So Van Gogh gave back to the church his ideals and was afraid of religion. I say the word religion. Then I go out and paint the stars. Van Gogh s fear expressed itself in the creative work of his paintings. The painter, as the shepherds that starry night, was afraid.
Some people fear religion and others find a power in religion to combat their fear.
Many of us fear death, which is really a fear of living, isn t it. The poet Anne Sexton knew fear. She wrote poignantly of her need for belief fused with a rejection of the need. In her poem, With Mercy for the Greedy, written to her friend Ruth who had urged her to make an appointment for the Sacrament of Confession. Ruth had sent Anne her own cross to wear.