Through a Glass Darkly- Again

I started this blog with a reference to the famous bible verse, but I thought it would be good to refer to it again because it seems so appropriate here.
Not to abuse the beautiful scripture, which basically says that we'll understand the things we see better once the Lord returns and fulfills his final purpose on Earth.
Here's how the Bible puts it:
"Now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face." I Cor. 13:12 ( KJV)

The glass mentioned refers to a dark or smokey mirror. To me, many things in daily life seem that way.
Some things just aren't obvious on first viewing. I think that's especailly true with many American cities. The symbols and monuments in civic settings can be especially deceptive, as a friend has so clearly pointed out to me over the last several days.
Recently, as he and I were tooling around Nashville, one of my favorite cities, he pointed out that the city's Bicentennial Mall took on a whole new perspective depending how one views it.
The Bicentennial mall isn't a shopping center. Rather, it's a large, linear styled park, a lot like the Mall in Washington DC.

It's pleasant enough to walk through. But if you view it from the elevated height of the State Capitol building, it takes on quite another shape. As seen from the balcony of the capitol, the mall, which stretches to the west of the capitol for nine acres and then terminates in a rotunda, looks an awful lot like a pyramid, with a glowing circle at the top. It immediately puts you in mind of the pyramid and illuminated eye on the back of the dollar bill. It was clear to us because of this and several other clues, that the mall was Masonically inpspired.

But there's much, much more here. Apparently, the mall is a close copy of an ancient land form called the Pillar of the Immortals. You can see more about this assertion on a fascinating website by new age author William Henry here (http://williamhenry.net/stargateprk.htm)
Henry is familiar with Nashville. He says its Bicentennial Mall is extraordinary ( he calls it StarGate Park ) It seems its designers fashioned it in such a way that it's highly symbolic, and, if you believe in such things, can act as a focusing mechanism for psychic energy. And I thought it was just a nice place to have lunch!
But there are LOTS of things like that here in the Music City. Music City. Music. Musica. Now there's a controversial word!
At least it is in Nashville. Musica is actally a giant bronze sculpture which stands thirty feet tall. ( perhaps the largest bronze sculpture in America ) It's composed of nine nude figures many with limbs interlocked, all dancing around in a sort of ' Ring around the Rosies' fashion. Study the figure's faces. Study thier gestures, and you may come to the conlcusion that there's an orgiastic quality to their frolic. Really. I also personally feel that the piece does put off a 'vibe', if you will. An odd sensation one might feel that goes beyond just what the piece looks like. Viewing the sculpture in person can have a potent effect.

So, what does that have to do with music? That's what Nashville residents have been asking since the piece was first erected. The sculptor, Alan Lequire says this about Musica-

"An artistic idea often seems to miraculously and spontaneously burst forth. This is what happens in the sculpture, and the title MUSICA suggest this since it refers to all the 'arts of the muses.'"

There are plenty of Nashville residents who can't see any connection between the sculpture and thier idea of music. However, the sculpture does seem to have a lot to do with the supernatural. The sculptor has also been quoted as saying the figures are earth-spirits. Little gods and goddesses. Somehow, they burst forth from the earth, eager to celebrate the joy of dance and music and all that it means. A little esoteric for Nashville, I would think. But maybe not.

Sculptor Alan Lequire ( left ) has produced another very notable piece. The massive Statue of Athena is located inside Nashville’s replica of the Parthenon. Nashville’s Parthenon is a near exact copy of the original in Athens, Greece. That centuries-old building has been in ruins since the 1960’s, but is currently being rebuilt. But if you want to know what the original will look like when completed, just look at it’s mirror twin in Nashville.

The giant gilded statue of Athena, located inside, also a perfect historic replica of the original. As I did research for this article, I ran across the following quote from a visitor who posted thier impressions of the statue in an online forum:
"I went to the Parthenon in Nashville, TN over the weekend. This building is amazing. It is an exact replica of the original (so they say) and inside of it is a statue of the Goddess Athena. I believe they said it was 41 feet tall. With her shield to her side and Nike in her hand. On the shield are pictures of many Gods/Goddesses.
I was overwhelmed. As we turned the corner to where She is I had to keep myself from crying and falling at her feet. I stood in awe and really felt as though I was in Her presence."

I guess I'm not the only one who feels these sculptures are powerful.

It could be said that Athena was the favored Goddess of the Greeks. They feared Zeus, and admired Apollo. But Athena was mother and warrior, all in one. Dangerous, but approachable. Today, she sits in all her ancient, gilded glory at the Centennial Park in west Nashville. Why?
Athens Greece is of course named for the goddess Pallas Athena. It is her favorite city, and was THE center in the ancient world for the worship and devotion of the goddess. As a curious coincidence, Nashville’s nickname just happens to be “ The Athens of the South”.
The figures of worship and meditation we’ve mentioned in this article have all been built within the last ten years. No doubt more are planned.
I've been doing an informal survey of my other favorite towns like Atlanta Georiga, Savannah Georgia, Birmingham Alabama, and others. All of them seem to have structures and massive artworks that seem to whisper a secret, underlying reality.
Nashville has a reputation for having lots of Christian churches, and Tennessee is often referred to as the Buckle of the Bible Belt. But Nashville's costly, gilded and larger-than-life monuments of spirits, goddesses and 'sacred structures' seem to say she also has a very powerful Pagan side too. They could just be scattered, unrelated expressions of art. But I think it's more likely that they're connected on some level. Perhaps a spiritual one. Whatever else they are, they definitely allow us to see The Music City more clearly as we gaze at that smokey mirror.