things perhaps and things above

The only things I long for more than the next, currently mythical Sufjan Stevens album are marriage and the Second Coming.

Which gets me thinking about the Second Coming and the hereafter, and remembering that someone (Dorothy Sayers? C.S. Lewis?) once said that in heaven all of the art which we attempt to render, with varying degrees of success, during our time on earth, will be awaiting us in perfection in heaven. Even the ideas that we never get on paper.

There's a danger in the self-comfort of that thought, of course -- rather like the danger of focusing so much on the hereafter that we neglect the now. Art still demands attention, work, craftsmanship, dedication and commitment -- right now. But it's nice to think that some of the things we can't make fly, the immature stuff that we discard every so often, will be made perfect themselves one day.

What really excites me, though, is the thought that perhaps every artistic conception of my favorite artists will there for my perusal and enjoyment, all the things they never released or got done. If such is the case, then heaven is going to have one enormous library of books and music and films, and one enormous art gallery. And we'll have the whole of eternity to go through them.