A Misty Veil

It may be the knowledge of an upcoming trip to the AGO that has brought to the front of my mind a beautiful painting by Monet. I have no idea what it's called, but I recall standing in front of it for a long time the last time I was there. It's a painting of a castle, or manor house, almost entirely obscured by mists. It looks as though a heavy veil of mist is all that separates us from a much more magical place. A place where mistakes are obscured and there is no pain.

Somedays it feels as though a heavy veil is all that separates us from a beautiful place, a more perfect society, a better world. We can see how we want the world to be. We know what a good, peaceful society would look like. Because we can see it. We just can't see a way to get there. There is a mist blocking our way.

It's almost like Brigadoon, a town that only appears once every hundred years. You can't find it unless you know it's there and you have to head through the mist to get there. It can be hard, and I'm sure that would be frightening, but to find the love of your life (or so the story goes) apparently it's worth it. I wonder if we feel the same way about creating a peaceful world. We're not really sure how that would turn out. We actually have no idea. There has never been a world where everyone has enough to eat and no one lives in fear. We have an ideal that we can sort of see through a misty veil. The basic ideas are there, the details are just a little fuzzy for us. It might be worth it to try and see the details, to pull back the veil and find out how that world works. I hope that one day we will be able to find the courage to do that. To step up and take responsibility for something like that. To create a loving and just society. Or we can let the veil of mist stay where it is. Perhaps somethings are easier to just imagine . . .