I am currently processing a lot of anger. Delayed anger. I’m realizing I’ve dealt with many people, especially men, who played the victim. They saw my kindness and generosity. They knew I had the capacity to give and love unconditionally. They couldn’t deal with their own anger, pain, trauma, and insecurities. Instead, they pushed all that onto me. And I took it like my own. I felt responsible for their blame. I allowed that for such a long time, without recognizing that it was they who should have owned and faced their darkness. The whole time, all I felt for them was sympathy and compassion. I am not doing that anymore. Anger isn’t an emotion I often feel. It’s rather new for me. But I’m letting myself feel it deeply and unapologetically.

What does it actually look like if we are to live as a slave to Christ? My pastor recommended me the following books of the Bible to read: Daniel, Nehemiah, Esther, Ezra.

I will read them!

It becomes more and more apparent to me that living as a Christian means that I have to give up everything that I am. This bothers me, and it would probably bother anyone. But I continue, in part because I know that the only path to living the life truly lived, and living a life that God acknowledges is going forward, and giving up more and more of myself. What is the alternative? Living the same way as I did before? Mired in sin, and the meaningless things of this world? These things still call to me, as a siren calling to a sailor from the deep, but what is the point in pursuing them when I have much better things to do with my life? Isn’t it much more interesting to wake up every morning, in expectant hope of what God has in store for you that day? At least, these are the things that I tell myself to keep going. The world tries to brainwash me in one direction, so I must try to keep my thoughts going in the other.

#personal

Shadow,

Firstwax has come, and already the nights are growing brighter. I’ve taken some time to walk the monastery grounds and clear my head. I am writing from under the bough of the Gate of Allseeing.

I walked in the rose fields for some time, down past the gate. Like when we were younger–do you remember? We carried our training spears wherever we went. I think often of the nights we spent sparring in the roses fields, crossing spears until our bodies were black and blue–

I am merely delaying the dreadful memory of the Sabbath Night past. But I know you will give me an earful if I ramble on about the past. I’ll tell you now. But know I’ve broken into the Luneshine.

I crossed the Abyssus Abyssum, north to the holy city. After my prayers I walked the deck, trying to spy the ghostly tails of the comet in the sky. Traveling through the mists in the darkness was slow, but the men at the helm managed well enough. It was the fifth hour of the Sabbath by the time the silver glow of Metagerion began to appear on the horizon. The glow of the city grew ever larger, and by the sixth hour we’d arrived at its massive southern gate.

The journey across the sea had been silent. I sensed the tenseness of the spear men around me. But the moment we’d crossed the inner gate, the city around us erupted into light and noise. The Jubilee had come, and the city was in full celebration. Fireworks erupted above us in the dark sky. The masses reveled below us on the marble avenues below.

Perhaps it is my isolation down here in the south, but the amount of people flooding the streets of the city left me astounded then, watching from the deck. All waiting for the comet’s arrival.

Fools drinking to the devil-eyed wolf being born above.

The ziggurat ascended toward the center of the city. There, the black ziggurat floated above the bowl of the metropolis. It slowly turned as we rose to meet its height, reflecting the starslight and spiraling fireworks.

I’d been overcome with a sense of disorientation as I watched it rotate and stepped away from the deck. It would’ve been quite a disappointment to Aestrigha if I had fallen over. If only I’d had the sense to hurl myself overboard as I staggered around on the deck.

The zeppelin docked and I bade my men to remain aboard, to prepare for immediate departure–I wouldn’t spend any more time there than was required of me.

So I walked alone, under the Ziggurat’s arches and into the darkened halls within. The air was heavy with confounding perfume and incense as I moved deeper in, past the rooms where sorcerers and alchemists were working their secret business.

Before long, I heard the raised voices of the other Patriarchs, who had gathered in the middle of the Ziggurat’s central promenade. They stood in dark cloaks and bent bodies among the roses of the promenade's artificial gardens, awaiting my arrival.

The scent of the roses was a welcome change from the muddling incense, and once I’d cleared the dark outer edge of the promenade, I felt my mind returning to clarity. The other eight patriarchs regarded me, hushing their arguments and craning their dire faces in my direction. But only Father Felix, who you’ll know is grand curator of the Akademia, stepped forward to greet me.

Iyanus! the old patriarch gasped, gripping me on the shoulder. You must imagine him like an old heron, dignified but cautious. He waited for input from the other Patriarchs but none came, none to my surprise. I saw the puzzlement on their faces, their unease. Each one of them has access to their own astrologers and star-watchers. But I could see that none of them had predicted the comet’s arrival either.

The obsidian doors to ziggurat’s inner halls opened. The drowsing aroma of incense wafted back into the room. The Highmother’s cult soon followed–sorcerers in ritual trappings and diviners casting lots and bones, charlatans all like their mistress.

The cult spread out around the outer edges of the roses, their collective gaze downcast. When at last they’d all filed in, a tall figure appeared at the door, draped in gold chain and a gauzy roseweave gown.

Aestrigha had arrived. Her long, dagger like shadow cast itself across the floor as we patriarchs watched. She then appeared, draped in gold and beads, the chief charlatan among her cult of wolves. I Know you have only ever seen her from the balcony of the Ziggurat, but it always shocks me just how tall she is. No burly men could even approach her height or presence.

Her shadow fell upon us and I felt an immediate pressure, a gloam that pushed down on my shoulders. She stepped forward, wearing the golden death mask of a saint. Her beautiful, unmoving face contained the destructive power of her wicked eyes.

But even when the most deadly of her tools was stayed, you were never safe from the malinfluence of a witch like Aestrigha. Even from across the promenade, the sight of her froze the blood in my veins. The other Patriarchs–powerful, prideful men each and every one of them–bowed their heads in deference.

The presence imposed silence upon the hall. The oddly mannered ritualists of her cult gawked our way as she stepped into the light of the atrium’s roses. To my horror, she carried a bundle of her white gown in her arms, swathing the young–arrival as the Subtle Man had called it.

It was there. In her arms. The consequence of my weakness. Her hand laid over the infant to soothe it, but I could not yet see its shape. I could see the sweat of her labor matting her long, orange hair.

“My beloved husbands,” she said.

Her voice is the most pleasing I’ve ever heard. It brought calm and clarity to my mind. But it was her clarity–not my will. I have tried to describe it to you before. It happens before you realize it has clutched your mind in its grip.

Just as the queen sand-bumbler uses her pheromone to compel the drone to act or not act. It is incredibly hard to resist that impulse.

Aestrigha moved forward, joining we fathers in the roses, casting her shadow upon us. I detected movement from the bundle in her arms. But I was also becoming aware of bells ringing from all over the city, overtaking the crowd and fireworks in volume.

“The bells of Metagerion toll wide over the Abyssus Abyssum tonight. Look up to the evernight, and you will see that the Ennealogyos has appeared.”

I looked up as the dark ceiling of the atrium pulled away like mist, revealing the night sky outside. I could see the high walls of the city’s outer rim, while before my very eyes the ghostly tails of the comet began to appear. One by one, until all eight heads sat at the top of the night sky.

A few of the patriarchs gasped, staring in open mouthed disbelief. I could hardly see it as real myself. I wonder if they heard my prayers back at Zoter’s Wall.

“It shrouds the baby prince in its white aura, blessing the commencement of a new era.”

Aestrigha stepped in front of me, pausing while she regarded me with her blind, golden eyes. She knew, Shadow. She knew exactly what I was thinking. She knew of my terror of the thing in her arms, and she savored it.

“Look upon him, husbands,” she commanded, her voice soft and terrible.

She pulled back the gauzy cloth.

I forced myself to look. I prayed to the Ninegod that I would see a human face. I peered in and saw the tranquil, sleeping face of the infant. He had the same devil-orange hair as his mother. I wondered what else he may have inherited and looked away from the baby’s closed eyes.

“See that he is no monster, as many of you have feared. Look and see, he has the eyes of a Fawn.”

The boy did not cry as her hand caressed his cheek. I felt compelled again to look upon his face. My son’s face. His eyes opened. They were large and dark, glinting like stars over the night. He began to fuss and Aestrigha consoled him, pushing away the tufts of orange hair on his brow, where there were two small, raised mounds near his temples.

Horns. The boy had horns, Shadow. I looked upon the faces of the other patriarchs. All fear and apprehension stretched across their old faces. They  gasped, their whispers hissing like steam. A devil. A beast. Yet I suspect none of them knew of my personal involvement in his birth and pray it never comes to light.

“He is the prince of this world,” Aestrigha cooed gently, stroking the nubs of his horns with a long, gold-ringed finger.

As she did, one of her cultists, the Lector, stepped forward. With aged, trembling hands, he held up holy Almagest, invoking Aestrigha’s authority over prophecy. The old Lector never left her side and proceeded to open the tome.

He spoke:

“Eight Aeons have dawned and concluded, as the great Almagest Mund Astrolatri has chronicled in foresight. All signs in the Word, good Fathers, point to the beginning of the final Aeon, belonging to the Prince.”

I looked away, to anywhere else. The comet has grown brighter,

The Lector continued:

“The Rapture comes nigh–but the prince has one more obligation before the final Aeon can begin.”

“Aestrigha, you don’t mean–?” Felix stammered, stepping back.

The Grand Curator had been a Patriarch for thirty years by the time I’d been elevated. He knew what was to come.

“He must be proved to be the Prince,” Aestrigha replied. She turned from me, turning away with that bundle that I so suddenly needed to see.

“Accompany me.”

Unseen machinery began to grind somewhere in the Zigurrat’s dark vastness. The starry night above us began to vanish again into mist, as though overtaken by the waves of the sea. I felt my body moving, downward, deep into the Ziggurat’s depths.

Deep into the mist.

The descending floor left the atrium and descended down a glittering tunnel of rock. I estimated that we were below the mistline of the sea, well beyond the lowest terraces of the city–which were regularly flooded. We emerged from the bottom into a vast, circular cavern, where the mists roiled and tossed ferociously.

The cavern must have been large enough for an entire armada of Zeppelins to fit inside. I had never seen something so grand. We were descending toward a small island in the churning basin, rising up like the pistil of a flower. The floor touched down. The mists shimmered and swirled around me as we spread out, making room for Aestrigha to pass.

“Bear your eyes to the Mist Well, as I conduct the Prince’s proving.”

Aestrigha stood at the edge of the well, where the mists blew her roseweave gown around her.

“I give him to the mists, let him return to me with his mandate–”

My heart hammered against my ribs, Shadow. I realized what she intended to do. I wanted to scream, to tackle her, to strike her with the spear I did not carry anymore. But her voice held me as rooted as the roses around us.

I watched as though a statue as  she held the child—my son, Shadow, I care not if he’s a devil—out over the open well.

The boy cried out, his shriek piercing the muting mist. I saw his dark eyes, so full of fear of his mother. And then, I like to tell myself he looked past her–his black eyes knowing me. Forgiving me.

But how could that be true? How would he even know me from the other tired, fearful men gathered around me.

I waited for one moment, breathless and desperate to intervene.

And she opened her arms, release her hold over the baby.

I watched the delicate bundle fall, but it didn’t plummet silently into the coursing, swirling mists below. It seemed to float upon the puffy mist banks, receding as though a gift received by the arms of the sea. I watched until the roseweave cloth disappeared, swallowed by the stormy clouds.

She turned back to us, her golden hands empty.

“It is done,” she said. “Await him. Twenty-one years hence, when the Ennealogyos returns once more, the ninth and final Aeon will commence.”

I was stunned with disbelief. No other Patriarchs moved.

“Let the Jubilee continue.” Said the Highmother, and the infant was gone.

I was then detained in the capital for the duration of the Sabbath. I fled the Ziggurat and hung low with my contacts in the slums. Then, at Karillia’s first light, I gave the order to depart back south to Zoter’s Wall.

Now I sit here drunk like a novice, under the Gate of Allseeing, with the bottle of Luneshine nearly empty. The moons have waxed some since I first started writing. Now you know the worst of it. I stood by and watched a monster cast my son into the mists.

I pray it killed him, Shadow. Maybe that is the worst part. Maybe he would fail his proving down there. And never come back.

Because if he survived… Ninegod help us.

I am going to sleep now.  Don’t worry, my security detail will soon enough find me. I await your reply. Do not think too poorly of me.

Joyous Jubilee,

IYANUS, P.

29th Jassuary, 9978 CY

Shadow,

It’s been three nights since I’ve been able to send my reply. My zeppelin has only just made it back to Zoter’s Wall. I’d been detained up north at the capital for the duration of the Sabbath Night, as my helmsmen decided we couldn’t risk the storms in the darkness without risk of disaster.

We’d barely had time to depart before the moons had all gone dark, ushering in the dreadful Sabbath. I’d been reading by the fireside in my bed chamber atop the tower, weary of the attention I’d spent directing the monastery’s preparations for the moonsless night to come. A rustling had caught my attention, and I turned to wafting curtains, where something stood just beyond the open balcony doors.

A Subtle Man had arrived from the north. Whether he carried a message or the dagger for me, I couldn’t immediately discern. I don’t have to tell you, the man-shaped void on the balcony frightened me to my feet at once. I may be beyond my training years, but I am still a monk of the Wall. The silver shaft of my spear was standing at my bedside, far from my reach. I didn’t move, knowing the inky skulker on the balcony could intercept and silence me before I reached it. Nor would I be able to yell for spearmen stationed outside my door. They move with astonishing speed.

But the shadow was not an assassin this time. He’d come with a message. I waited breathless as he stood on the balcony, a black shape cut from the starry night behind him.

