 Living The Way of Beauty Via Pulchritudinis By Sharon Clossick ISN’T IT INTERESTING, how when we see something that is beautiful we somehow know it deep in our soul, more so than from pure intellect. Our heads can tell us that something is beautiful, and if we allow ourselves, our hearts can enter more deeply into the mystery of this beauty. How do we come to recognize beauty and how do we make the distinction between something that is beautiful versus something that is just plain ugly? Why are we moved in different ways? I love to ponder these questions, and as an artist I am intrigued by beauty and what it is that moves our souls. If we stop to reflect on this, we begin to realize that there is a certain mystery in beauty, a certain depth of “something” that we can’t quite explain or understand. This mystery that we experience, yet can’t quite describe, comes from the depth of our hearts. For some, maybe it’s a sunset or the calming ocean. For many of us who are blessed to live by the water, we are privileged to experience the beauty of nature on a daily basis. This past year I made it a point to walk the wall in the Narragansett Pier for some much-needed reflection time. For me, the water calls my soul and it’s there that I experience a profound beauty. Other types of beauty which move me are paintings from the great master’s or certain kinds of music. If you’ve never heard of Paul Cardall, I highly encourage you to listen to his music! I find that I can get my creative juices flowing if I listen to him while I paint. I recently encountered an experience of beauty one morning while driving to work. I was running behind schedule and as I turned onto North Road in Kingston, I found myself behind a school bus with its flashing lights slowing down to pick up a young kindergartener. My gut reaction was “Ugh, I don’t have time for this right now!”. As I sat there impatiently, I watched the school bus monitor get out and walk around to meet the child and her family. As she walked towards the family, I saw a beautiful young couple holding their child’s hand. Mom was clearly pregnant and expecting baby number two, and dad was dressed in an army reserves uniform. As they released their daughter’s hand over to the monitor’s, I saw the look on the parent's faces. It’s as though they didn’t want to let go of their child’s hand. As the bus drove off, I watched the dad wave to his daughter until the bus was out of sight. Watching this scene unfold before me was incredibly moving because I could see the pure love radiating from this family. It was so beautiful that I couldn’t hold back my tears. What a gift for me to witness the pure love of a new and growing family. Beauty expresses itself in many ways and as I slowly finished the remaining part of my commute, I heard God whisper to me that beauty can only be found when we still our hearts. We will never be able to recognize what is truly beautiful in this life if we don’t have the eyes to see and the ears to hear. The world will always be swirling in high-speed motion, and it is up to us to slow down if we want to experience the gift of beauty. What started my workday as a complete inconvenience, ended as the greatest blessing of my day. So, what is all this about? Do we recognize beauty in our lives? The Master of Sacred Arts program I am currently enrolled in is helping me realize the importance of having beauty in my life as an everyday occurrence. We can often become dried up in the mundane routine of schedule and responsibilities, that we begin to walk around as though we were lifeless zombies. Though we must always fulfill our duties, we also need to recognize that within the busyness of our days, there is something much more beyond the to-do lists and the next social media posts. John Paul II, in his Theology of the Body, talks about the experience of “eros”. Yes, you are correct, you read it right. I always associated the word “eros” with having a negative connotation and related it to disordered desires. But what I learned through John Paul II’s Theology of the Body, is that we are all made with this desire of “eros”. The Greeks describe eros as a deep, restless yearning we feel for love, for union, and for fulfillment. In the beginning, before original sin entered the world, man and woman experienced original innocence. Our desires were pure and designed in an ordered sense for what is true, good, and beautiful. But because of our fallen nature, we now twist this “eros” and often look to fill our strongest desires of the human heart in ways that are not always good and pure. But the good news is, we all have the echo of original innocence from the beginning when man and woman experienced total communion with God in complete love and happiness. In the depth of our being we all long for this complete union with God, for all that is true, good, and beautiful. This is how we are designed. So, when you are driving in the car and that favorite song comes on from when you were a teenager, and you feel your heart almost leap out of your chest, understand that this is the longing of your deepest heart’s desire, this is eros! And this longing is for something much more than what can