Tuesday, January 12, 2016
A love of beauty
I originally, started this blog with the intention of writing about G.K.Chesterton and paradoxes. I found both were a joy but still a mystery to me. I couldn't even begin to write about them. Instead, I'm returning to the subject which first touch my soul and set my heart longing, and that is Beauty. For me God has always been True Beauty, but again here is a mystery. God created all that is beautiful. God is beauty. Earthly beauty tells us of heavenly beauty. A radiant sky, a majestic landscape, a fantastic animal, a lovely human being, these and all that can rightly give pleasure are of my concern. I want a beautiful reality to fill and delight the senses but I also want a beautiful soul. Even more, I yearn to share true Beauty with others. It is this longing that drives me to learn and create at all times. I am curious. I am full of thoughts and ideas. I feel like a fountain unable to spill over, bursting, no one to share my bubbling water with. Who will listen to True Beauty when they don't know who He is? I feel he has been whispering to my soul my whole life "come and follow me". I ask " where"? He answers "to green pastures". In this blog I want to lead you to green pastures, where you may see beauty, share good things, and find joy. In this Year of Mercy I believe God is with us and we can find him.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
par.a.dox n. 1. a seemingly contradictory or absurd statement that expresses a possible truth.
I love paradox. Because with all the stuff we humans know we really know very very little, and paradox is part of the beauty of mystery. Mystery is something we can know is not-knowable, at least not at this moment or in our lifetime, which we can still love because we often receive glimpses that it exists. This love/acceptance of what we don't know is just as important as what we do know. Have you ever felt too overwhelmed by too much of a good thing?
Walk into a library and scan the isles. You are entering a world of fantastic knowledge. Find your favorite section, then look where you may never have been before. Recognize how many books there are. Take a few books off the shelf. Maybe read the introduction or authors note. Let your hand slide over rows of books as you walk the isles. Every one of those books is written by one or several authors. For every book there is a unique human person who made an impression on the world. (don't forget the movie It's A Wonderful Life) They each have their own story, some are scientist, some librarians, some leaders and presidents, there are also chefs, magicians, romantics, engineers, poets, historians, business men, artists, victims of tragedy, architects, excavators, athletic stars, novelists, and just people like you and me. Don't you want to hear or find out what they want to tell you? They are human beings too. Struggling with and wondering about people, life, and reality all the time. Do you have time to get to know any of these people? Can you hear what they have to say? Can you imagine the wealth of experience and knowledge each one of those volumes on the shelf can teach you? And there are so many. This is only a fraction of what you could know. There is gigantic amount more out there yet to be discovered, understood, or revealed. Awareness is quite a overwhelming experience. How do we deal with knowing we know so little of what there is (whether personally reachable or not)?
We must encounter everything in reality with acceptance and wonder. To accept, would be to recognize whatever being, feeling, information, or event we encounter, without labeling it or identifying it with our own pre-conceived notions. We must try to see things as they are and not as different than what we would want them to be or as we would not want them to be. The errors of knowing often lie in our own perception. Reality is the best teacher of itself. To wonder, we must be open to surprise and correction. Often in our pride we are stubborn in letting go of what we our proud of having known or discovered by ourselves, even though it now irrelevant or incorrect (we may try to deny this, I know I have). An open mind, is one that is able to receive what Reality presents to it with resignation and/or joy. This is the sort of mind I am trying grow; one that will encounter paradox, and love it before doubting or criticizing.
Walk into a library and scan the isles. You are entering a world of fantastic knowledge. Find your favorite section, then look where you may never have been before. Recognize how many books there are. Take a few books off the shelf. Maybe read the introduction or authors note. Let your hand slide over rows of books as you walk the isles. Every one of those books is written by one or several authors. For every book there is a unique human person who made an impression on the world. (don't forget the movie It's A Wonderful Life) They each have their own story, some are scientist, some librarians, some leaders and presidents, there are also chefs, magicians, romantics, engineers, poets, historians, business men, artists, victims of tragedy, architects, excavators, athletic stars, novelists, and just people like you and me. Don't you want to hear or find out what they want to tell you? They are human beings too. Struggling with and wondering about people, life, and reality all the time. Do you have time to get to know any of these people? Can you hear what they have to say? Can you imagine the wealth of experience and knowledge each one of those volumes on the shelf can teach you? And there are so many. This is only a fraction of what you could know. There is gigantic amount more out there yet to be discovered, understood, or revealed. Awareness is quite a overwhelming experience. How do we deal with knowing we know so little of what there is (whether personally reachable or not)?
We must encounter everything in reality with acceptance and wonder. To accept, would be to recognize whatever being, feeling, information, or event we encounter, without labeling it or identifying it with our own pre-conceived notions. We must try to see things as they are and not as different than what we would want them to be or as we would not want them to be. The errors of knowing often lie in our own perception. Reality is the best teacher of itself. To wonder, we must be open to surprise and correction. Often in our pride we are stubborn in letting go of what we our proud of having known or discovered by ourselves, even though it now irrelevant or incorrect (we may try to deny this, I know I have). An open mind, is one that is able to receive what Reality presents to it with resignation and/or joy. This is the sort of mind I am trying grow; one that will encounter paradox, and love it before doubting or criticizing.
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