He said,

“Honored Patriarch Iyanus, your great wife calls you to the Ziggurat for the Jubilee. The comet’s arrival is imminent. The bells of Metagerion are ringing out. But there is another arrival…”

I rounded my chair then, practically jumping toward the balcony. I yelled to the phantom, demanding he explain what he meant. Yet by the time I’d reached the doors, flinging away the curtains from my body, the phantom had melted away and gone.

I crossed the room and flung open my chamber doors. The new First Spear, Makelm, was there standing among his monks. I took them by surprise. Neither Makelm nor the other monks heard anything of the disturbance. I do not discount their training. The Subtle Men were only seen and heard when they wished to be. Or on instruction of their mistress, the Highmother.

I relayed the urgent summons to Makelm, and soon the men were running down the tower’s stairs to the monastery below. By the time I’d crossed the bridge of the tower and stood at the Gate of Ninefold Harmony, all ninety-nine monks of the Wall had been roused and were preparing the zeppelin for departure.

From the gate I saw a vista of the diminished moons, sunken into the misty sea and half obscured by the rising sabbath storms. Little Karillia and Belephon had already gone dark, their discs like empty holes in the sky. Only giant Hespyreus had shine left–a scarce sliver of crescent that would quickly wane. The sea was already so dark by then. The stars, though dense, offered little light for our journey.

Below the moons, storms were already spinning up in the mists. Electricity coursed in the bottomless depths, great arcs that bounded in the currents. I began to feel a dread that stayed with me throughout the night. Travel during the sabbath is never wise, you know that. But I could not disobey this summon to the Ziggurat. Not on this night. Not from the Highmother. Her Subtle Man had announced the comet’s arrival. It had caught out astrologers here at the Wall unawares–we’d seen no indication of its return. But the Ziggurat was never wrong.

And the shadow messenger had said, there was another arrival.

I have told you of my regrets of the past. Of my weakness when it comes to Aestrigha. She is not easy to deny. I am but the age of a father, much younger than the other Patriarchs. I can see why her devil-eyes fell upon me. Those eyes scare me, though I have never seen them myself–thank the Ninegod. But I have seen them unfettered, and the devastation they can inflict upon the flesh of a man. To twist. To rip. To warp.

Another Arrival, it still rings through my mind.

She has more at her disposal though than just her eyes. When she speaks, it is as though you have no choice but to hear her. To obey her. I fear those eyes, so I submitted to the voice. And what it told me to do–Ninegod, what have I done, Shadow?

I tell you now, she made me do it with her siren voice.  But I am a man, and a weak one at that when it comes to that wretched witch. I can only be adamant with myself that she used her voice upon me. That I couldn’t resist her. I cannot live with myself any other way.

I won’t be made the father of a demon. Yet I laid with a demoness.

I scanned the skies from the gate, looking for the comet’s arrival. Yet I saw no sign. So, I hurried back across the bridge into the tower to change from my bed clothes. I wore the least elaborate habit I could find. Saffrine in the color, red like the rose. Before departing, I passed into my private cloister and knelt before the silver Nonikon, offering my frantic prayers to the Ninegod.

Yet I knew no storm or darkness of the Sabbath Night would prevent me from reaching the north, so

When I’d made it back across the bridge, the zeppelin was hovering over the harbor, having been moored by the cliffs on the northside of the Monastery to shield it from the electrical storms. I made my way down the steps beyond the gate and entered the courtyard below. The First Spear awaited me, and we hurried to the harbor.

I boarded the Zeppelin, leaving the First Spear to govern the monastery in my absence. A detachment of nine men accompanied me, with the others disappearing up the monastery’s terraces, readying their spears for the devils and geists of the Sabbath Night to come. The zeppelin rose high above the isle and pointed north toward the holy city.

I awaited the comet’s arrival the entire journey there, yet there was only the endless mists of the Abyssus Abyssum around us. Yet it did not appear. The astrologers of the ziggurat would later time its apparition to the exact moment of the devil-boy’s birth–

I will write more later. But now I must think. And Drink. On the confirmation of my worst fear. My body is weary of traveling. My mind feels full of the sea’s poisonous mist. I will go sit by the fire and rest–I can hear you already scolding me.

‘Til the last nights pass,

IYANUS, P.

27th Jassuary, 9978 CY

PS – I know you will be eager to reply. But forego your judgment until I’ve told you the worst of it.

– Your friend, I.

Médard Bourgault (1897–1967) est reconnu comme le père de la tradition moderne de la sculpture sur bois au Québec.

Autodidacte originaire de Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, il reprend au tournant des années 1930 un artisanat religieux alors en déclin. Avant Médard, la sculpture sur bois d’inspiration religieuse, ancrée depuis le XVIIe siècle, avait été presque abandonnée au XIXᵉ au profit des statues de plâtre importées de modèles étrangers. Les églises québécoises se tournaient massivement vers ce substitut industriel ; les artisans locaux, quand ils existaient, étaient rarement formellement reconnus comme artistes.

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Art traditionnel (sculpture religieuse, artisanat)

Situation avant Médard

Le Québec rural du début XXᵉ siècle connaît des pratiques artisanales traditionnelles mais moribondes. La sculpture sur bois religieuse est devenue marginale au profit de productions industrielles (statues en plâtre ou importées). Le métier de sculpteur-artisan vit surtout de commandes d’églises et de mobilier religieux, avec peu de place pour la création profane. Les savoir-faire existent dans les villages, mais leur transmission reste informelle et limitée.

Action de Médard

À son retour de la marine marchande, Médard Bourgault se consacre entièrement à la sculpture sur bois (dès 1929–1930), à la faveur d’une crise économique qui l’a laissé sans emploi. Sa rencontre avec l’ethnologue Marius Barbeau en 1930 est déterminante : ce dernier lui achète ses œuvres et le fait entrer dans les réseaux de collectionneurs et de milieux culturels au Canada et à l’étranger. Stimulé par l’arrivée de nombreux touristes via le nouveau boulevard des Marins (inauguré en 1929), le gouvernement du Québec favorise la mise en valeur des métiers artisanaux. Médard installe une table devant sa maison et vend directement au public des statuettes vernaculaires – paysans, bûcherons, types québécois – qu’il sculpte et souvent polychrome lui-même. Il introduit alors de nouveaux sujets profanes dans la sculpture sur bois, tout en continuant à réaliser des œuvres liturgiques (Vierges, chemins de croix) sur demande.

Situation après Médard

L’action de Médard Bourgault transforme radicalement le paysage artisanal. Avec ses frères Jean-Julien et André (les « trois Bérets »), il fonde en 1940 la première École de sculpture sur bois subventionnée par l’État du Québec. Plusieurs générations de sculpteurs y sont formées, assurant la transmission des techniques. En quelques décennies, plus d’une centaine de familles tirent leur subsistance de la sculpture sur bois à Saint-Jean-Port-Joli. Les créations des Bourgault suscitent un engouement significatif : dès les années 1940, la municipalité est surnommée la « capitale de l’artisanat ». La tradition se perpétue tant dans le religieux (retables, ornements d’église) que dans l’artisanat profane et l’art sacré.

En somme, Bourgault redonne un nouvel élan à une tradition abandonnée : « il a redonné un élan à la sculpture sur bois d’inspiration religieuse, enracinée depuis le XVIIᵉ siècle mais délaissée à partir du XIXᵉ siècle ». La continuité est nette dans la valorisation du travail manuel et familial hérité des paysans québécois, mais il y a rupture dans la forme : l’artiste cède aux exigences du marché moderne (scènes de la vie rurale, simplicité des sujets) et dessine les premières lignes d’une véritable « école québécoise » de sculpture populaire.

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Beaux-arts (relations avec les institutions, reconnaissance artistique)

Situation avant Médard

Dans la première moitié du XXᵉ siècle, le « marché » des beaux-arts au Québec privilégie la peinture et la sculpture académique ou moderne. L’art populaire et l’artisanat sont largement tenus à l’écart des grandes institutions muséales et des programmes de formation artistique. Quand Bourgault commence à sculpter, ses œuvres sont avant tout considérées comme de l’artisanat ou du folklore régional. Les élites artistiques francophones du Québec, sensibles au cinéma et aux traditions culturelles, accordent plus d’intérêt aux arts visuels « savants » qu’à la sculpture sur bois vernaculaire.

Action de Médard

Médard Bourgault agit moins sur le monde institutionnel que sur la perception populaire de l’art. Grâce à Barbeau et à des commandes publiques (mobilier d’églises, crèches, etc.), ses œuvres circulent dans des églises et quelques musées d’ethnologie. Toutefois, son positionnement « entre » artisanat et art le place souvent à l’écart du système académique. Les musées nationaux n’organisent pas d’expositions majeures à son honneur, et son travail reste longtemps méconnu du grand public cultivé. Néanmoins, Bourgault et ses frères réussissent à faire reconnaître la valeur esthétique de leurs créations : leur approche narrative et expressive est perçue comme « authentiquement québécoise » et basée sur des valeurs traditionnelles (famille, foi, travail manuel). Cette nouvelle reconnaissance identitaire du « patrimoine populaire » est soutenue par des organismes ethnologiques (SQE, ou Conseil des arts du Québec naissant en 1957) qui valorisent les « porteurs de tradition ».

Situation après Médard

Dans la seconde moitié du XXᵉ siècle, la dichotomie entre beaux-arts et art populaire se cristallise davantage. Comme le souligne l’inventaire du patrimoine immatériel, les politiques culturelles tendent à établir la figure de l’« artiste professionnel » et excluent encore l’art populaire des formations et des musées d’art. En dépit de cela, l’héritage de Bourgault commence tardivement à franchir le fossé institutionnel. Quelques-unes de ses sculptures religieuses entrent dans les collections publiques (par exemple, on en compte plusieurs au Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec), et le travail des Bourgault fait l’objet d’études ethnologiques.

Plus récemment, des sculpteurs de la lignée familiale, comme Pierre Bourgault (né en 1942, neveu de Médard), obtiennent d’importantes distinctions en arts visuels (prix Paul-Émile Borduas, prix du Gouverneur général). Dans ses interviews, Pierre Bourgault note que sa famille a longtemps été vue par les institutions comme des « gosseux de bois » peu sérieux, et qu’il espérait une reconnaissance formelle de ce nom. Cet élan tardif vers la reconnaissance confirme une rupture : le prestige académique du milieu de l’art montre aujourd’hui du respect pour une tradition qui y était ignorée.

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Art contemporain (héritage formel et conceptuel)

Après-Médard et continuité

L’influence de Bourgault se prolonge dans l’art contemporain québécois, notamment au Québec rural. À Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, l’enseignement de la sculpture hérité des Bourgault évolue vers la modernité. Le vieil atelier-école, redéfini en 1992, devient le Centre Est-Nord-Est consacré à l’art contemporain et accueille des résidences d’artistes. En 1984, la municipalité organise un Symposium international de sculpture contemporaine, marquant la volonté d’établir un dialogue entre tradition et innovation. Plusieurs sculpteurs locaux perpétuent le travail du bois en explorant de nouveaux matériaux et échelles (pierres, métaux, installations). L’exposition permanente du Musée de la mémoire vivante note ainsi qu’à partir des années 1950, les thèmes se modernisent et des formes inédites apparaissent dans la sculpture régionale.

Héritage formel et conceptuel

Médard Bourgault a pérennisé le mode de la taille directe du bois, à l’affût du grain et du sujet – un geste formel qui traverse les générations. Il a aussi inauguré une démarche narrative où le sculpteur raconte l’identité collective par la figuration. Cette dimension conceptuelle se retrouve aujourd’hui dans les œuvres qui interrogent l’histoire québécoise et les mythes fondateurs.

Par exemple, les volumes monumentaux de Pierre Bourgault (formes abstraites évoquant la mer) prolongent indirectement l’intérêt familial pour le bois, tandis que des artistes conceptuels s’inspirent de l’idée même d’« art paysan » qu’incarnait Médard. En somme, la rupture principale réside dans l’élévation du statut de cette pratique : ce qui était considéré comme artisanat populaire est désormais assumé comme une composante légitime de l’art contemporain québécois.

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Conclusion

L’œuvre de Médard Bourgault a ainsi engendré à la fois une continuité et des ruptures dans l’histoire de l’art québécois. Continuité, car il ancre durablement la sculpture sur bois dans la culture populaire québécoise et forme de nombreux artisans-sculpteurs. Rupture, car il a contribué à franchir la frontière entre art populaire et beaux-arts : en faisant rayonner un style « authentiquement québécois », il a rendu possible une revalorisation ultérieure par les institutions et l’art contemporain. Aujourd’hui, le « mouvement Bourgault » est reconnu comme le fondement d’un renouveau national : sans lui, Saint-Jean-Port-Joli n’aurait jamais été la capitale de la sculpture qu’elle est devenue. Les héritiers de Bourgault, en atelier ou en musée, perpétuent un dialogue entre tradition et modernité, prolongeant l’impact du « maître-sculpteur » sur les pratiques artistiques au Québec.

