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The following article was written by Eugene Terekhin, the man and the mind behind the publication Philosophy of Language.
Philologist, philosopher, translator, and author Eugene Terekhin explores in Philosophy of Language the secret literary theory behind the fantasy worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Owen Barfield who believed that when words are spoken aright, they invoke the invisible reality from behind the veil of the world. He is a voice of much needed wisdom in our day and age, when so much of true art is being eviscerated and trivialized.
He is the author of the following books and I have read three of his books and highly recommend them:
and The New Exodus: Escaping One Man’s War
We urge you to subscribe to Eugene’s insight-packed newsletter filled with the wisdom of the inklings, poets, philosophers, writers and great thinkers by clicking the button below:
This article originally appeared on Philosophy of Languagehere. I’m sharing it with The BoldBrush Letter because in it, Eugene has explored an important topic, perhaps the most important topic for creative people.
Editor’s Note: In two days, this post will be locked and is available only to paid members because we don’t want this duplicate content on the open web in a way that might draw traffic away from Eugene’s original post. If you are not a BoldBrush paid subscriber, you can still read the entire post here.
Only Love Can Judge: The Sacred Role of True Critics
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As a child, I loved drawing. One day, after copying several illustrations from my favorite book about pirates, I proudly showed my artwork to a friend of my parents who had come to visit. He looked at it and said, “Not bad for a child.”
I was devastated. That moment stuck to my memory. Since then, I have encountered similar critics at various points in my life. My literature teacher in school told me I couldn’t write essays. Another teacher said I would never learn a foreign language.
But I have had other teachers as well. One of my university professors told me she enjoyed reading my course papers so much that she always looked forward to the end of the term. Another professor loved discussing one of my favorite subjects—stylistics—with me. She said she appreciated my philological intuitions. That, too, stayed with me.
Incidentally, the Latin word criticus traces back to the Greek adjective kritikós, which means “discerning.” It predates the word criticism by a few decades. How curious, I thought. The critic is, first and foremost, someone who discerns. Judgment and production of “criticism” are secondary.
True criticism never begins with what is wrong. It doesn’t even begin with what is right. It begins with discerning. It begins with carefully looking and carefully listening. The goal is to discern the Divine spark behind the layers of human imperfections. Only a discerner can judge.
No criticism will be effective unless we first catch that glimpse of the Divine and allow it to move us. A true critic is someone who’s moved by what they have discerned. True criticism feels like standing on the sacred ground of another person’s soul. To overlook that burning bush is a sacrilege—we must take off our shoes.
In the Old and New Testaments, a judge is someone who saves. A true judge is one who saves you from missing out on the Divine spark within you. When we encounter true critics, we feel uplifted. They help us see why we are here. What they say to us proceeds from a sense of wonder at what they have glimpsed behind our imperfections.
I experienced it again recently when a friend invited me to join a closed Quora group dedicated to Tolkien. “We will read each other’s articles and give constructive feedback,” he said. At first, I hesitated, thinking, “Constructive can mean anything.” But then I agreed.
The feedback I received was more than interesting. It was moving. It seemed to me that other participants saw in my articles more than I had written. And then they added what they thought would make the article even better. I felt honored. I didn’t feel criticized at all. I felt nurtured.
Whether or not I will ever improve my writing was beside the point. The point of the group was to discern and honor the Divine spark in each other’s work. A true critic is not someone who criticizes. A true critic is a seer, a discerner, an appreciator. A true critic is a lover. Only he who loves can judge.
Love is the ultimate judge. Only love can truly discern because only love can make us truly see.
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By Eugene Terekhin
A place for the outlaws of poetry and the written word. One of the aims of Poetic Outlaws is to revive the Promethean fire of the dead poets and artists in an attempt, however futile, to elevate the modern soul out of the sludge of the status quo.
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