[One Sip of a Book] The Painting That Knocks on My Window

Editor's NoteSome sentences encapsulate the entire content of a book, while others instantly reach the reader's heart, creating a connection with the book. We excerpt and introduce such meaningful sentences from the books.

For the author, a nun, paintings are a window to view the world. Every outstanding work contains not only the image of an era but also the unchanging truths of our lives that transcend time. Within the world of the artwork, the author traces what the artist intended to depict and what kind of anguish led to the creation of such a world.

Perhaps Judas in history loved Jesus more passionately than anyone else. It is certain that, as much as he poured out his love, he expected that love to be returned to him. Anyone who is human would feel the same. And for the fervent party member Judas, that love must have been a path like his own, the path of national restoration. He must have endured the times when there was not even a trace of the necessary elements to realize this?such as popular agitation, securing the trust of the people, resentment against Rome, and pride in the Messiah, the hope of the Jews. This fervent party member surely did not lack patriotism and self-interest. Judging by his role as the treasurer, he must have been more realistic and intelligent than anyone else, and with that intelligence, he must have quickly grasped that Jesus’s path was very different from his own. - From A Portrait of a Jew: Jesus and Judas

Is human nobility standing tall over nature, ruling and dominating at will? Can the preciousness of life be protected solely by scientific advancement? Is true happiness achieved by material abundance? Can true freedom be enjoyed by traveling through the universe? Don’t we now see the limits of progress possible by reason without God and by human power? Perhaps it is time for us, like desert monks, to ask, “What must we do to be saved?” In an ironic sense, the title The Wanderer Over the Sea of Fog seems quite fitting. - From More Like a Master of Everything Than a Wanderer

Self-sacrificial love acts as the adhesive that binds families and communities, where weak humans live together and wounds are inevitable. Only this self-sacrificial love can see through the hundreds of layers of irreconcilable emotional faults. Even amidst the tangled threads of distorted and obsessive love, it allows one to quietly breathe the breath of love and does not easily cut the threads and shout for liberation. Even if it takes time and both sides suffer more, without the journey of reconciliation, a true community cannot be formed. This is the empty seat. - From Empty Seat, Yet Filled with Warmth

My Window-Calling Paintings | Jang Yosepa | Param Book | 268 pages | 16,700 KRW