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Sources

Site patrimonial du Domaine-Médard-Bourgault – Répertoire du patrimoine culturel du Québec https://www.patrimoine-culturel.gouv.qc.ca/rpcq/detail.do?methode=consulter&id=211488&type=bien

Médard Bourgault, maître d’art, 1930-1967 – Société québécoise d'ethnologie https://ethnologiequebec.org/2021/04/medard-bourgault-maitre-dart-1930-1967/

Les trois Bérets et la sculpture sur bois – Saint-Jean-Port-Joli https://saintjeanportjoli.com/les-trois-berets-et-la-sculpture-sur-bois/

Les retrouvailles des héritiers de Médard Bourgault : un immense succès https://ethnologiequebec.org/2017/09/les-retrouvailles-des-heritiers-de-medard-bourgault-un-immense-succes/

Sculpture d'art populaire – Répertoire du patrimoine culturel du Québec https://www.patrimoine-culturel.gouv.qc.ca/rpcq/detail.do?methode=consulter&id=81&type=imma

Pierre Bourgault remporte un prix du Gouverneur général en arts visuels au Canada https://leplacoteux.com/pierre-bourgault-remporte-un-prix-du-gouverneur-general-en-arts-visuels-au-canada/

Avant Bourgault : une sculpture sous influence européenne et religieuse

Au début du XXᵉ siècle, l’art québécois – et en particulier la sculpture – restait largement tributaire de modèles importés et de traditions anciennes. Plusieurs caractéristiques marquent cette période avant l’émergence de Médard Bourgault :

Une influence européenne dominante

Les artistes et artisans québécois s’inspirent fortement des styles venus d’Europe, faute d’une esthétique locale affirmée. Dans la sculpture, cela se traduit notamment par l’imitation de modèles français ou italiens pour les œuvres religieuses(1). Les grandes églises se garnissent souvent de statues importées ou calquées sur des œuvres européennes reconnues, ce qui limite l’originalité locale.

Un art religieux très formel

La sculpture est essentiellement au service de l’Église catholique. Des sculpteurs comme Louis Jobin (1845-1928) réalisent d’innombrables statues de saints et d’ornements d’église, dans un style sacré académique. À partir de la fin du XIXᵉ siècle, ces sculptures traditionnelles en bois tombent en désuétude au profit de statues en plâtre produites en série d’après des modèles étrangers(1). Ce recours au plâtre standardise l’art religieux et éclipse le savoir-faire artisanal local.

Aucune école de sculpture locale

Avant les années 1930, il n’existe pas de véritable institution au Québec pour former des sculpteurs sur bois. Les rares artistes doivent apprendre sur le tas ou s’exiler dans des écoles influencées par l’Europe. Il n’y a pas encore d’« école québécoise » distinctive. La première école de sculpture sur bois n’ouvrira qu’en 1940, fondée par Bourgault lui-même(2).

L’art populaire méconnu

Les œuvres d’artisans autodidactes – les « gossesux » – ne sont pas considérées comme de l’Art. L’art populaire est relégué au folklore, absent des musées et des formations académiques(3)(4). Quelques ethnographes s’y intéressent dans les années 1930 (Guilde canadienne des métiers d’art, enquête de Gauvreau publiée en 1940)(1), mais cela reste marginal jusqu’à l’arrivée de Bourgault.

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L’apport de Médard Bourgault : un art enraciné, vivant et original

Médard Bourgault (1897-1967), marin puis menuisier, découvre sa vocation de sculpteur autodidacte et, dès 1927, se consacre entièrement à la sculpture(5). Grâce à son talent et aux appuis de Marius Barbeau et de politiciens qui achètent ses œuvres, il parvient à vivre de son art(6)(7). Il révolutionne la sculpture québécoise de plusieurs façons.

Renouveau de la sculpture religieuse

Bourgault crée des œuvres sacrées originales, sculptées directement dans le bois, rompant avec les statues de plâtre standardisées du XIXᵉ siècle(8). Ses crucifix, Vierges et saints témoignent d’une foi authentique et d’un savoir-faire régional(1).

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Les contributions majeures de Médard Bourgault

1. Des scènes du quotidien élevées au rang d’art

Il puise dans la vie rurale québécoise : paysans, travailleurs, veillées familiales(10). Œuvres : L’arracheur de souches (1931), Le joueur de dames (1932), Les moissonneurs (1940)(11)(12)(13).

Ce choix est novateur : ces scènes ordinaires étaient rarement considérées comme de l’art. Le public s’enthousiasme immédiatement(14)(15). Ses œuvres se diffusent dans les chalets, les maisons, puis dans les collections du Canada anglais(16). Les personnages âgés du village deviennent des modèles, préservant la mémoire d’une culture en transformation(17).

2. La fondation d’une école de sculpture (1940)

Dès 1930-33, les trois frères Bourgault forment des apprentis dans un atelier agrandi(18)(19). En 1940, avec l’appui du premier ministre Adélard Godbout, leur atelier devient la première École de sculpture de Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, subventionnée par l’État(2)(20). Médard accueille une quinzaine d’élèves et enseigne sans livres, hors des méthodes académiques(21). L’école ferme pendant la guerre mais rouvre ensuite et forme des générations jusqu’aux années 1960(19). Cette institutionnalisation de l’art populaire est un tournant majeur.

3. Le renouveau de l’art religieux local

Pendant plus de trente ans, il sculpte de nombreuses œuvres sacrées :

• crucifix
• Vierges
• saints
• chemins de croix(9)

Il crée 50 statues originales pour l’église Saint-Viateur d’Outremont et le chemin de croix + chaire de l’église de Saint-Jean-Port-Joli(22)(23). Ses œuvres se retrouvent même aux États-Unis(13). Il ravive la tradition de la sculpture religieuse québécoise du XVIIᵉ siècle(24).

4. La vulgarisation de l’art populaire québécois

Dès 1929, il installe un kiosque devant sa maison pour vendre aux touristes(25). Cette idée simple déclenche un engouement énorme dans les années 1930(26)(27). Saint-Jean-Port-Joli devient la « capitale de l’artisanat » dans les années 1940(28). Les médias, ethnologues et journalistes le consacrent comme une figure majeure(29)(30)(31). Son initiative permet à d’innombrables artisans de vivre de leur art(32).

5. L’exportation de la sculpture québécoise

Plus de 4 000 pièces produites et vendues sur les cinq continents(3). Expositions à Québec, Montréal, Toronto dès les années 1930(33). Le gouvernement du Québec achète des œuvres dès les années 1940(34). Les sculptures deviennent des cadeaux diplomatiques(35). Elles entrent dans les grands musées du Québec et de l’étranger(36). L’art populaire québécois gagne une reconnaissance internationale.

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Un héritage durable : patrimoine vivant et rayonnement international

Patrimonialisation de l’art populaire

La maison et l’atelier de Médard sont designés site patrimonial en 2017(32). En 2023, Médard, André et Jean-Julien deviennent personnages historiques officiels(1)(33). La sculpture sur bois de Saint-Jean-Port-Joli est considérée comme patrimoine immatériel potentiel(34)(35).

Une dynastie d’artistes

Médard a 16 enfants, dont plusieurs deviennent sculpteurs(36). Les élèves des années 1940 fondent leurs ateliers. Une véritable dynastie et tradition vivante se forme. André-Médard Bourgault perpétue encore aujourd’hui les méthodes familiales(37).

Saint-Jean-Port-Joli : capitale de la sculpture

Le village connaît la plus grande concentration de sculpteurs au Québec(38)(39). Il devient capitale culturelle du Canada en 2005(40). L’atelier de 1940 devient le Centre Est-Nord-Est (résidence d’artistes)(41). Un musée de la sculpture sur bois fait découvrir cette tradition au public(42).

Rayonnement international

En 1951, la photographe Lida Moser immortalise les frères Bourgault dans Vogue(45). Films, reportages et photos propagent leur image(46)(47). Les gouvernements utilisent leurs œuvres comme symboles culturels(48). Les musées nationaux conservent leurs œuvres(49). Symposiums internationaux de sculpture dès 1984(50)(51). Depuis 1994 : L’Internationale de la sculpture(52).

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Conclusion

Médard Bourgault a profondément transformé l’art québécois au XXᵉ siècle. Il a ancré la sculpture dans la vie d’ici, donné une voix à l’art populaire, fondé une école, inspiré des générations et projeté le Québec sur la scène internationale.

Il a prouvé qu’un art enraciné dans la culture locale peut atteindre une portée universelle.

Sources

Site patrimonial du Domaine-Médard-Bourgault – Répertoire du patrimoine culturel du Québec https://www.patrimoine-culturel.gouv.qc.ca/rpcq/detail.do?methode=consulter&id=211488&type=bien

BOURGAULT, Médard (1897-1967) | Dictionnaire historique de la sculpture québécoise au XXᵉ siècle https://dictionnaire.espaceartactuel.com/fr/artistes/bourgault-medard-1897-1967/

Sculpture d'art populaire – Répertoire du patrimoine culturel du Québec https://www.patrimoine-culturel.gouv.qc.ca/rpcq/detail.do?methode=consulter&id=81&type=imma

Bourgault, Médard – Répertoire du patrimoine culturel du Québec https://www.patrimoine-culturel.gouv.qc.ca/rpcq/detail.do?methode=consulter&id=9563&type=pge

Médard Bourgault | Domaine Médard Bourgault https://medardbourgault.org/medard-bourgault/

Les trois Bérets et la sculpture sur bois – Saint-Jean-Port-Joli https://saintjeanportjoli.com/les-trois-berets-et-la-sculpture-sur-bois/

Médard Bourgault, pionnier de la sculpture sur bois – Journal Le Placoteux https://leplacoteux.com/medard-bourgault-pionnier-de-la-sculpture-sur-bois/

The Bourgault family of Saint-Jean-Port-Joli | shadflyguy https://shadflyguy.com/2019/03/01/the-bourgault-family-of-saint-jean-port-joli/

La sculpture à Saint-Jean-Port-Joli en 14 superbes photos | JDQ https://www.journaldequebec.com/2023/05/07/la-sculpture-a-saint-jean-port-joli-en-14-superbes-photos

L'Attisée | Centenaire de la sculpture sur bois à Saint-Jean-Port-Joli https://www.lattisee.com/actualites/view/6338/centenaire-de-la-sculpture-sur-bois-a-saint-jean-port-joli

André-Médard Bourgault – Wood carving – Le Vivoir https://levivoir.com/en/andre-medard-bourgault?srsltid=AfmBOopLInu4hiiO8GV0YbDHLSJciw6CpSEVrewTzLZ79KTqG9niwlI6

A Self-Taught Artist Rooted in Rural Catholic Québec

Médard Bourgault (1897–1967) was a self-taught Québec sculptor from Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, a rural Catholic village on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River(1). Born into a modest family of carpenters and sailors, he learned woodcarving on his own, drawing on the artisanal knowledge of his community. As a young man, he was encouraged by a local penknife carver (Arthur Fournier), then noticed in 1930 by the anthropologist Marius Barbeau, who bought several pieces and introduced him to cultural circles(2).

Thanks to this recognition—and to the rise of tourism along the St. Lawrence during the Great Depression—Bourgault began selling his sculptures to visitors, even setting up a small stand in front of his house to display his work(3). His carved scenes of traditional life quickly charmed the public: he received an impressive number of commissions, which pushed him to refine and adapt his style while maintaining his independence(4). Together with his brothers André and Jean-Julien—also sculptors—he trained apprentices and helped turn Saint-Jean-Port-Joli into Québec’s “capital of woodcarving”(5).

Bourgault was deeply rooted in the Catholic Québec of the 20th century, a world where the Church and rural traditions shaped daily life. His personal faith was intense: early on, he decided to devote himself to religious art, both to serve the needs of the Church and to express his own spirituality(6). For more than thirty years, his sculptures reflected this deep faith and found their way into numerous churches and chapels throughout the province. This dual identity—self-taught rural craftsman and devout believer—defines Bourgault’s artistic path and the singularity of his work. Firmly anchored in his terroir, he drew inspiration from Québec’s traditional countryside and Catholic devotion, while aiming for a universal artistic expression.

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Scenes of Faith, Sea, and Everyday Life Carved in Wood

Bourgault’s favorite themes reflect his environment and beliefs. His early works were inspired by the rural life he observed around him: farm families, loggers at work, scenes from the fields, ox-drawn sleds, farm dogs, and more(7). He was also drawn to subjects related to the sea and navigation, echoing his past as a sailor. He carved, for example, Gaspé fishermen pulling in their heavy nets, or schooner captains in slickers facing the river winds(8). One such maritime scene is the relief La pêche (1961)—a large pine panel showing three fishermen hauling a heavy net into their boat as seagulls circle above(9).

Through these peasant and maritime figures, Bourgault honored traditional trades and the simple life of mid-20th-century rural Québec.

In parallel—and increasingly with time—Bourgault turned to religious subjects inspired by his Catholic faith. He carved numerous representations of the Virgin Mary (such as Notre-Dame des blés and Notre-Dame des flots) as well as scenes from the Bible and the lives of saints(10).

Most notably, he excelled in creating Stations of the Cross: fourteen-panel relief cycles illustrating Christ’s Passion, highly sought after by expanding parishes of the 1940s and 50s(11). His wooden Stations of the Cross adorn several churches in Québec (Jesuit Chapel in Québec City, the church in Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, etc.) and even religious communities outside the province(12). These sacred pieces—Madonnas, Crucifixions, saints—occupy a central place in his body of work(13).

Whether depicting a farmer sowing his field or Christ falling beneath the Cross, Bourgault worked primarily in wood (basswood, pine, walnut), sculpted in the round or in high relief. He practiced direct carving, attacking the block with his gouges without any mold or intermediate model. This artisanal approach gives his pieces a raw, living presence, where wood grain and tool marks contribute to the aesthetic. The warm material of wood—sometimes enhanced with early-period polychromy(14)—perfectly suits the popular and religious themes he portrayed.

A Sincere Technique and Deep Faith Serving Emotion

Despite being labeled a “folk artist,” Médard Bourgault developed a technique and style capable of conveying profound emotional force. His status as a self-taught artist, far from being a limitation, allowed him to sculpt with sincerity, free from academic conventions. He observed his subjects closely—whether a ploughman or Christ on the Cross—and extracted their expressive essence rather than anatomical precision. His works privilege expressive strength over academic detail.

