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THE OWL OF MINERVA
 
 


"When philosophy paints its grey in grey, then has a shape of life grown old. The Owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the coming of dusk."

Georg Friedrich Hegel

 

Friedrich’s Owl in a Gothic Window. The Gothic window is itself "a shape of life grown old". The owl is a symbol of the keen-eyed philosopher, taking a last glance at the stony-grey shapes of the past before spreading its wings to embrace an icy dusk - that twilight of the gods that must precede the birth of a new ‘philo-sophy’. This the dawn of gnosis as love of Sophia wisdom – the wisdom of feeling cognition.

 

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