The Life of The Soul

The Museum of Modern Art once held an Edvard Munch exhibit entitled “The Modern Life of the Soul,” accompanied by a bio-pic by Norwegian director Peter Watkins (employing a filmmaking technique best described as “Lars Von Trier meets the History Channel”) that provided deep insight into the human condition in general as well. In one reenactment a woman involved in the free love society of the time profoundly observed that “one day you wake up to find the person you thought you couldn’t live without is the one holding you back.” I realized that a non-monogamous society could never exist until jealousy was accepted as a part of life, not to be fought off or succumbed to. With a few strokes of his brush Munch cleared away flowerpots, curtains he’d painted already in an effort to obliterate the extraneous. Like eliminating bullshit from one’s life. Munch concentrated on the important details, not the peripherals – the artist drawn to essence like a moth to a flame.