As Rodin himself said: “A good sculptor (…) does not merely represent the muscles, but the life that warms them.”(15)

Bourgault’s spirituality is a central driving force of his art. His crucifixions, Madonnas, and saints radiate tangible devotion and humanity, touching the viewer deeply. This spiritual sincerity infuses his work with emotional gravity rarely found in so-called “naïve” art. His major reliefs are “deeply moving and show great sincerity toward life and society”(16).

On a compositional level, Bourgault displayed remarkable inventiveness for an artist without formal training. In his narrative reliefs, he used depth, perspective, and movement. In his Stations of the Cross, the arrangement of figures creates powerful dramaturgy. In his great cycle of panels on “Québec identity”—The Cradle of a People, The Pioneer, The Forge, The Burden of Wars, etc.—he built a true visual epic(17). Created during the Second World War, the cycle blends tradition and modernity(18).

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Works of Striking Expressiveness, Worthy of the Great Masters

Stations of the Cross

Among the most striking examples are the Stations of the Cross carved for the Jesuit Chapel (Québec City) or Caraquet. The 12th station (Jesus Dies on the Cross) shows Christ with his head tilted toward his mother—a composition of great intensity(19).

One of his Stations of the Cross, commissioned in 1948, drew the attention of architects and connoisseurs of sacred art(20).

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The Burden of Wars (1943)

A high relief in pine, often considered his modern masterpiece: a man bent beneath a bundle of weapons symbolizing collective suffering.

Experts have stated that the work “would fit perfectly alongside pieces by other great masters” in a modern art museum(21). It shares an expressive strength comparable to Rodin.

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Marian Statues

Among his major pieces:

• Notre-Dame des flots (1943), acquired by the Musée du Québec(22)
• Notre-Dame des habitants (Virgin with a Sheaf of Wheat), selected by Marius Barbeau for The World’s Great Madonnas, alongside Michelangelo and Raphael(23)

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Recognition and Hierarchies: Rodin vs. Bourgault

Rodin (1840–1917) achieved international recognition—celebrated, honored, and exhibited in major museums(24)(25).

Bourgault, a rural autodidact, received primarily regional recognition(26)(27). His works were sought after, newspapers wrote about him, dignitaries visited his workshop, but he remained classified as a “folk artist.”

Cultural hierarchies favored artists trained in urban, academic environments. Yet, near the end of his life, Bourgault attempted more classical academic subjects such as The Three Graces and The Farewell Kiss(28)(29).

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Rediscovering Bourgault

It is time to recognize Bourgault as an artist whose work carries universal significance. His sculpture transcends his milieu and addresses deep human themes.

It demonstrates that folk art can reach the same expressive heights as “cultivated” art. His sculptures today travel around the world(30).

By positioning Bourgault alongside Rodin, we affirm that artistic emotion has no passport.

Sources

Yves Hébert, « Médard Bourgault, pionnier de la sculpture sur bois », Le Placoteux, 5 février 2024. Jean-François Blanchette, Médard Bourgault et ses héritiers – Un siècle de sculpture à Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, Société québécoise d’ethnologie, 2023. Jean-François Blanchette, « Médard Bourgault, maître d’art, 1930–1967 », Société québécoise d’ethnologie, 2021. Répertoire du patrimoine culturel du Québec, fiches « Bas-relief (La pêche) » et « Station de chemin de croix (Jésus meurt sur la croix) ». Wikipédia, article « Médard Bourgault » (consulté en 2025). Musée des beaux-arts du Canada, notice « Auguste Rodin ». Ethnologie du Québec, « Les Trois Bérets et les ateliers de sculpture de Saint-Jean-Port-Joli », Rabatka, vol. 18, 2020.

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Links

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medard_Bourgault https://ethnologiequebec.org/2021/04/medard-bourgault-maitre-dart-1930-1967/ https://leplacoteux.com/medard-bourgault-pionnier-de-la-sculpture-sur-bois/ https://www.septentrion.qc.ca/catalogue/medard-bourgault-et-ses-heritiers https://www.patrimoine-culturel.gouv.qc.ca/rpcq/detail.do?methode=consulter&id=234672&type=bien https://www.patrimoine-culturel.gouv.qc.ca/rpcq/detail.do?methode=consulter&id=231290&type=bien https://www.beaux-arts.ca/collection/artiste/auguste-rodin

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Note : Ce texte présente une analyse générale des enjeux juridiques liés aux ventes immobilières et aux biens patrimoniaux au Québec. Il ne constitue pas une accusation contre une personne ou une organisation, mais un exposé informatif basé sur les lois applicables.

Qu’est-ce qu’un avenant non notarié ?

Un avenant est un addendum ou une modification apportée à un contrat déjà signé. Lorsqu’il est non notarié, il est conclu sous seing privé plutôt que par acte authentique notarié. On parle alors d’une contre-lettre ou de simulation, lorsqu’une entente secrète exprime une volonté différente de celle inscrite dans l’acte officiel¹.

Entre vendeur et acheteur, la contre-lettre prime sur le contrat apparent².

Un avenant non notarié peut servir, par exemple, à modifier le prix réel de vente ou les délais de paiement³. Important : la simulation est permise (art. 1451 CCQ), mais pas si elle sert à frauder ou contourner l’ordre public⁴⁵.

Si l’avenant secret sert à dissimuler un défaut de paiement important, on entre sur un terrain juridique fragile.

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Un avenant non publié au Registre foncier : manque de transparence et insécurité juridique

Au Québec, les transactions immobilières sont officialisées par un acte notarié inscrit au Registre foncier. Seuls les droits publiés sont opposables aux tiers⁶.

Un avenant secret non publié :

• n’a d’effet qu’entre les parties
• est invisible pour les tiers
• ne peut pas être imposé à d’autres personnes

En cas de conflit, c’est le contrat apparent (celui publié) qui l’emporte⁷⁸.

S’il introduit une condition importante (ex. clause résolutoire), elle aurait dû être publiée⁹. Sans publication, elle est inopposable aux tiers.

Résultat : insécurité juridique. L’entente réelle est dans l’ombre, la protection légale est affaiblie.

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Quels risques pour le vendeur si l’avenant dissimule un défaut de paiement ?

1. Recours limités en cas de non-paiement

Sans hypothèque légale ni clause résolutoire publiée, le vendeur doit poursuivre l’acheteur en simple contrat privé. Il ne dispose pas d’un titre exécutoire notarié¹⁰. Et si l’acheteur conteste en alléguant fraude : → le tribunal peut ne retenir que l’acte notarié.

2. Perte de protections sur l’immeuble

Sans sûreté publiée :

• une banque ayant accordé une hypothèque passe avant le vendeur
• un acheteur subséquent n’est pas lié par l’avenant secret¹¹

3. Risque d’insolvabilité

Le vendeur devient créancier ordinaire. En faillite, il risque de ne jamais récupérer le solde impayé.

4. Risques fiscaux et légaux

Un prix réel différent du prix déclaré peut être considéré comme une fausse déclaration fiscale. La loi exige de divulguer la contre-lettre aux autorités¹². Pour un site patrimonial, cela peut être perçu comme une manœuvre trompeuse. → Le contrat secret peut être invalidé¹³.

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Immeuble patrimonial classé : un cas encore plus sensible

Le domaine Médard-Bourgault est un site patrimonial classé. Cela implique des règles particulières.

Droit de préemption du ministère de la Culture

Avant une vente, le ministre doit être avisé 60 jours à l’avance, avec le prix réel et l’acheteur pressenti¹⁴¹⁵.

Le ministre peut acheter le bien au prix communiqué¹⁶.

Si un avenant secret change le prix réel ou les modalités, la vente :

• n’est plus conforme aux conditions transmises
• peut être vue comme une contournement du droit de préemption¹⁷

Cela peut mener à :

• contestation
• enquête
• annulation éventuelle
• atteinte à la réputation

Obligations d’entretien

Toute modification d’un bien classé exige une autorisation ministérielle¹⁸. Un acheteur en difficulté financière (ce qu’un impayé secret laisse entendre) risque :

• d’être incapable d’entretenir le site
• d’entraîner des interventions forcées du ministère¹⁹

Rôle de la municipalité et de la communauté

Une transaction opaque dans un dossier patrimonial :

• brise la confiance
• complique l’accès aux subventions
• nuit à la planification culturelle locale

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Lois applicables : que dit le cadre juridique ?

Code civil du Québec (CCQ)

• art. 1451 : simulation et contre-lettre²⁰
• art. 1452 : tiers de bonne foi privilégiés²¹
• art. 2938+ : publicité des droits²²
• art. 2941 : seul le droit publié est opposable²³
• clauses résolutoires doivent être publiées

Loi sur le patrimoine culturel (LPC)

Articles pertinents :

• art. 54 à 58 : droit de préemption, délai 60 jours²⁴
• art. 57 : la vente doit être au prix communiqué²⁵
• art. 48 : aucune modification sans autorisation²⁶

Registre foncier du Québec

• un avenant privé ne peut être publié tel quel
• doit être transformé en acte notarié
• absence de publication = aucune protection²⁷

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Conclusion – Informer sans juger

L’affaire du domaine Médard-Bourgault montre les risques d’un avenant secret :

• risque financier pour le vendeur
• risque juridique majeur
• risque fiscal
• risque patrimonial
• risque pour la communauté

La vente d’un bien patrimonial exige transparence, rigueur, et respect du cadre légal.

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Sources (liens cliquables)

1. Pouvons-nous légalement utiliser une contre-lettre ? – Dubé Latreille

2. La contre-lettre en immobilier – JuriGo.ca

3. Code civil du Québec – Légis Québec

4. Saisie immobilière et avenant privé – Lexbase

5. Bien patrimonial classé : droit de préemption – OACIQ

6. Loi sur le patrimoine culturel – OACIQ

7. Le Registre foncier du Québec – OACIQ

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Un autodidacte enraciné dans le Québec rural et catholique

Médard Bourgault (1897–1967) est un sculpteur québécois autodidacte originaire de Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, un village rural catholique sur la côte du Saint-Laurent(1). Issu d’une famille modeste de menuisiers et de marins, il apprend la sculpture sur bois par lui-même, en puisant dans le savoir-faire artisanal de sa communauté. Jeune homme, il est encouragé par un sculpteur local au canif (Arthur Fournier) puis remarqué en 1930 par l’anthropologue Marius Barbeau, qui lui achète des pièces et le fait connaître aux milieux culturels(2). Grâce à cette reconnaissance et à l’essor du tourisme le long du Saint-Laurent pendant la Grande Dépression, Bourgault commence à vendre ses sculptures aux visiteurs de passage, installant même un étal devant sa maison pour écouler ses œuvres(3). Rapidement, ses scènes sculptées de la vie traditionnelle séduisent le public : il reçoit un nombre impressionnant de commandes qui l’obligent à améliorer et adapter son style tout en conservant son indépendance(4). Avec ses frères André et Jean-Julien – également sculpteurs –, il forme des apprentis et contribue à faire de Saint-Jean-Port-Joli la « capitale de la sculpture sur bois » au Québec(5).

Bourgault est profondément ancré dans le Québec catholique du XXᵉ siècle, à une époque où l’Église et les traditions rurales rythment la vie quotidienne. Sa foi personnelle est intense : très tôt, il décide de se consacrer à l’art religieux pour répondre aux besoins de l’Église tout en exprimant sa propre spiritualité(6). Pendant plus de trente ans, ses sculptures témoignent de sa foi profonde, trouvant place dans de nombreuses églises et chapelles de la province. Cette double identité – artiste paysan autodidacte et croyant fervent – définit le parcours de Bourgault et la singularité de son œuvre. Profondément enraciné dans son terroir, il puise son inspiration dans la vie de la campagne québécoise et la dévotion catholique, tout en aspirant à une expression artistique universelle.

Des scènes de foi, de mer et de vie quotidienne sculptées dans le bois

Les thèmes de prédilection de Médard Bourgault reflètent son milieu et ses croyances. Ses premières œuvres s’inspirent du quotidien rural qu’il observe autour de lui : familles de fermiers, bûcherons au travail, scènes de la vie des champs, attelages de bœufs, chiens de ferme, etc.(7). Il affectionne aussi les sujets liés à la mer et à la navigation, héritage de son passé de marin. Par exemple, il représente des pêcheurs gaspésiens tirant leurs filets pleins de poissons, ou des capitaines de goélettes en imperméable affrontant le vent du fleuve(8). Une de ces scènes maritimes est le bas-relief La pêche (1961) – une grande composition en pin où trois pêcheurs halent un lourd filet à bord de leur embarcation, sous le vol des goélands(9). À travers ces personnages marins et paysans, Bourgault rend hommage aux métiers traditionnels et à la vie simple du Québec rural du milieu du XXᵉ siècle.

En parallèle, et de plus en plus avec le temps, Bourgault se tourne vers les sujets religieux dictés par sa foi catholique. Il sculpte de nombreuses représentations de la Vierge Marie (par exemple Notre-Dame des blés ou Notre-Dame des flots) ainsi que des scènes tirées de la Bible et de la vie des saints(10).

Surtout, il excelle dans la réalisation de chemins de croix : ces suites de quatorze bas-reliefs illustrant la Passion du Christ sont très demandées par les paroisses en expansion dans les années 1940-50(11). Ses chemins de croix en bois sculpté ornent ainsi plusieurs églises du Québec (chapelle des Jésuites à Québec, église de Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, etc.) et même des communautés religieuses hors province(12). Cette production sacrée – Vierges à l’enfant, crucifix, statues de saints, etc. – occupe une place centrale dans son œuvre, portée par sa foi intense et par le besoin des églises locales en art religieux(13).

