Beauty Is Truth
Beauty is truth, truth is beauty, that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know. ~John Keats (1819)
What is truth? Where is truth to be found? How do we go about finding truth? What is beauty? Who can make the assumption to label something “beautiful”? These are questions that will haunt an individual that desires to understands the meaning of “truth” to its fullest.
Truth is fact and yet the truest and purest form of truth is something that cannot be measured. It is beyond our knowing and beyond our understanding. Time and again we see that something has been discovered or invented, only to find out a short while later that it has become obsolete because even greater truths have been found and better inventions have been made.
The search for truth is a continual cycle of growth - expanding far beyond what it started out to be. One of the most dangerous things a human being can do is to become arrogantly certain of their “knowledge”… no matter what field they are in. In one blink of a moment that knowledge can prove to be false, incomplete and vastly limited. The greatness of a human being is not in what he knows but in who he becomes. The human mind is astonishing and yet most of us only use such a minute part of it, never understanding its full capacity. Feel free to watch this amazing clip, as well as this short clip.
One of the silliest things we can do, in my opinion, is to make sweeping and unequivocal statements about who God is, what one should believe and how one should worship. Some religions and denominations have damaged so many people because of their harshness, condemnations and their insistence on strict adherence to man-made rules and regulations and ideologies. In many instances, love plays little or no part in the “business of church,” and “religion”. Yet, it stands firm and true that love still remains and always will remain the most powerful force to effectively and permanently change the heart of a human being.
God is beauty and truth in absolute perfection. As a kaleidoscope, each tiny twist reveals yet new dimensions, new profundity of expressions and new shapes and colors of beauty and truth. So it is with Deity. No matter how one desires to do so, God cannot and will never be able to be explained. The closer that one comes to the light of truth, the more it is realized, it is of a certainty that He/She/It, is nothing at all like what one had previously thought. His multi-faceted and multi-dimensional being is beyond our human comprehension and it is in that realization where absolute truth and beauty are found.
Each person can find beauty in their own, very intimate and personal journey.
One might find beauty in the wings of a butterfly or the fluttering of a hummingbird. Another might find it in the strokes of a great painter or the form of an exquisite sculpture. One might find their beauty in the absolute harmony of musical notes orchestrated to perfection and the graceful dance of a ballerina, while another finds it in the dimensions of architecture or the words and lyrics of poetry and songs. Then there are those who embrace beauty in the simplicity of nature with its array of colors in landscapes, flowers, mountains, and the seas. Certain personalities will even embrace a new culture which is different from his own. He admires their simpler way of life and strives to understand it…as well as himself.
However one meets beauty matters only when it is certain that the encounter of beauty has enriched their reality of truth. Embracing that which deeply speaks to us will often pierce through this linear world of ours and touch the world of the unknown. It grabs ahold of our hearts and with certainty we can know that life is still fuller, still greater than ourselves and our, so very limited, views.
When a human being truly encounters beauty and truth, it will prove to be a mystical and deeply spiritual experience for them, far removed from what so many call “religion.”
In 1997 my wife and I went to Kenya and Tanzania to see the wonders of their national parks.
We were able to visit the Olduvai Gorge, where Louis Leakey had found the fossil remains of one of our oldest ancestors, a woman they named Lucy. It is an unremarkable, arid place, but in some way I felt a deep connection because I knew this was where some of our oldest human ancestors had lived.
I was also deeply moved by the life and death drama that takes place each day in the African bush. It is an ecosystenm in which each plant, bird, and animal occupies its niche. We saw babies being borne; we saw huge herds of grazing antelope, buffalo, elephants, zebras, etc. etc.; we saw the animals of prey stalking and killing the grazers; we saw birds and other carrion that ate what the bigger animals left behind. We sensed the balance and energy as each day all the inhabitants played their roles in the vast drama of birth, life, and death. There was a deep feeling of connection to it all. Something from the genes passed down from our long ago ancestors.
Then one evening we saw a line of ten or so giraffes meandering gracefully along the top of a ridge, backlighted by the setting sun. It was a scene of such surpassing beauty that I was totally carried into another place. I felt such deep love and appreciation for the wonder of it all. It transported me into a state of grace. For the rest of our time in Africa and some weeks after I remained in that state - so in love with, and connected to, all that our Creator has provided.
Alas, in my case, grace is never lasting. But the memory lasts and for me that is enough.
Comment by Jimmy J. — April 16, 2008 @ 7:19 pm
Jimmy, I am so glad you shared your story today. It sounds wonderful! How fortunate and blessed you have been to feel and experience the Divine presence so very intimately in your life. Pain can open us up in dimensions not thought possible before. Thank you so very much for your thoughts.
Btw: We went to see the “Lucy” exhibit here in Houston with our two children.
Comment by Viola Jaynes — April 16, 2008 @ 8:05 pm
Re: Your update.
Wonderful to hear that the pain is easing. Breathing, ice, and tincture of time will lead you to healing.
Fortunately, the pain has not dampened your spirit. Very nice insight into beauty and truth. It certainly triggered recall of my experience in the Masai Mara.
I envy your encounter with the real Lucy. We saw only pictures and diagrams at Olduvai. In my next life I think being an anthropologist would be very cool.
Comment by Jimmy J. — April 17, 2008 @ 3:42 am
Thank you Jimmy, I always am so glad you come to visit me here on my blog. I count it a real honor.
Anthropologist sounds fabulous! My husband is a Geologist and that is very interesting as well. Although, he does spend a lot of time behind the computer. It is not like the good old days. What profession where you in? May I ask?
Comment by Viola Jaynes — April 17, 2008 @ 4:07 pm
The integrity of our search for the truth is the humble acknowledgment that we never have all of it!
Wonderful post, Viola. Glad you’re back in the saddle!
Comment by SandyCarlson — April 19, 2008 @ 11:03 am
Hey Vi,
For many of us (myself included) the search for warmth and affection and that unconditional love you speak of is perpetual—or seemingly so.
There is so much idiosyncrasy in the world. From love to religion (as you so deftly scribed) to self awareness and perception.
Acceptance even.
We explain God to ourselves by justifying our belief in the God concept. Our stance on who and what He is, is as unique as our palm prints. What I believe will be different from what you believe and so on.
No one can or should try to tell us how to live or love. The search for emotional satiation and the arrival of an even, spiritual keel into our lives are part of the covenant we have with the Divine–whatever form that takes. This, I believe.
I am also a firm believer in the ying and yang principle—that in order to experience the great depth of joy, we have to understand the gnawing agony of pain. That’s my ONLY explanation for why bad things happen to good people.
LK
Comment by laurie kendrick — April 26, 2008 @ 1:35 am
Very well said, Laurie!
I think human growth and maturity does come through a lot of pain. I think in order for us to be kinder and warmer human beings, feeling the pains of others, and truly caring for them on some level, comes only when our own hearts have been broken open. That is a hard reality but pain somehow softens us.
I am so glad you came by today to visit me. Thank you very much!
Comment by Viola Jaynes — April 26, 2008 @ 2:38 am