ABSTRACT
We have looked at the construction of single point perspective with an eye to how it reveals a dialectical vision of the natural world in relation to its divine infrastructure. My intention here is to begin exploring ways in which aspects of the natural world are employed to directly enhance this relationship-images that are both real in the material sense of their worldly presence yet also indicative of a deeper transcendent meaning. Walls, doors, gates, as well as elements like gold and even forms in nature such as clouds, trees, and especially the flower (to be treated in the following chapter, along with the window) take on metaphorical meaning. Some of these have fairly straightforward traditional significance, while others are particularly paradoxical in the way they are presented. All, however, serve essentially as avenues that open the mind’s eye to see something other than what seems literal. Paramount among those metaphors of disclosure that we will discuss in this chapter is the mirror.