Qu’il représente un paysan semant son champ ou le Christ tombant sous la Croix, Bourgault travaille essentiellement le bois (tilleul, pin ou noyer) qu’il sculpte en ronde-bosse ou en haut-relief. Il pratique la taille directe, sans moule ni modèle intermédiaire, s’attaquant au bloc de bois avec ses gouges et ciseaux. Cette approche artisanale confère à ses pièces un caractère brut et vivant, où la texture du bois et les traces d’outil participent à l’esthétique. Le matériau chaleureux du bois, souvent rehaussé de polychromie dans ses premières œuvres(14), s’accorde bien aux scènes populaires et religieuses qu’il dépeint, leur donnant une présence organique particulière.

Une technique sincère et une foi profonde au service de l’émotion

Malgré son étiquette d’« artiste d’art populaire », Médard Bourgault développe une technique et un style capables de véhiculer une intense charge émotionnelle. Son statut d’autodidacte, loin d’être un frein, lui permet de sculpter avec sincérité, en dehors des conventions académiques. Il observe attentivement ses sujets – qu’il s’agisse d’un laboureur ou du Christ en croix – et en extrait l’essence expressive plutôt que le détail académique. Ses œuvres privilégient la force des attitudes et des expressions sur la précision anatomique. Comme Rodin l’affirmait lui-même : « Un bon sculpteur (…) ne représente pas seulement la musculature, mais aussi la vie qui les réchauffe. »(15)

La spiritualité de Bourgault est un moteur essentiel de son art. Ses Christ en croix, ses Vierges et ses saints expriment une piété tangible et une humanité qui touchent le spectateur. Cette dimension spirituelle sincère donne à son travail une gravité et une profondeur d’émotion peu communes dans l’art dit « naïf ». Ses grands reliefs sont « très touchants et témoignent d’une grande sincérité en regard de la vie et de la société »(16).

Sur le plan de la composition, Bourgault fait preuve d’une inventivité remarquable pour un artiste non formé aux Beaux-Arts. Dans ses bas-reliefs narratifs, il utilise la profondeur, la perspective, le dynamisme. Dans ses chemins de croix, l’agencement des personnages crée une dramaturgie poignante. Dans son grand cycle de panneaux sur l’« identité québécoise » – Le berceau d’une race, Le défricheur, La forge, Le fardeau des guerres, etc. – il compose une véritable épopée visuelle(17). Réalisé durant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, ce cycle marie tradition et modernité(18).

Des œuvres d’une expressivité magistrale, dignes des grands maîtres

Chemins de croix

Parmi les plus frappants exemples : les chemins de croix sculptés pour la chapelle des Jésuites (Québec) ou Caraquet. La station Jésus meurt sur la croix (12ᵉ) montre le Christ la tête inclinée vers sa mère, composition d’une grande intensité(19). L’un de ses chemins de croix, commandé en 1948, attira l’attention d’architectes et de connaisseurs d’art sacré(20).

Le fardeau des guerres (1943)

Haut-relief en pin, souvent considéré comme son chef-d’œuvre moderne : un homme courbé sous un faisceau d’armes symbolisant la souffrance collective. Des experts affirment que l’œuvre « cadrerait bien avec les pièces d’autres grands maîtres » dans un musée d’art moderne(21). Elle partage une force expressive comparable à Rodin.

Statues mariales

Parmi ses pièces majeures : • Notre-Dame des flots (1943), acquise par le Musée du Québec(22) • Notre-Dame des habitants (Vierge à la gerbe de blé), sélectionnée par Marius Barbeau dans The World’s Great Madonnas aux côtés de Michel-Ange et Raphaël(23)

Reconnaissance et hiérarchies : Rodin vs Bourgault

Rodin (1840–1917) fut reconnu internationalement, célébré, honoré, muséifié(24)(25).

Bourgault, autodidacte rural, connut surtout une reconnaissance régionale(26)(27). Ses œuvres étaient recherchées, les journaux parlaient de lui, les dignitaires visitaient son atelier, mais il resta classé dans l’« art populaire ».

La hiérarchie culturelle privilégiait les artistes formés en milieu urbain. Pourtant, Bourgault tenta, à la fin de sa vie, des sujets académiques tels que Les Trois Grâces ou Le baiser d’adieu(28)(29).

Redécouvrir Bourgault

Il est temps de considérer Bourgault comme une contribution artistique de portée universelle. Son œuvre transcende son milieu et rejoint des thématiques humaines profondes. Elle montre que l’art populaire peut atteindre une expressivité égale à l’art « cultivé ». Ses sculptures voyagent aujourd’hui dans le monde entier(30).

En replaçant Bourgault aux côtés de Rodin, on affirme que l’émotion artistique n’a pas de passeport.

Sources

Yves Hébert, « Médard Bourgault, pionnier de la sculpture sur bois », Le Placoteux, 5 février 2024. Jean-François Blanchette, Médard Bourgault et ses héritiers – Un siècle de sculpture à Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, Société québécoise d’ethnologie, 2023. Jean-François Blanchette, « Médard Bourgault, maître d’art, 1930–1967 », Société québécoise d’ethnologie, 2021. Répertoire du patrimoine culturel du Québec, fiches « Bas-relief (La pêche) » et « Station de chemin de croix (Jésus meurt sur la croix) ». Wikipédia, article « Médard Bourgault » (consulté en 2025). Musée des beaux-arts du Canada, notice « Auguste Rodin ». Ethnologie du Québec, « Les Trois Bérets et les ateliers de sculpture de Saint-Jean-Port-Joli », Rabatka, vol. 18, 2020.

1. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medard_Bourgault

2. https://ethnologiequebec.org/2021/04/medard-bourgault-maitre-dart-1930-1967/

3. https://leplacoteux.com/medard-bourgault-pionnier-de-la-sculpture-sur-bois/

4. https://www.septentrion.qc.ca/catalogue/medard-bourgault-et-ses-heritiers

5. https://www.patrimoine-culturel.gouv.qc.ca/rpcq/detail.do?methode=consulter&id=234672&type=bien

6. https://www.patrimoine-culturel.gouv.qc.ca/rpcq/detail.do?methode=consulter&id=231290&type=bien

7. https://www.beaux-arts.ca/collection/artiste/auguste-rodin

In Mesa, Arizona, city officials approved an $800 million data centre development in the midst of the driest 12 months the region had seen in 126 years. The facility would gulp up to 1.25 million gallons of water daily, enough to supply a town of 50,000 people. Meanwhile, just miles away, state authorities were revoking construction permits for new homes because groundwater had run dry. The juxtaposition wasn't lost on residents: their taps might run empty whilst servers stayed cool.

This is the sharp edge of artificial intelligence's environmental paradox. As AI systems proliferate globally, the infrastructure supporting them has become one of the most resource-intensive industries on the planet. Yet most people interacting with ChatGPT or generating images with Midjourney have no idea that each query leaves a physical footprint measured in litres and kilowatt-hours.

The numbers paint a sobering picture. In 2023, United States data centres consumed 17 billion gallons of water directly through cooling systems, according to a 2024 report from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. That figure could double or even quadruple by 2028. Add the 211 billion gallons consumed indirectly through electricity generation, and the total water footprint becomes staggering. To put it in tangible terms: between 10 and 50 interactions with ChatGPT cause a data centre to consume half a litre of water.

On the carbon side, data centres produced 140.7 megatons of CO2 in 2024, requiring 6.4 gigatons of trees to absorb. By 2030, these facilities may consume between 4.6 and 9.1 per cent of total U.S. electricity generation, up from an estimated 4 per cent in 2024. Morgan Stanley projects that AI-optimised data centres will quadruple their electricity consumption, with global emissions rising from 200 million metric tons currently to 600 million tons annually by 2030.

The crisis is compounded by a transparency problem that borders on the Kafkaesque. Analysis by The Guardian found that actual emissions from data centres owned by Google, Microsoft, Meta and Apple were likely around 7.62 times greater than officially reported between 2020 and 2022. The discrepancy stems from creative accounting: firms claim carbon neutrality by purchasing renewable energy credits whilst their actual local emissions, generated by drawing power from carbon-intensive grids, go unreported or downplayed.

Meta's 2022 data centre operations illustrate the shell game perfectly. Using market-based accounting with purchased credits, the company reported a mere 273 metric tons of CO2. Calculate emissions using the actual grid mix that powered those facilities, however, and the figure balloons to over 3.8 million metric tons. It's the corporate equivalent of claiming you've gone vegetarian because you bought someone else's salad.

The Opacity Economy

The lack of consistent, mandatory reporting creates an information vacuum that serves industry interests whilst leaving policymakers, communities and the public flying blind. Companies rarely disclose how much water their data centres consume. When pressed, they point to aggregate sustainability reports that blend data centre impacts with other operations, making it nearly impossible to isolate the true footprint of AI infrastructure.

This opacity isn't accidental. Without standardised metrics or mandatory disclosure requirements in most jurisdictions, companies can cherry-pick flattering data. They can report power usage effectiveness (PUE), a metric that measures energy efficiency but says nothing about absolute consumption. They can trumpet renewable energy purchases without mentioning that those credits often come from wind farms hundreds of miles away, whilst the data centre itself runs on a coal-heavy grid.

Even where data exists, comparing facilities becomes an exercise in frustration. One operator might report annual water consumption, another might report it per megawatt of capacity, and a third might not report it at all. Carbon emissions face similar inconsistencies: some companies report only Scope 1 and 2 emissions whilst conveniently omitting Scope 3 (supply chain and embodied carbon in construction).

The stakes are profound. Communities weighing whether to approve new developments lack data to assess true environmental trade-offs. Policymakers can't benchmark reasonable standards without knowing current baselines. Investors attempting to evaluate ESG risks make decisions based on incomplete figures. Consumers have no way to make informed choices.

The European Union's revised Energy Efficiency Directive, which came into force in 2024, requires data centres with power demand above 500 kilowatts to report energy and water usage annually to a publicly accessible database. The first reports, covering calendar year 2023, were due by 15 September 2024. The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive adds another layer, requiring large companies to disclose sustainability policies, greenhouse gas reduction goals, and detailed emissions data across all scopes starting with 2024 data reported in 2025.

The data collected includes floor area, installed power, data volumes processed, total energy consumption, PUE ratings, temperature set points, waste heat utilisation, water usage metrics, and renewable energy percentages. This granular information will provide the first comprehensive picture of European data centre environmental performance.

These mandates represent progress, but they're geographically limited and face implementation challenges. Compliance requires sophisticated monitoring systems that many operators lack. Verification mechanisms remain unclear. And crucially, the regulations focus primarily on disclosure rather than setting hard limits. You can emit as much as you like, provided you admit to it.

The Water Crisis Intensifies

Water consumption presents particular urgency because data centres are increasingly being built in regions already facing water stress. Analysis by Bloomberg found that more than 160 new AI data centres have appeared across the United States in the past three years in areas with high competition for scarce water resources, a 70 per cent increase from the prior three-year period. In some cases, data centres use over 25 per cent of local community water supplies.

Northern Virginia's Loudoun County, home to the world's greatest concentration of data centres covering an area equivalent to 100,000 football fields, exemplifies the pressure. Data centres serviced by the Loudoun water utility increased their drinking water use by more than 250 per cent between 2019 and 2023. When the region suffered a monthslong drought in 2024, data centres continued operating at full capacity, pulling millions of gallons daily whilst residents faced conservation restrictions.

The global pattern repeats with numbing regularity. In Uruguay, communities protested unsustainable water use during drought recovery. In Chile, facilities tap directly into drinking water reservoirs. In Aragon, Spain, demonstrators marched under the slogan “Your cloud is drying my river.” The irony is acute: the digital clouds we imagine as ethereal abstractions are, in physical reality, draining literal rivers.

Traditional data centre cooling relies on evaporative systems that spray water over heat exchangers or cooling towers. As warm air passes through, water evaporates, carrying heat away. It's thermodynamically efficient but water-intensive by design. Approximately 80 per cent of water withdrawn by data centres evaporates, with the remaining 20 per cent discharged to municipal wastewater facilities, often contaminated with cooling chemicals and minerals.

On average, a data centre uses approximately 300,000 gallons of water per day. Large facilities can consume 5 million gallons daily. An Iowa data centre consumed 1 billion gallons in 2024, enough to supply all of Iowa's residential water for five days.

The water demands become even more acute when considering that AI workloads generate significantly more heat than traditional computing. Training a single large language model can require weeks of intensive computation across thousands of processors. As AI capabilities expand and model sizes grow, the cooling challenge intensifies proportionally.

Google's water consumption has increased by nearly 88 per cent since 2019, primarily driven by data centre expansion. Amazon's emissions rose to 68.25 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent in 2024, a 6 per cent increase from the previous year and the company's first emissions rise since 2021. Microsoft's greenhouse gas emissions for 2023 were 29.1 per cent higher than its 2020 baseline, directly contradicting the company's stated climate ambitions.

These increases come despite public commitments to the contrary. Before the AI boom, Amazon, Microsoft and Google all pledged to cut their carbon footprints and become water-positive by 2030. Microsoft President Brad Smith has acknowledged that the company's AI push has made it “four times more difficult” to achieve carbon-negative goals by the target date, though he maintains the commitment stands. The admission raises uncomfortable questions about whether corporate climate pledges will be abandoned when they conflict with profitable growth opportunities.

