Thomas Cole was the founder of the Hudson River School of American landscape painters, but who’s greater ambition was to convey the word of God through sublime landscapes.
The Voyage of Life is a series of four paintings he made in 1842 to great public reception. It is an allegory of the four stages of human life aptly named: Childhood, Youth, Manhood, and Old Age. They depict a voyager who rides the boat on the River of Life accompanied by a guardian angel. The landscape reflects one of the four seasons of the year that correspond with each phase of life.
In childhood, the infant glides from a dark cave into a rich, green landscape. As a youth, the boy takes control of the boat and aims for a shining castle in the sky. In manhood, the adult relies on prayer and faith to sustain him through rough waters and a threatening landscape. Finally, the man becomes old and the angel guides him to heaven across the waters of eternity.
It’s a great reminder that our lives here on earth are finite ones. We too have seasons of our lives that once gone, may not be ones we can go back and visit again. That’s why it is so critical that we live our lives in real Truth – not the constantly changing just-for-today truths that society and the world give. Each day we steer our boat by the little decisions we make – like dips of the oar into the river. Those little decisions add up and guide and direct the major course of our life. Our lives are also full of joys and dangers we must navigate.
But without real truth to base one’s life on, we are often rudderless or constantly searching for peace. So much emptiness, sadness, and confusion arise because we have collectively decided that modern truth is just anyone’s particular subjective take on things. The reality is, as science also teaches us (nature herself as Thomas Cole would probably say), that there IS real objective truths about our world whether we want to deny it or not. Just as there is real objective truths about ourselves as well.
We all put our faith in our beliefs – no matter where those beliefs come from. Many of us get our faith and beliefs from politicians, actors, rock stars, and celebrities of all sorts. Faith that those beliefs will bring us to happiness. In whom and where does your faith lie? How true has that turned out to be in a month? A year? A decade? Your lifetime? Eternity?