satisfy us in this world. Christ promises us Redemption, to deliver us from our sins and to share in His divinity. Until we are in complete union with Him, we will continue to yearn for something more. This is the mystery of our souls. I love the quote from C.S. Lewis, “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.” Hence, beauty is a mystery. This Beauty with a capital “B” is God, the One, True Beauty. God is transcendent, He is “beyond”. This is an objective truth. Art that is true, good, and beautiful moves us beyond to something greater. I believe that God is truly speaking to us through beauty. The purpose of Christian art is to bring glory to God. For Christian art to be good, it must reflect truth and be beautiful. There can be no conflict. I love this, because in a sense it gives an order and understanding on how to measure whether something is beautiful. When our souls are lifted from something we see as beautiful, what is happening is that we are experiencing God’s presence in our lives. Our souls are lifted, and we are brought to something greater than ourselves. Experiencing beauty in our hearts gives us a hope that can’t be explained, and in our deepest longing, connects us to God. In The Heart of the Gospel, it is stated that Pope Benedict XVI observed that authentic beauty “unlocks the yearning of the human heart, the profound desire to know, to love, to go towards the Other, to reach for the Beyond. If we acknowledge that beauty touches us intimately, that it wounds us, that it opens our eyes, then we rediscover the joy of seeing, of being able to grasp the profound meaning of our existence, the Mystery of which we are part” (address November 21, 2009). Works of art, whether it be nature, music, visual art, etc., elicits a response from us. Therefore, beauty is also subjective. This is because of the nature of our hearts and the experiences we bring to it from life. For example, the painting below is one of my favorites.  Childe Hassam, Boston Common at Twilight, 1885-86 The emotions I feel when viewing this painting are warmth, hope and nostalgia. This painting brings me back to a time that reminds me of my childhood on cold winter days at twilight. It elicits the emotions of a time that was secure and full of love and hope. The nostalgic mood of this painting is powerful. I loved this image so much that I hung it in my dorm room and apartment during my early 20’s. I highly doubt that anyone would think this painting is ugly, but for me, I find it beautiful, and it moves my soul in a profound way. Not all would agree or be moved by this painting the same way that I am. Beauty can be powerful and affects us in different ways based on our experiences, emotions, and openness to love and truth. The more open our hearts are to love the more we can recognize beauty. True beauty is the good made visible. It is Truth manifested in external form. Our lack of love limits our ability to see truth, to see real beauty. Therefore, our increase in love increases our ability to recognize that which is truly beautiful. We begin to see in new ways and experience nature, relationships, art, music in ways we might not have ever experienced. So, what are some factors when measuring whether something is beautiful? When discerning whether something is beautiful, we can ask ourselves, would we like to spend forever with it? Is it true and do I like it? Our deepest longing is to give and receive love. Art, especially sacred art, gives us a glimpse of the eternal reality that is already present, yet incomplete, in this life. But all art, whether sacred, devotional, or mundane can speak of the eternal. The sunset or the ocean, your favorite song that lifts your heart. This is beauty if it speaks truth and pierces the deepest longing in our hearts. I recently returned from Pennsylvania from one of my required Theology of the Body courses. The above photograph of the three crosses was taken on the grounds of the retreat center where I was staying. I was completely unaware of the crosses out in the field and on one of my morning strolls, happened upon them. It was truly God’s gift to me during my stay. Each morning I made it a point to go and pray at the crosses. Each morning the sky was clouded over, but as I stood there, God opened a piece of the sky for the sun to shine through. His clear message to me was that I can only get to His glory by first passing through Him, through the cross. More on beauty and suffering for a future blog! I just had to share this photo as I am still basking in the graces from my week in PA! If we can look at the world with eyes open to see deeper truths, to have the ability to see the beauty of our existence, we come to realize a much more profound meaning of life. Then we can understand what C. S. Lewis meant when he said that we are made for another world. Click on "Comments" below the "like" button to leave a response. I'd love to hear from you!
2 Comments
|
Sharon ClossickThrough Sharon's art and writings, she hopes, in participation with other artists, to bring the beauty of the gospel and liturgical tradition back to the culture in a new way. Archives
September 2024
Categories |
RSS Feed