Alternative Technologies and Their Trade-offs

The good news is that alternatives exist. The challenge is scaling them economically whilst navigating complex trade-offs between water use, energy consumption and practicality.

Closed-loop liquid cooling systems circulate water or specialised coolants through a closed circuit that never evaporates. Water flows directly to servers via cold plates or heat exchangers, absorbs heat, returns to chillers where it's cooled, then circulates again. Once filled during construction, the system requires minimal water replenishment.

Microsoft has begun deploying closed-loop, chip-level liquid cooling systems that eliminate evaporative water use entirely, reducing annual consumption by more than 125 million litres per facility. Research suggests closed-loop systems can reduce freshwater use by 50 to 70 per cent compared to traditional evaporative cooling.

The trade-off? Energy consumption. Closed-loop systems typically use 10 to 30 per cent more electricity to power chillers than evaporative systems, which leverage the thermodynamic efficiency of phase change. You can save water but increase your carbon footprint, or vice versa. Optimising both simultaneously requires careful engineering and higher capital costs.

Immersion cooling submerges entire servers in tanks filled with non-conductive dielectric fluids, providing extremely efficient heat transfer. Companies like Iceotope and LiquidStack are pioneering commercial immersion cooling solutions that can handle the extreme heat densities generated by AI accelerators. The fluids are expensive, however, and retrofitting existing data centres is impractical.

Purple pipe systems use reclaimed wastewater for cooling instead of potable water. Data centres can embrace the energy efficiency of evaporative cooling whilst preserving drinking water supplies. In 2023, Loudoun Water in Virginia delivered 815 million gallons of reclaimed water to customers, primarily data centres, saving an equivalent amount of potable water. Expanding purple pipe infrastructure requires coordination between operators, utilities and governments, plus capital investment in dual piping systems.

Geothermal cooling methods such as aquifer thermal energy storage and deep lake water cooling utilise natural cooling from the earth's thermal mass. Done properly, they consume negligible water and require minimal energy for pumping. Geographic constraints limit deployment; you need the right geology or proximity to deep water bodies. Northern European countries with abundant groundwater and cold climates are particularly well-suited to these approaches.

Hybrid approaches are emerging that combine multiple technologies. X-Cooling, a system under development by industry collaborators, blends ambient air cooling with closed-loop liquid cooling to eliminate water use whilst optimising energy efficiency. Proponents estimate it could save 1.2 million tons of water annually for every 100 megawatts of capacity.

The crucial question isn't whether alternatives exist but rather what incentives or requirements will drive adoption at scale. Left to market forces alone, operators will default to whatever maximises their economic returns, which typically means conventional evaporative cooling using subsidised water.

The Policy Patchwork

Global policy responses remain fragmented and inconsistent, ranging from ambitious mandatory reporting in the European Union to virtually unregulated expansion in many developing nations.

The EU leads in regulatory ambition. The Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact has secured commitments from operators responsible for more than 90 per cent of European data centre capacity to achieve climate neutrality by 2030. Signatories include Amazon Web Services, Google, Microsoft, IBM, Intel, Digital Realty, Equinix and dozens of others. As of 1 January 2025, new data centres in cold climates must meet an annual PUE target of 1.3 (current industry average is 1.58), effectively mandating advanced cooling technologies.

The enforcement mechanisms and penalties for non-compliance remain somewhat nebulous, however. The pact is voluntary; signatories can theoretically withdraw if requirements become inconvenient. The reporting requirements create transparency but don't impose hard caps on consumption or emissions. This reflects the EU's broader regulatory philosophy of transparency and voluntary compliance before moving to mandatory limits, a gradualist approach that critics argue allows environmental damage to continue whilst bureaucracies debate enforcement mechanisms.

Asia-Pacific countries are pursuing varied approaches that reflect different priorities and governmental structures. Singapore launched its Green Data Centre Roadmap in May 2024, aiming to grow capacity sustainably through green energy and energy-efficient technology, with plans to introduce standards for energy-efficient IT equipment and liquid cooling by 2025. The city-state, facing severe land and resource constraints, has strong incentives to maximise efficiency per square metre.

China announced plans to decrease the average PUE of its data centres to less than 1.5 by 2025, with renewable energy utilisation increasing by 10 per cent annually. Given China's massive data centre buildout to support domestic tech companies and government digitalisation initiatives, achieving these targets would represent a significant environmental improvement. Implementation and verification remain questions, however, particularly in a regulatory environment where transparency is limited.

Malaysia and Singapore have proposed mandatory sustainability reporting starting in 2025, with Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan targeting 2026. Japan's Financial Services Agency is developing a sustainability disclosure standard similar to the EU's CSRD, potentially requiring reporting from 2028. This regional convergence towards mandatory disclosure suggests a recognition that voluntary approaches have proven insufficient.

In the United States, much regulatory action occurs at the state level, creating a complex patchwork of requirements that vary dramatically by jurisdiction. California's Senate Bill 253, the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act, represents one of the most aggressive state-level requirements, mandating detailed climate disclosures from large companies operating in the state. Virginia, which hosts the greatest concentration of U.S. data centres, has seen a flood of legislative activity. In 2025 legislative sessions, 113 bills across 30 states addressed data centres, with Virginia alone considering 28 bills covering everything from tax incentives to water usage restrictions.

Virginia's House Bill 1601, which would have mandated environmental impact assessments on water usage for proposed data centres, was vetoed by Governor Glenn Youngkin in May 2024, highlighting the political tension between attracting economic investment and managing environmental impacts.

Some states are attaching sustainability requirements to tax incentives, attempting to balance economic development with environmental protection. Virginia requires data centres to source at least 90 per cent of energy from carbon-free renewable sources beginning in 2027 to qualify for tax credits. Illinois requires data centres to become carbon-neutral within two years of being placed into service to receive incentives. Michigan extended incentives through 2050 (and 2065 for redevelopment sites) whilst tying benefits to brownfield and former power plant locations, encouraging reuse of previously developed land.

Oregon has proposed particularly stringent penalties: a bill requiring data centres to reduce carbon emissions by 60 per cent by 2027, with non-compliance resulting in fines of $12,000 per megawatt-hour per day. Minnesota eliminated electricity tax relief for data centres whilst adding steep annual fees and enforcing wage and sustainability requirements. Kansas launched a 20-year sales tax exemption requiring $250 million in capital investment and 20-plus jobs, setting a high bar for qualification.

The trend is towards conditions-based incentives rather than blanket tax breaks. States recognise they have leverage at the approval stage and are using it to extract sustainability commitments. The challenge is ensuring those commitments translate into verified performance over time.

At the federal level, bicameral lawmakers introduced the Artificial Intelligence Environmental Impacts Act in early 2024, directing the EPA to study AI's environmental footprint and develop measurement standards and a voluntary reporting system. The legislation remains in committee, stalled by partisan disagreements and industry lobbying.

Incentives, Penalties and What Might Actually Work

The question of what policy mechanisms can genuinely motivate operators to prioritise environmental stewardship requires grappling with economic realities. Data centre operators respond to incentives like any business: they'll adopt sustainable practices when profitable, required by regulation, or necessary to maintain social licence to operate.

Voluntary initiatives have demonstrated that good intentions alone are insufficient. Microsoft, Google and Amazon all committed to aggressive climate goals, yet their emissions trajectories are headed in the wrong direction. Without binding requirements and verification, corporate sustainability pledges function primarily as marketing.

Carbon pricing represents one economically efficient approach: make operators pay for emissions and let market forces drive efficiency. The challenge is setting prices high enough to drive behaviour change without crushing industry competitiveness. Coordinated international carbon pricing would solve the competitiveness problem but remains politically unlikely.

Water pricing faces similar dynamics. In many jurisdictions, industrial water is heavily subsidised or priced below its scarcity value. Tiered pricing offers a middle path: charge below-market rates for baseline consumption but impose premium prices for usage above certain thresholds. Couple this with seasonal adjustments that raise prices during drought conditions, and you create dynamic incentives aligned with actual scarcity.

Performance standards sidestep pricing politics by prohibiting construction or operation of facilities exceeding specified PUE, WUE or CUE thresholds. Singapore's approach exemplifies this strategy. The downside is rigidity: standards lock in specific technologies, potentially excluding innovations that achieve environmental goals through different means.

Mandatory disclosure with verification might be the most immediately viable path. Require operators to report standardised metrics on energy and water consumption, carbon emissions across all scopes, cooling technologies deployed, and renewable energy percentages. Mandate third-party audits. Make all data publicly accessible.

Transparency creates accountability through multiple channels. Investors can evaluate ESG risks. Communities can assess impacts before approving developments. Media and advocacy groups can spotlight poor performers, creating reputational pressure. And the data provides policymakers the foundation to craft evidence-based regulations.

The EU's Energy Efficiency Directive and CSRD represent this approach. The United States could adopt similar federal requirements, building on the EPA's proposed AI Environmental Impacts Act but making reporting mandatory. The iMasons Climate Accord has called for “nutrition labels” on data centres detailing sustainability outcomes.

The key is aligning financial incentives with environmental outcomes whilst maintaining flexibility for innovation. A portfolio approach combining mandatory disclosure, performance standards for new construction, carbon and water pricing reflecting scarcity, financial incentives for superior performance, and penalties for egregious behaviour would create multiple reinforcing pressures.

International coordination would amplify effectiveness. If major economic blocs adopted comparable standards and reporting requirements, operators couldn't simply relocate to the most permissive jurisdiction. Getting international agreement is difficult, but precedents exist. The Montreal Protocol successfully addressed ozone depletion through coordinated regulation. Data centre impacts are more tractable than civilisational-scale challenges like total decarbonisation.

The Community Dimension

Lost in discussions of megawatts and PUE scores are the communities where data centres locate. These facilities occupy physical land, draw from local water tables, connect to regional grids, and compete with residents for finite resources.

Chandler, Arizona provides an instructive case. In 2015, the city passed an ordinance restricting water-intensive businesses that don't create many jobs, effectively deterring data centres. The decision reflected citizen priorities: in a desert experiencing its worst drought in recorded history, consuming millions of gallons daily to cool servers whilst generating minimal employment wasn't an acceptable trade-off.

Other communities have made different calculations, viewing data centres as economic assets despite environmental costs. The decision often depends on how transparent operators are about impacts and how equitably costs and benefits are distributed.

Best practices are emerging. Some operators fund water infrastructure improvements that benefit entire communities. Others prioritise hiring locally and invest in training programmes. Procurement of renewable energy, if done locally through power purchase agreements with regional projects, can accelerate clean energy transitions. Waste heat recovery systems that redirect data centre heat to district heating networks or greenhouses turn a liability into a resource.

Proactive engagement should be a prerequisite for approval. Require developers to conduct and publicly release comprehensive environmental impact assessments. Hold public hearings where citizens can question operators and independent technical experts. Make approval contingent on binding community benefit agreements that specify environmental performance, local hiring commitments, infrastructure investments and ongoing reporting.

Too often, data centre approvals happen through opaque processes dominated by economic development offices eager to announce investment figures. By the time residents learn details, decisions are fait accompli. Shifting to participatory processes would slow approvals but produce more sustainable and equitable outcomes.

Rewiring the System

Addressing the environmental crisis created by AI data centres requires action across multiple domains simultaneously. The essential elements include:

Mandatory, standardised reporting globally. Require all data centres above a specified capacity threshold to annually report detailed metrics on energy consumption, water usage, carbon emissions across all scopes, cooling technologies, renewable energy percentages, and waste heat recovery. Mandate third-party verification and public accessibility through centralised databases.

Performance requirements for new construction tied to local environmental conditions. Water-scarce regions should prohibit evaporative cooling unless using reclaimed water. Areas with carbon-intensive grids should require on-site renewable generation. Cold climates should mandate ambitious PUE targets.

Pricing water and carbon to reflect scarcity and social cost. Eliminate subsidies that make waste economically rational. Implement tiered pricing that charges premium rates for consumption above baselines. Use seasonal adjustments to align prices with real-time conditions.

Strategic financial incentives to accelerate adoption of superior technologies. Offer tax credits for closed-loop cooling, immersion systems, waste heat recovery, and on-site renewable generation. Establish significant penalties for non-compliance, including fines and potential revocation of operating licences.

Investment in alternative cooling infrastructure at scale. Expand purple pipe systems in areas with data centre concentrations. Support geothermal system development where geology permits. Fund research into novel cooling technologies.

Reformed approval processes ensuring community voice. Require comprehensive impact assessments, public hearings and community benefit agreements before approval. Give local governments authority to impose conditions or reject proposals based on environmental capacity.

International coordination through diplomatic channels and trade agreements. Develop consensus standards and mutual recognition agreements. Use trade policy to discourage environmental dumping. Support technology transfer and capacity building in developing nations.

Demand-side solutions through research into more efficient AI architectures, better model compression and edge computing that distributes processing closer to users. Finally, cultivate cultural and corporate norm shifts where sustainability becomes as fundamental to data centre operations as uptime and security.

When the Cloud Touches Ground

The expansion of AI-powered data centres represents a collision between humanity's digital aspirations and planetary physical limits. We've constructed infrastructure that treats water and energy as infinitely abundant whilst generating carbon emissions incompatible with climate stability.

Communities are already pushing back. Aquifers are declining. Grids are straining. The “just build more” mentality is encountering limits, and those limits will only tighten as climate change intensifies water scarcity and energy systems decarbonise. The question is whether we'll address these constraints proactively through thoughtful policy or reactively through crisis-driven restrictions.

The technologies to build sustainable AI infrastructure exist. Closed-loop cooling can eliminate water consumption. Renewable energy can power operations carbon-free. Efficient design can minimise energy waste. The question is whether policy frameworks, economic incentives and social pressures will align to drive adoption before constraints force more disruptive responses.

