Antonius Block: I want knowledge! Not faith, not assumptions, but knowledge. I want God to stretch out His hand, uncover His face and speak to me.
Death: But He remains silent.
Antonius Block: I call out to Him in the darkness. But it's as if no one was there.
Death: Perhaps there isn't anyone.
Antonius Block: Then life is a preposterous horror. No man can live faced with Death, knowing everything's nothingness.
Death: Most people think neither of death nor nothingness.
Antonius Block: But one day you stand at the edge of life and face darkness.
Death: That day.
Antonius Block: I understand what you mean.
Sjunde inseglet, Det
It is with great sadness that I remark on the passing of one of the great artists of our lifetimes: Ingmar Bergman, writer and director, passed away today at his home in Faro, Sweden. He was 89 years old. His passing is a great loss for lovers of the arts around the world. Indeed, this year has already seen the loss of some of our finest and most iconoclastic artists.
I am very proud to be a part of this community. I am proud to make a small impact upon you as part of you; proud of what we achieve and what so many of you achieve, and the success in making our country and our world a better place. Especially when we make it just a tiny bit better – the smallest things that improve things just a tiny bit are so often the most overlooked and bypassed. And in a few short days, the second Yearly Kos will begin, and you voices will carry even further – all the way to the highest levels of power in our nation and world.
Politics is important – if I didn’t believe that, I would not be here. And neither would you. And it is important for us all to keep our eyes on that, and to maximize our power, passion, and intelligence upon those goals. But in this moment of loss, I’d beg us all to think for a moment about the power of art.
I never met Mr. Bergman; I don’t even speak his language. But he has shared part of his soul with me and touched my own. Art has that power. The sharing between people created by art is in many ways as intimite as sex, a sharing of something within yourself. Yet it has the power to share between those who do not know each other and may have lived centuries apart. What a tremendous and powerful thing.
And not entirely isolated from the political realm. T.H. White pictured Arthur on his deathbed, pondering the meaning of the fall of his kingdom, and said:
There would be a day – there must be a day – whe he would come back to Gramarye with a new Round Table with no corners, just as the world had none – a table without boundaries between the nations who would sit to feast there. The hope of making it would lie in culture. If people could be persuaded to read and write, not just to eat and make love, there was still a chance they might come to reason.
I believe that. In my heart of hearts, I am certain of it.
Thank you for your glorious gifts to me, Mr. Bergman. Rest, and know that until the very end you knew the triumph of being alive. And since I can say nothing finer, let me end with more of your words:
My dear friends, for 22 years, in the capacity of theater manager, I've stood here and made a speech without really having any talent for that sort of thing. Especially if you think of my father who was brilliant at speeches. My only talent, if you can call it that in my case, is that I love this little world inside the thick walls of this playhouse, and I'm fond of the people who work in this little world. Outside is the big world, and sometimes the little world succeeds in reflecting the big one so that we understand it better. Or perhaps, we give the people who come here a chance to forget for a while, for a few short moments, the harsh world outside. Our theater is a little room of orderliness, routine, care and love. I don't know why I feel so comically solemn this evening. I can't explain how I feel, so I'd best be brief. My wife and I, and the rest of the Ekdahl family, my brother Carl, - I think Carl is here - We wish you all a happy and joyous Christmas. I Hope we meet again on St. Stephen's Day, strengthened in body and soul.
Fanny och Alexander