaps” either cynically or optimistically. A choice and decision that in many ways defines how we engage with the unknown and all that remains elusive.
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