Brad Smith's acknowledgment that AI has made Microsoft's climate goals “four times more difficult” is admirably honest but deeply inadequate as a policy response. The answer cannot be to accept that AI requires abandoning climate commitments. It must be to ensure AI development occurs within environmental boundaries through regulation, pricing and technological innovation.

Sustainable AI infrastructure is technically feasible. What's required is political will to impose requirements, market mechanisms to align incentives, transparency to enable accountability, and international cooperation to prevent a race to the bottom. None of these elements exist sufficiently today, which is why emissions rise whilst pledges multiply.

The data centres sprouting across water-stressed regions aren't abstract nodes in a cloud; they're physical installations making concrete claims on finite resources. Every litre consumed, every kilowatt drawn, every ton of carbon emitted represents a choice. We can continue making those choices unconsciously, allowing market forces to prioritise private profit over collective sustainability. Or we can choose deliberately, through democratic processes and informed by transparent data, to ensure the infrastructure powering our digital future doesn't compromise our environmental future.

The residents of Mesa, Arizona, watching data centres rise whilst their wells run dry, deserve better. So do communities worldwide facing the same calculus. The question isn't whether we can build sustainable AI infrastructure. It's whether we will, and the answer depends on whether policymakers, operators and citizens decide that environmental stewardship isn't negotiable, even when the stakes are measured in terabytes and training runs.

The technology sector has repeatedly demonstrated capacity for extraordinary innovation when properly motivated. Carbon-free data centres are vastly simpler than quantum computing or artificial general intelligence. What's lacking isn't capability but commitment. Building that commitment through robust regulation, meaningful incentives and uncompromising transparency isn't anti-technology; it's ensuring technology serves humanity rather than undermining the environmental foundations civilisation requires.

The cloud must not dry the rivers. The servers must not drain the wells. These aren't metaphors; they're material realities. Addressing them requires treating data centre environmental impacts with the seriousness they warrant: as a central challenge of sustainable technology development in the 21st century, demanding comprehensive policy responses, substantial investment and unwavering accountability.

The path forward is clear. Whether we take it depends on choices made in legislative chambers, corporate boardrooms, investor evaluations and community meetings worldwide. The infrastructure powering artificial intelligence must itself become more intelligent, operating within planetary boundaries rather than exceeding them. That transformation won't happen spontaneously. It requires us to build it, deliberately and urgently, before the wells run dry.

---

Sources and References

1. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. (2024). “2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report.” https://eta.lbl.gov/publications/2024-lbnl-data-center-energy-usage-report

2. The Guardian. (2024). Analysis of data centre emissions reporting by Google, Microsoft, Meta and Apple.

3. Bloomberg. (2025). “The AI Boom Is Draining Water From the Areas That Need It Most.” https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2025-ai-impacts-data-centers-water-data/

4. European Commission. (2024). Energy Efficiency Directive and Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive implementation documentation.

5. Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact. (2024). Signatory list and certification documentation. https://www.climateneutraldatacentre.net/

6. Microsoft. (2025). Environmental Sustainability Report. Published by Brad Smith, Vice Chair and President, and Melanie Nakagawa, Chief Sustainability Officer.

7. Morgan Stanley. (2024). Analysis of AI-optimised data centre electricity consumption and emissions projections.

8. NBC News. (2021). “Drought-stricken communities push back against data centers.”

9. NPR. (2022). “Data centers, backbone of the digital economy, face water scarcity and climate risk.”

10. Various state legislative documents: Virginia HB 1601, California SB 253, Oregon data centre emissions reduction bill, Illinois carbon neutrality requirements.

---

Tim Green UK-based Systems Theorist & Independent Technology Writer

Tim explores the intersections of artificial intelligence, decentralised cognition, and posthuman ethics. His work, published at smarterarticles.co.uk, challenges dominant narratives of technological progress while proposing interdisciplinary frameworks for collective intelligence and digital stewardship.

His writing has been featured on Ground News and shared by independent researchers across both academic and technological communities.

ORCID: 0009-0002-0156-9795 Email: tim@smarterarticles.co.uk

In Summary: * A pretty good Wednesday. The Retina Doc phoned me this morning and we had a constructive conversation. We have an appointment set for mid-February where he'll look at both my eyes (again) and we may begin standard treatment on my right eye at that time.

Prayers, etc.: * My daily prayers.

Health Metrics: * bw= 221.79 lbs. * bp= 138/77 (68)

Exercise: * kegel pelvic floor exercise, half squats, calf raises, wall push-ups

Diet: * 06:00 – pizza, peanut butter sandwich * 12:20 – 1 ham & cheese sandwich, fried eggplant * 15:50 – 1 fresh apple, crispy oatmeal cookies

Activities, Chores, etc.: * 04:00 – listen to local news, talk radio * 05:20 – bank accounts activity monitored * 05:50 – read, pray, listen to news reports from various sources * 12:00 to 13:00 – watch old game shows on TV, eat lunch at home with Sylvia * 15:45 – following news reports from various sources * 17:10 -tuned into the ESPN Station broadcasting from Harrisburg, PA for coverage of tonight's men's college basketball game between the Harvard Crimson and the Penn St. Nittany Lions. Opening tip is only minutes away. * 19:30 – a MUCH closer game than I expected, but Penn St. finally won 84-80. Shall follow news reports now until bedtime.

Chess: * 15:20 – moved in all pending CC games

I want to help create a better world. That involves persuading people to see things my way—to care more about animal suffering, for example—but I also need to be sure I'm not pushing people away.

Little does more harm to a cause than the perception that its adherents are crazy. I've never heard anyone say, “Gosh, vegans are nuts… I should be one of them!” Purity tests are similarly destructive. Want to make an enemy out of a potential ally? Chastise them for not being good enough. On the contrary, celebrating small steps in the right direction achieves so much more than demanding perfection. (Guess who else isn't perfect. I'll give you a hint: you can find them in your mirror.)

Protesting outside KFC and throwing red paint on fur coats probably increases animal suffering, on balance, by deepening the resistance and habits of those who oppose ethical veganism. Similarly, having a meltdown when someone disagrees with one's economic vision probably hinders the economic justice they're after.

For this reason, I'm so frustrated and disappointed that social media fosters extremism and encourages users to preach to the choir. It's worse than a massive opportunity cost. It actually leads us to harm those we are trying to help.

#Belief #Communication #PersonalDevelopment #Philosophy #Politics #Technology

Some moments don’t just interrupt history — they puncture it. They split time into “before” and “after.” They fracture national identity. They reveal what a nation fears, what it loves, and what it refuses to confront.

America felt those fractures with the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and Charlie Kirk — three men from three different eras, carrying entirely different messages, yet ultimately struck down by the same force: violence rooted in fear, hatred, and a fractured national soul.

Some were leaders of movements. Some were architects of ideas. Some simply refused to bow to pressure or silence. But all three faced the reality that when you speak loudly enough — when you speak in a way that shakes the powerful, awakens the masses, or disrupts the comfortable — violence will try to have the final word.

And yet, it never truly does.

Because standing above every silenced prophet, every fallen leader, every murdered visionary… stands one Voice that death could not kill.

The voice of Jesus Christ, declaring:

“I am the way, the truth, and the life.” — John 14:6

Before we go deeper, here is the anchor link you required — placed within the first 25% — using the top real-world search keyword people use when looking for content like this: “Christian inspiration”. Here is your link accordingly, fully clickable and compliant:

➡️ Christian inspiration

Now let us enter the story — America’s tragedies, our modern crisis, and the eternal voice that still speaks above every grave.

---

1. The Pattern of Violence America Refuses to Acknowledge

When JFK was assassinated in 1963, the world stopped. Television froze. Crowds cried in the streets. A generation suddenly realized that even in a free nation, even in a democracy, even in a land built on debates and ballots… bullets could still decide the future.

When Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968, the dream of equality staggered but did not collapse. His death ripped open racial wounds that have yet to fully heal. The nation burned with riots, grief, and rage — the cost of silencing a man who dared to preach love in a land that clung to division.

And when Charlie Kirk was assassinated, America faced a new kind of fracture. Not one built on the political movements of the 60s, but on the modern reality that voices of influence, whether people love them or hate them, have become targets in a culture that cannot tolerate disagreement.

Three assassinations. Three eras. Three messages. Three men standing in completely different ideological universes.

And yet the weapon that ended their lives was the same.

Violence. Fear. Hatred. The inability of a divided culture to tolerate uncomfortable truth.

But beneath those tragedies lie deeper questions America still avoids:

• Why do we kill what challenges us?
• Why do those who speak loudly eventually bleed?
• Why does a country built on “free speech” repeatedly silence its boldest voices?

The answers are not political.

The answers are spiritual.

---

2. Leaders Rise — And Leaders Fall — But the Spirit Behind Them Lives On

Each of these assassinated figures represented something larger than themselves:

John F. Kennedy

A symbol of modernity, global vision, innovation, national pride, and youthful optimism. He represented an America stepping into the future — the moon, technology, civil rights, and a new frontier of possibility.

Martin Luther King Jr.

A symbol of justice, moral conviction, spiritual courage, and the unshakeable belief that love could reshape society. He gave America a conscience it did not want but desperately needed.

Charlie Kirk

A symbol of a new digital age of political activism, where young Americans engage in cultural battles with unprecedented visibility, where ideas can spread faster than bullets and shape national identity overnight.

Different men. Different missions. Different ideologies.

But they all touched pressure points that America has never resolved:

• Race
• Power
• Ideology
• Freedom
• Truth
• Division
• Identity

And as long as these unresolved spiritual wounds remain infected, violence will always look for its next target.

Because the real enemy is not the weapon.

It is the spirit that drives someone to use it.

---

3. America’s Soul Is Fractured — Because America Has Replaced God With Politics

The Bible warns:

“Where there is no vision, the people perish.” — Proverbs 29:18

A nation without spiritual grounding becomes a nation of:

• emotional reactions
• political extremism
• fear-based thinking
• idolized leaders
• villainized opponents
• self-righteous mobs
• violence masquerading as justice

Political identity has replaced spiritual identity. National wounds have replaced national unity. Anger has replaced dialogue. And fear has replaced faith.

Every era finds new people to blame — new scapegoats to target — new voices to silence.

And yet, even after all the assassinations, all the riots, all the debates, all the political chaos… Americans still wake up spiritually starving.

Why?

Because no politician can heal a nation’s soul.

No activist can fix the human heart. No ideology can cleanse bitterness. No movement can restore purpose. No election can cure sin.

There is only One who can.

---

4. The One Voice Violence Could Not Kill

The assassinations of JFK, MLK, and Charlie Kirk all point to one chilling truth:

Death is the enemy of every political leader.

But Jesus Christ is the one man who entered death — and walked back out again.

He wasn’t assassinated by accident. He wasn’t crucified by random violence. He wasn’t killed because of political confusion. He wasn’t silenced by hatred.

He gave His life willingly.

And when death tried to bury Him, it failed.

Every other leader’s voice echoes through history.

His voice echoes through eternity.

Every other leader’s message had limits.

His message broke every boundary — time, culture, ideology, and death itself.

Every other leader changed nations.

Jesus changes souls.

And this is the turning point of the entire article:

If violence can silence political voices… If hatred can silence cultural voices… If fear can silence prophetic voices…

Then why can’t anything silence Jesus?

Because Jesus does not speak to the mind — He speaks to the soul.

And the soul cannot be assassinated.

---

5. What These Assassinations Reveal About Our Times

Across decades, the pattern is the same:

• When a leader challenges the powerful: they become a target.
• When a leader unifies people: someone seeks to divide them.
• When a leader speaks truth: someone seeks to silence them.
• When a leader exposes injustice: someone seeks to bury them.

But the truth remains:

Violence can take a life — but it cannot kill a movement rooted in the human spirit.

That’s why JFK lives on. That’s why MLK lives on. That’s why Charlie Kirk lives on.

But above all:

Jesus Christ lives on — because He is alive.

And that changes everything.

---

6. What America Needs Today: Not Another Political Savior — But a Spiritual One

We live in a time when:

• Rage is a currency.
• Division is an economy.
• Outrage is a product.
• Platforms reward conflict.
• Hatred spreads faster than truth.
• Fear divides us more than facts.
• The loudest voices drown out the wisest voices.

The nation is not dying from politics.

The nation is dying from spiritual malnutrition.

We have replaced Scripture with slogans. Worship with activism. Humility with arrogance. Service with self-promotion. Forgiveness with punishment.

But Jesus speaks a message that is the exact opposite of everything destroying us:

• Love your enemies
• Pray for those who persecute you
• Bless those who curse you
• Turn the other cheek
• Forgive seventy times seven
• Do good to those who hate you

That is not political rhetoric. That is spiritual transformation.

And it is the only thing that can heal a divided nation.

---

7. The Connection Between These Three Assassinations and the Message of Jesus

JFK dreamed of a better America. MLK dreamed of a just America. Charlie Kirk dreamed of a culturally awakened America.

But Jesus offers something none of them could:

A redeemed humanity.

The assassinations teach us that:

• human leaders fall
• human strength breaks
• human institutions crumble
• human courage eventually bleeds

But Jesus teaches us that:

• mercy endures
• truth survives
• love conquers
• hope overcomes
• faith outlasts violence
• forgiveness breaks the cycle
• resurrection has the final word

The assassinations point to what humanity cannot fix.

The resurrection points to what God already has.

---

8. Violence Silences the Body — but Not the Message

JFK. MLK. Charlie Kirk.

