Beauty Matters — Now More Than Ever

Disregard for beauty leads to apathy and, finally, despair

Why talk about beauty while evil seems to be pressing down on the world from all sides? Because beauty, that which transcends surface aesthetics, inspires and elevates us to a higher state. Beauty ignites, in those who experience it, a desire to pursue the good and the true. For beauty is inextricably intertwined with goodness and truth. And isn’t that what we’re after as we strive to uncover the truth buried under a mountain of lies and obfuscation? 

“Beauty will save the world.” ~Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Idiot

One might point out that as the truth emerges in bits and pieces, due to the relentless work of the seekers, this only makes the evil behind our current situation more apparent. How can we, as seekers of truth, spend any time looking for and thinking about beauty? Time is short and cannot be wasted on such things. But that thinking is flawed. Beauty can help open one’s mind and intellect to the pursuit of truth and goodness. 

One moment in time (Source: Samantha Gluck)

This triad: truth, beauty, and goodness must not be separated from one another. They are three distinct, yet inseparable parts of one concept. Truth, stripped of the other two becomes simply a free-floating abstraction. Beauty, taken apart from the good and the true becomes an idol. Finally, good becomes vague feeling, when removed from the context of the full triad. When something objectively beautiful catches your eye, it may not be immediately apparent, but know truth and goodness are surely there in the midst.

An encounter with beauty gives birth to hope

Beauty forces us to lift our eyes away from an internal gaze to look outwards. This is how it acts as a shield against capitulation and despair. Opportunities to experience beauty abound in our everyday lives, but we have lost the ability to see. We have abandoned the vocabulary necessary to find joy in the little things. It’s this unexpected joy — the joy of appreciating the gleaming elegance of clean kitchen countertops, the innocence of your child’s sleeping face, the whorl of a flower as it begins to bloom — that give meaning to our lives.

Plumeria (Source: Gluck Farms)

Plato observes that the power of beauty is its power to shock us out of a mundane, banal experience of the world (Phaedrus, I think). An encounter with beauty goes deeper than simply pausing to admire something we find beautiful; though, this first step is a requirement on the path to encounter. One cannot force an encounter with beauty; rather, one must fully surrender to it in order to experience the wild and indescribable (almost painful) embrace of the beautiful. 

These encounters, ever so briefly, pull away the veil to expose perfection — something our lives are lacking. Then, as if it had never lifted, the veil descends again. This leaves the beholder with a deep longing for another encounter, a glimpse of perfection in its fullness — the wound of beauty. 

Honest labor bears a beautiful face

The Substack contributors I’ve discovered in my short time on the platform given me cause to nurture a surprisingly robust hope in a time where reasonable hope is sorely needed. Doctors, scientists, investigative journalists, and true experts in many other disciplines pore over research and other data for what is likely hours on end in an effort to put the broken and obfuscated pieces of truth back together. These tireless warriors are fighting for the very existence of humanity itself.

Every one of them: beautiful beyond measure (Source: Creative Commons)

Did you ever think that’s what you’d be doing with your considerable knowledge and expertise, say, five or 10 years ago?

Yeah. I didn’t think so.

I want to thank you each and every one of you. Most of you probably don’t even know I read your articles. And that’s ok, how could you know? Even when the information you share bears highly disturbing conclusions, it still produces hope in your readers. You are making a difference. You are slashing away at the gathering darkness and the ribbons of cuts you make in that murky cloak allow light to shine through. Your work has meaning, it has relevance, it is beautiful.

Most of you don’t have your shining faces displayed on your profile for all to see, but a few of you do. Even so, I venture that could I see each of your faces, I would see a powerful beauty in every one of them — a beauty that can save the world.

Where have you noticed beauty today?

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