Cosmas and vocation

Pierre de Calan, a career banker (French), penned Cosmas or the Love of God, his only novel, late in life. I recommend this book to readers who are interested in the values of a quiet, reflective life and in a unique perspective on vocation. De Calan poses several very important questions about vocation and calling.
In Cosmas, the Novice Master holds the flawed Novice close to his heart, even closer than he thinks he should. Question: Does the Spirit entrust us with gifts and situations wherein he does not give us clarity or wisdom in all matters of love in action? Is it true that we hold unclearly and unwisely to certain things that will never be right, because we are compelled to love them?

(review on Goodreads.com)

(This brings to mind the often-cited practice of "tough love," which means love that is tough or hard on the receiver. In my experience, most love is tough—tough for the giver too.) 

Bell-wether

Roger Fry portrait of Clive Bell, c.1924

Art critic Clive Bell (1881-1964) wrote a powerful, small volume, his ars poetic, in 1913, simply titled, Art. In a chapter on modern art's debt to the painter Cezanne, Bell applies his formalist proposals to the example of Cezanne's life, claiming the painter's work is significant due to his conscious intent to be only an artist.

I will paraphrase the end of Bell's chapter, as if he is giving advice to young designers: "To be a designer, for the designer, ought to suffice. Too many designers have become less by trying to become something else."