Friday night’s Paris Olympics opening ceremony pissed off many people for mocking da Vinci’s “The Last Supper." Whats striking was its ugliness - a rejection of beauty. it was also a glaring repudiation of athletes given the medals at the podium. The medals are awarded for a greater, selfless mission; the athlete's fitness a measure of sacrifice and higher aims.
The garish ceremony championed the excess of self. We recognize the chief human failings as pride, greed, lust, anger, gluttony, envy and sloth. there were all on display. Pride leads the pack, for it begins as a celebration of self, but ultimately leads to a justification of its excesses. over time, the sin of pride allows users to make demands on others to laud their extreme indulgence - even as it rejects your own simple lives. if you dare question, they become vengeful. and why? for they know you sense they overvalued their egomania. and so they wish to dominate, yet depend entirely on identification as victims of persecution. That contradiction requires an even deeper denial, and drives them into deeper emptier excesses.
da Vinci made art. What was made Friday night was its opposite.