Dorothy Day used to say that perseverance was the greatest of all virtues -- surely an essential grace for all of us "normal" folks: relationships, families, work, occasional recreation, every sort of life struggle, and on and on... everyday life is one- hell-of-a-soup-kitchen-ride! And Dorothy was "normal": needing both her coffee and her psalms everyday -- and at times uncertain as to which was the more important! Yet, she didn't post her thought on perseverance in the New York Catholic Worker (where she lived and worked feeding the hungry for fifty years). Instead, she posted this saying from the writings of Dostoevsky: "The world will be saved by beauty." Perseverance will keep us going -- even against our better judgment. But it is beauty that gives us the courage to risk the extraordinary, the creative, the "rEvolutionary", and the radiant. It is the embrace of a lover, and the remembrance of his touch, that can compel and sustain courageous works for justice. It is the kiss of a beloved, and the lingering scent of her skin, that can enflame a mind to engage in building a community and a world of safety and reverence for all. It is the foot upon the mountain path, the legs in the river or ocean, the hands digging into the earth, the luminous conversation amongst friends, the wafting odors of cooking foods, the surety of a welcome home, and the smile of enduring love that can liberate an individual consciousness into the solidity and solidarity of Universal Consciousness: it is beauty that will give us wings to trust that we can fly into One Love... without limits... Beauty is the radiant, exuberant, affirmation of the Universe "I Am!" This poetic cry of the Light and Energy in-filling all of creation becomes the magical lens through which the devotee looks out upon the chaos of the world: where there is hatred and violence, beauty cries "I Am!" Where there is hardship and pain, beauty is lovingly present with her "I Am!" Where there is doubt and tears, beauty is the rock of "I Am!" Where there is loneliness and fear, beauty is the hope of "I Am!" Where there is inequality and injustice, beauty stands in the solidarity of "I Am!" Beauty is the soul of the Universe, the manifestation of our constant state of One Inter-Being: from the vast empty space of an atom, to the endless clustering of galaxies, from the first breath of a newborn child, to the last breath of another life-pilgrim: beauty is the journey of every human heart, beauty is the One Reality giving flesh and bones and consciousness to Love... Dostoevsky did have a profound insight into the nature and eternal attraction of beauty... but the truth that we now need to hear, embrace, and activate is this: "Beauty has saved the world"...
1 Comment
10/27/2013 04:57:40 am
I greatky enjoyed this piece as I do all of your writings. With the first sentences I disagreed with you. Surely, perceverence is the great virtue that could save the world, But by the end, I was convinced that, clearly, the source of inspiration was greater than tenacity. But, I thought, wouldn't the source of inspration be love, rather than aesthetics? I think the experience of love defines the self. Thre identity being "I love, therefore I am." rather than Descartes' "I think therefore I am", which I believe is negated by all of the processing of data and decision making without conciousness in the information age. Your attribution of beauty as saving the world was "truthy' as Sephen Colbert would describe it but its accuracy, I felt, hinged on the definition of beauty, which, according to Wikiipedia, is defined in the Kabalah's tradition as the synthesis of lovingkindness and strengh, which is the force, within the tree of life, of self-actualization and the realization of potencial for both the individual and humanity. The impact of lovingkindness is significantly lessened without strength and the benefits of strength without lovingkindness are negative. But what does this have to do with aesthetics? Only with the combination of strength and lovingkindness can we further that which is good and beautiful. So your writing made me think a lot. Thank you.
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AuthorRobert Daniel Smith was privileged to serve the homeless and marginalized for 30 years in California. He is living now almost within shouting distance of the Twin Cities. He is a poet, artist, writer, and long-time Companion of the Way still dreaming... Archives
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