Vice Versa :: About the Art

Unfortunately there can be no doubt that man is, on the whole, less good than he imagines himself or wants to be. Everyone carries a Shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the blacker and denser it is. At all events, it forms an unconscious snag, thwarting our most well-meant intentions.

Carl Gustav Jung, "On the Psychology of the Unconscious" (1912). In CW 7: Two Essays on Analytical Psychology. P.35

Illustrating virtues and vices as sheep and goats comes from a surprising story Jesus told about the scales of judgment in Mathew 25. As I munch on the ruffage of Jesus’ words it lead me to reflect . . .

I want love. I want respect. I want to make a difference.

We all have these God given desires, but the point at which our desires become reality there is a space between good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, sheep and goat (bleat).

Hindsight is 20/20 (mostly), so it is usually (occasionally) after the fact that I realize exactly (ballpark) where between good and evil I engage my desire.

I always strive for my sheep to shine (bleat). I get flufffy and cute. I get loved. I get respected. I make a difference.

Other times, my goat grows. My beard (which I really have) gets longer and my hair gets scruffier and I want to chew on cans. I feel loved (cheating). I feel respected (fleeting). I make a difference (bleating).

And so I’m left with my traveling companion Hindsight, plotting points between good and evil – steady, holdfast; sheep is on the horizon (bleat).