Beauty—The Invisible Embrace
I need to preface this article by stating that the title, "Beauty, the Invisible Embrace," is not original with me. The book by that title was written by John O'Donahue, an Irish poet, author, priest, and philosopher. My personal insights into the concepts and ramifications of beauty did not begin with my reading his book. Rather, the seed was planted with frequent stops along a country road for my mother to photograph a wildflower. No, that is not correct. The seed was planted when I was conceived. It is in my DNA to recognize Beauty. One would expect that of me, I suppose, since I am an artist and an art educator. I have made my living by talking about Beauty with my students and attempting to create beauty in my art. However, I do not need to persuade the reader that Beauty does, in fact, exist. I'll return to John O'Donahue's book later in this writing.
The botanist might make the case the beauty is always the product of function. After all, the famous architect, Louis Sullivan, said that "form follows function", in reference to the constraints placed on an architect to make functional structures (form). How might that apply to beauty? Is beauty merely an expression of function? If so, why do we perceive it as "beauty", in an aesthetic sense? I will yield to the conclusion that much of the beauty that we see has functional foundations. A moth's beauty may help to camouflage it from predators. A male peacock's over-the-top colorful feathers make him attractive to female peacocks. There are obvious functional components to beauty. Still, why do we humans perceive this as beauty? More separated from the biological realm of beauty, which is astoundingly ubiquitous, there is the beauty of a sunset through the evening clouds on the western coast of Florida just after a late afternoon rain thunderstorm has rolled through, when the clouds are still lingering in the western sky as the sun is setting. It is beautiful! Chairs are brought to the beach by tourists and locals alike, to revel in this beauty. Have you stood at the brink of the Grand Canyon and looked out across at the multi-colored, multi-layered strata? It is beautiful. What makes it beautiful? It just is! There is no need to explain how, or why. Both the believer and the atheist can stand side-by-side and agree with this reality. Or, what about that beautiful piece of music? That beautiful poem? That beautiful person? That beautiful thought? We all know that beauty exists. We feel Beauty. We see Beauty. We know Beauty. But why?
Let's suppose that beauty is, in fact, a product of function in some grand evolutionary plan. I won't argue with that premise. My logical mind tells me, however, that there must be a higher intelligence than mankind's tiny brains that is behind this process. I will explore this statement in another article titled, "Design Demands Designer". For now, I think we all can agree that Beauty does exist.
We recognize, feel, sense, or otherwise understand beauty because beauty undeniably exists. We just simply know it. We see Beauty. We feel Beauty. We smell Beauty. We can even touch Beauty. We humans pretty much all agree that Beauty just IS. I suspect that a cow grazing in a field never looks up and thinks to itself, "my, what a beautiful sunset". Obviously, I can't proof this claim, but I've observed a lot of cattle, and I am yet to see one, much less a whole herd, standing and watching a sunset. There is something built into us that recognizes Beauty. There is something about beauty that calls humanity to a higher plane. This brings me back to John O'Donahue. "The Beautiful Embrace" explains why I have capitalized the word Beauty in most cases while writing this article. I am convinced that when we look at Beauty, we see God. Paul tells us in the words that Bible translators have assigned to Roman 1:20 that, "since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse."
John O'Donahue writes about beauty in a myriad of forms. This is one that is near to my heart, as I am a landscape artist and a landscape photographer. O'Donahue writes, "The Beauty of the earth is the first beauty. Landscape is the first-born of creation. Sculpted with huge patience over millennia, landscape has enormous diversity of shape, presence, and memory. There is poignancy in beholding the beauty of landscape: often it feels as though it has been waiting for centuries for the recognition and witness of the human eye."
Personally, I love the panoramic view of the mountains and the atmospheric perspective viewed from a small "scenic view" parking lot along highway 65 north of Clinton, Arkansas. But I also love the flat landscape of eastern Arkansas, along highway 64, as it reveals those big skies of my home state of Nebraska. There is great beauty in landscape. I am mesmerized by the ethereal Beauty of clouds.
Another of my underlined portions of "Beauty, the Invisible Embrace" expands on this connection between thought and senses. "We perceive and participate in beauty through the interplay of senses and spirit. Our senses are lanterns that illuminate the world. Beauty is never simply in the mind alone. Beauty awakens for us through what we hear, touch, taste, scent, and see...In Beauty’s presence there is no longer any separation between thought and senses, between heart and soul...Without senses, we could never know beauty. Without thought, beauty would seem transient and illusory."
One more quotation, for the road. "In order to become attentive to Beauty, we need to rediscover the art of reverence. Our world seems to have lost all sense of reverence...The notion of reverence is full of riches that we now need desperately. Put simply, it is appropriate that a human being should dwell on this earth with reverence...Ultimately, reverence is respect before mystery...Reverence bestows dignity and it is only in the light of dignity that the beauty and mystery of a person will become visible...Reverence is also the companion of humility. When human hubris intrudes on or manipulates the sacred, the consequence is inevitably humiliation. In contrast, a sense of reverence includes the recognition that one is always in the presence of the sacred."
In summary, when we are in the presence of Beauty, we are in the presence of God. Can you feel His embrace?
John Keller