{"product_id":"the-coincidence-of-opposites","title":"The Coincidence of Opposites","description":"Recently, when in Milan to receive an award, I visited the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana. There are beautiful paintings there, and the library is a leading repository for Da Vinci’s codices. But I was deeply impressed by the crypte, a Paleo-Christian monument. I discovered that dreadful cage reminiscent of Piranesi’s depictions of torture and prisons. In the center of that cage stands a painted plaster statue of the bishop of Milan who was made a cardinal in 1560. He went to pray in that cage every week before a tombstone that is a replica of Christ’s in Jerusalem. What impressed me is how that clergyman, praying in a sort of double prison (cage + crypt), apparently felt spiritually completely free in God. A divine paradox.","brand":"karel vereycken","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45461294383213,"sku":null,"price":500.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2557\/5734\/files\/2026-07-15T1942-BLACK_Coincidence_Karel_Vereycken.jpg?v=1784145939","url":"https:\/\/shop.see.me\/products\/the-coincidence-of-opposites","provider":"SeeMe","version":"1.0","type":"link"}