Monday, November 2, 2009

Beauty

“We no longer dare to believe in beauty and we make of it a mere appearance in order the more easily to dispose of it. Our situation today shows that beauty demands for itself at least as much courage and decision as do truth and goodness, and she will not allow herself to be separated and banned from her two sisters without taking them along with herself in an act of mysterious vengeance.”
When beauty is lost, “the whole of worldly being falls under the dominion of ‘knowledge.’ And the springs and forces of love immanent in the world are overpowered and finally suffocated by science, technology and cybernetics. The result is a world without women, without children, without reverence for love…a world in which power and the profit-margin are the sole criteria, where the disinterested, the useless, the purposeless is despised, persecuted and in the end exterminated—a world in which art itself is forced to wear the mask and features of technique.”
—Hans Urs van Balthasar

1 comment:

S. Talmond Brown said...

Yes, I think there is a certain ungodly discomfort that our culture has developed against the concept of Beauty. The most enduring forms of beauty are usually shrouded in layers of mystery and nuance. We are told to be still and know that He is God, but it is our impatient human nature that leads us to crave clear and concise answers to things as well as the quick and immediate results that technology promises. Here is a portion from my book, that seems relevant: "The beauty of holiness is expressed in the things of beauty that reveal to all humanity the attributes of God. Art is the colorful bloom and lovely fragrance of the flower of enduring beauty that draws the truth-seeker into the pollen of God’s word. But Plato’s children, in their craving for abstraction, have bred a flower without color or fragrance that ultimately leads to fruitlessness. Art is divinely approved. It cannot be rejected as human gimmickry. It is the artless flower of Plato that we must reject as human gimmickry. The ascetic’s kingdom in abstract is contrary to God’s design. Art, for the people of God, is a natural and healthy expression of reverence. God expects us to adorn what we value, and we value all of life."
—S. Talmond Brown, author of "The Shadow of Beauty" my website is: http://shadowofbeauty.tatepublishing.net/