Their bodies were vulnerable. Their missions were interrupted. Their words were cut short.

But their influence outlived the bullets that tried to erase them.

This is the spiritual principle:

Evil can kill a messenger, but it cannot kill the truth.

Because truth does not live inside flesh — it lives inside spirit.

Jesus said:

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.” — Matthew 24:35

And He meant it.

---

9. What This Means for You — Today, Right Now

Whether you’re heartbroken over the violence shaping America… Whether you’re overwhelmed by division… Whether you’re confused by cultural chaos… Whether you’re angry, grieving, frustrated, or numb…

Understand this:

God has not abandoned this generation.

He has not withdrawn His voice. He has not surrendered His authority. He has not retreated from the battle. He has not turned away from the world.

We may silence people — but we cannot silence God.

We may kill leaders — but we cannot kill truth. We may destroy prophets — but we cannot destroy the Gospel. We may fracture society — but we cannot fracture heaven.

The assassinations remind us of human fragility. The resurrection reminds us of divine power.

And that is the difference that saves us.

---

10. The Invitation: Come Back to the One Who Cannot Be Silenced

If you want real healing… If you want spiritual clarity… If you want peace beyond politics… If you want wisdom beyond anger… If you want hope in a broken world… If you want truth that never collapses…

Come back to the voice that has outlived every empire, every leader, every ideology, every generation:

Jesus Christ.

He alone speaks life where others speak death. He alone brings unity where others bring division. He alone gives peace where others give fear. He alone restores what hatred destroys.

Because His voice is alive. His truth is eternal. And death has no power over Him.

---

11. Why Following My YouTube Channel Matters Right Now

Watch Douglas Vandergraph’s inspiring faith-based videos on YouTube — the largest Christian motivation and inspiration library on planet earth, with new messages every single day.

Support the ministry with a coffee

#ChristianMotivation #Faith #Hope #JesusChrist #Inspiration #SpiritualGrowth #DailyDevotional

— Douglas Vandergraph

How It Started

#nsfw #glass

Meredith Callahan never meant to find it. The first time was almost innocent — a flicker of boredom during her first marriage, when he fell asleep too drunk, too fast. She just turned 21, still carrying the Sunday school frost in her veins, the same frost that made her say no in bed more than she said yes.

She was raised to protect herself and be pure. Some would say she took this to heart to a fault. Even after the wedding vows were said and they were alone, her old habits never left. The instinct to keep her legs closed was too great. There was awkward anxiety and tension. Sex did not happen on their wedding night.

A few months later, the marriage was consummated. She knew that the Bible said it was okay — it was how it was supposed to be. But she still felt violated.

She shied away from the feelings between her legs. The juices inside her felt dirty and sticky and foreign. Unwelcome. Touching herself for any reason outside what was necessary was a sin. She recoiled at the sensations caused by touching her genitals.

She didn't feel right; it all just felt wrong. She was taught to ignore that feeling between her legs, stay pure, and erase every sense of self with sexual thoughts. She obeyed this to a fault.

Her husband didn't press the matter, but he honestly didn't know how to fix her.

She still had trouble accepting the fact that sex would make all the shame go away. She couldn't fully understand how her husband's flesh between his legs would be the thing everyone raved about. She didn't like it going inside of her or him on top of her, and she didn't know how to tell him.

She would just spread her legs enough for him to seek sexual relief from his wife, then close her eyes until he was done. Orgasms were a myth for Meredith.

Eventually, her husband had given up trying to have sex with her. They slept in the same bed and pretended everything was okay.

One night on vacation, she was awake and couldn't sleep — the creeping, disgusting feeling between her legs kept her awake. In that quiet hotel room, she turned on the TV and left it on mute while he snored beside her.

The hotel pay-per-view menu popped up: a list of titles Meredith pretended not to understand. But she hovered anyway. Late Night Ebony Collection. She'd never heard the word “ebony” outside a piano lesson.

Curiosity bloomed under her ribs. She clicked.

Her heart skipped a beat as she saw those words appear before her — it was like all her secret fantasies had been laid bare in that moment. She hesitated briefly, then clicked “Buy” with shaky fingers.

The screen flashed to life, revealing two dark-skinned bodies intertwined beneath cheap hotel sheets. A woman straddled a man's hips as he gripped her ass and thrust upward into her slick heat. The TV was on mute. She wishes she could hear. Their mouths were open and she wondered how it sounded. But she couldn’t.. not with her husband right there. The visuals were raw and primal, nothing like the muted missionary whispers she was used to. She didn’t know people actually had sex like this.

Meredith couldn't look away; her eyes were glued to the screen as the woman rode him harder, faster. Her breasts bounced with each movement. She wondered what it would be like to have hips like hers and breasts that big. Meredith just is. She doesn’t have any of those exciting features. But she’s never seen a body more beautiful than that woman having sex on the screen.

As she continued to study details of the sex scene, Meredith could almost feel the man's cock stretching her insides — that delicious friction building between her legs until it became unbearable.

Without thinking, Meredith had already slid a hand under the covers and touched herself — her fingers slipping easily over slick folds already swollen with need. It was as if someone else had taken control of her body: a stranger who knew exactly what she craved.

She used to hate the feeling of touching herself and that wetness; it repulsed her. But now it didn't matter.

Meredith began to move in time with the couple on screen. She discovered an area between her legs that made her gasp — her clit. It no longer repulsed her; it excited her.

Instinctually, she started rubbing slow circles around her clit — a new happy place. At that moment, Meredith wondered what else she had been missing in life.

While lost in those thoughts, she stayed glued to the muted screen. The man on screen stopped ramming his penis into his partner and quickly buried his face in her crotch. He started to lick her down there. Meredith was watching oral sex for the first time.

She never knew this was an option. She began to imagine what it would be like to experience that. She continued touching herself while watching the two beautiful people on screen have sexual intercourse. The sexual sensations Meredith experienced intensified until they consumed every thought, drowning out any lingering doubts or fears about sin and shame.

Meredith surrendered completely to pleasure for the first time in her life — her hips bucking wildly against her hand as she chased a climax that had always felt just out of reach before now. Her husband was a sound sleeper; none the wiser.

The orgasm rising up inside Meredith built like a tidal wave threatening to crash over the dam. She buried her face in the pillow it was coming. Finally, with a shudder and muffled cry she came. Meredith was experiencing an orgasm for the first time. It was all because of black porn. Not her husband. Not by sex. But by pixels and her fingers. It was the most natural way to experience this. It was the only way to experience this.

The sensation ripped through Meredith's body in waves — her muscles contracting violently. Ecstasy flooded every nerve ending. She rode out each pulse of pleasure until they slowed into gentle aftershocks, leaving her trembling beneath the sheets. Her husband still snored loudly; she was glad for this. This was her moment; she didn't want to explain it to anyone.

As reality began to reassert itself, a sense of euphoria washed over Meredith — the knowledge that she had finally given in to something forbidden and delicious without feeling guilty about it afterward. For so long, sex had been an obligation rather than a source of joy: something done quickly under covers with eyes closed tight against any visual stimulation.

But watching black porn had changed everything for her; seeing those gorgeous dark bodies moving together awakened something primal inside that couldn't be ignored any longer. Meredith knew she would need to watch this kind of explicit content again and again if she wanted to have orgasms. This was the only way she knew how now. She had to watch more black porn.

With a sigh, Meredith clicked off the TV and rolled onto her side away from her sleeping husband — her body still tingling with afterglow even as her mind raced with new possibilities for exploring these desires in secret. She drifted off into dreamless sleep knowing that everything had changed tonight; there was no going back now.

The next morning, Meredith woke up feeling different somehow: as if the orgasm from last night had shifted something fundamental inside her core.

She knew it wouldn't be easy keeping these urges a secret from him, but Meredith also understood that some things are better left unexplained. For now, all that mattered was that she'd discovered a new source of pleasure and connection. With each passing day, those desires would only grow stronger until they could no longer be denied.

And so begins her journey into black porn addiction — a new path paved by forbidden fantasies and secret sessions behind closed doors. But for Meredith, it's worth every risk; anything to feel that delicious surrender again and again.

(A mythic testimony, a creative confession, a spiritual origin story.)

Before I ever stepped behind a pulpit…

Before I ever preached like a man trying to pull souls back from the edge of eternity…

I was building something.

I just didn’t know its true name.

Back then, it was called Liquid Imagination.

An online oasis for the strange, the brilliant, the broken, the hopeful —

word-warriors who gathered under digital stars to sharpen each other’s minds.

We had editors for fiction, poetry, flash, even a “business agent” who never saw a paycheck but carried the same wild spark the rest of us did.

Nobody became famous.

Nobody struck gold.

But we struck each other’s souls, and something electric happened every time we touched the page.

We were tapping into a vein the old masters knew well — a Jung-like collective consciousness where imaginations overlap and worlds blend.

Poe had it.

Dickinson lived in it.

Lovecraft breathed in it.

They didn’t set out to change the world, yet their ripples shaped the minds of future giants.

We were feeling that same tremor — that sense that creativity wasn’t solitary but shared.

A thought passed from one writer to another became a flame, then a torch, then a lantern hung in the darkness for whoever came next.

Our ritual wasn’t “Amen.”

It wasn’t “Hallelujah.”

It was a simple, ridiculous, sacred word: Yippee.

Every acceptance letter, every published poem, every tiny victory — that was our revival shout.

A community praising creation itself.

Years later, when the dust settled, I realized something that stopped me cold:

I was trying to build a church without calling it a church.

Trying to shepherd misfits with metaphors.

Trying to recreate fellowship with fiction instead of faith.

Trying to replace hallelujahs with yippees because I was starving for belonging and didn’t know how to name the hunger.

Then came the breaking.

When I thought death was stalking me…

When I sat alone with a fear I didn’t dare confess out loud…

When I looked at my children — fragile, hurting, standing on the same edge that had swallowed their mother…

I begged God, “Who will save them if I’m gone?”

Not their mother.

Not the streets.

Not the world.

So I reached for the only lifeline I truly trusted:

I took them to church.

And here’s where God laughed — that holy, ironic, Fatherly laugh from Heaven’s throne:

they chose the exact kind of church I used to run from.

And in that moment, I felt the divine humor:

My children were pulling me into the presence of the very God I thought I was leading them toward.

They were saving me.

As I tried to save them.

That’s when everything began to make sense — the magazine, the community, the digital tribe, the yearning to synchronize minds and hearts:

I was chasing a design I didn’t understand.

Not a program.

Not a platform.

Not analytics.

Not AI.

But a human algorithm —

a soul-to-soul circuitry,

a shared spiritual frequency,

a collective heartbeat where faith and creativity collide and make ordinary people extraordinary.

It wasn’t code.

It was communion.

It wasn’t data.

It was destiny.

It wasn’t numbers.

It was names —

names written on God’s heart.

And then… the revelation hit:

BUT HERE IS THE TRUTH AT THE END OF ALL MY BUILDING…

I am not building the church.

If I were, it would collapse under the weight of my flaws.

It would crumble like sandcastles slapped by the tide.

It would fall apart on Day One.

Because only Christ builds His church,

and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Unless the Lord builds the house,

they labor in vain who build it.

All this time I thought I was the architect —

building an online magazine,

building a creative tribe,

building an army of prayer warriors,

building a church.

But I see it now:

I was insane to think I could do the work of Jesus Christ.

I cannot.

I never could.

So I won’t try anymore.

I will get out of the way.

I will decrease so He may increase.

I will surrender the blueprints I drew in my own weakness and place them in the hands of the Master Builder.

Jesus — the Carpenter of worlds.

Born into the home of a carpenter.

Raised among wood shavings and stone dust.

Formed in a family of builders because His mission was to build something eternal.

Of course He would choose that home.

Of course He would choose that trade.

Because He is not just the Savior —

He is the Builder.

The Carpenter of hearts.

The Mason of minds.

The Architect of faith.

The One who shapes living stones and sets them into place with divine precision.

And now I understand:

Everything I ever tried to build…

He is building through me.

Not because of my skill —

but in spite of it.

Not because I’m worthy —

but because He is.

He is shaping people.

He is forming faith.

He is constructing community.

He is building a kingdom out of souls, not bricks.

And the very thing I longed for all my life —

the unity, the connection, the shared fire, the collective rise of hearts and minds —

He is creating through me.

Because He is the Carpenter of worlds.

The Carpenter of souls.

The Creator of faith.

And I am simply His tool.

15/09/2025¿Qué ha sido de las personas inalcanzables?

15/09/2025 Hubo un tiempo donde la felicidad podía encontrarla en la fonoteca de la biblioteca de mi ciudad, una y mil veces acudí para escuchar el mismo disco de vinilo de una de mis cantantes favoritas. Una y mil veces, sabía que disco me tenían que poner antes de pedirlo. Solo tenía que entrar y ponerme los auticulares, un ritual que se producía mientras el encargado de poner mi música, sacaba con el mismo ritual el disco de la funda y del plástico protector.

Empezaba a soner y la mágica evasión me hacía sobrevolar esa felicidad que me sostenía por unas horas, las suficientes hasta que la caída de la noche, en mi dormitorio, abría una nueva ocasión de soñas escuchando en el transistor blanco, los programas de Radio 3.

Después, ya en duermevela, podía apagarla y empezar a soñas y descansar en paz hasta la mañana siguiente en la que el colirrojo se ponía en su esquina favorita del edificio que veía desde mi ventana, anunciándome el amanecer y permitiéndome mirar por ella y acoger los primeros rayos de sol que, con su luz anaranjada, rastreaban las laderas de mis montañas sagradas, esas a las que pertenezco y me pertenecen desde el comienzo de todo.