Signs and Symbols

Shamrocks, watercolor © A.Rutherford

Last week as we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day, I was reminded of a powerful icon or symbol in Celtic Christianity, the Shamrock, the “green flower” of Ireland.

In order to make the people understand the doctrine of the Trinity—that there are three beings who make up one divine God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—St. Patrick drew an analogy by picking a shamrock and showing that its three leaves were on only one stem.   The shamrock’s presence then served as a lovely reminder of the Presence of the Divine amongst the people. 

Goethe's quote under the header of my blog is providing a general theme as I write and reflect here on the nature and purpose of Beauty in our lives.  I include the second half of his quote below—

A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.

In times of tragedy, either personal or global such as the tsunami that has wreaked havoc in Japan and threatens to have far-reaching effects, human beings can be overwhelmed or even tempted to despair.  In those times it may be easy to forget the sacred nature of the human spirit, created as we are in the image of God.  Life may appear bleak and we begin to feel victims either of our circumstances or of the fragile nature of life in general.  But tragedy is not the final word of our existence.

Kathleen Raine, writing in Defending Ancient Springs, explains it thus:

Strangest of all is the ease with which the vision is lost, consciousness contracts, we forget over and over again, until recollection is stirred by some icon of that beauty. Then we remember and wonder why we ever forgot.

The "vision" Raine is writing about is that certain Truth about who we are and Whose we are in the final analysis.   Or to borrow a couple of lines from the poet John Keats,

                    'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all

         Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.'

Raine reminds us that our recollection of the Truth we know and may have forgotten in our circumstances can be stirred by an icon of that Beauty, which is the wellspring of all life.  We are not to be given over to anxiety or despair.   

A psalm of joy and hope, a piece of beautiful music or art, a bit of poetry, the first daffodil coming up in our garden, and many other such icons can remind us that Beauty is an attribute of God and a sign of His presence in our situation.   Beauty can serve as reminders to us of the richness that is inherent in who we are as created beings and also of the transcendent nature of our lives.

When I was a very young girl, I remember reading a poem about a single blue flower blooming in a rather remote, dreary bog.  It bloomed for the most part unseen and unappreciated, but it was there, and it was blooming in spite of its environs.   It served as a symbol of hope for the persona of the poem, and it has served all my life too, vividly in my memory, as a sort of icon of the ability to transcend my circumstances through paying to attention to the God-gifts of Beauty offered around me.

Later in college I learned that the English Romantic poets used the blue flower as the symbol of the unfolding of the soul, and as an emblem of the desire of the human spirit for the Infinite.  C.S. Lewis, in his autobiography Surprised by Joy, also used the blue flower as a symbol for his longing for Beauty, which he later came to understand was in reality his longing for God.

But as I came to adulthood, I began to understand that it was my responsibility to tend that fire and keep it burning.   I must take the time and make the effort to look for the blue flowers God graciously places along my path not only for my enjoyment, but also for my spiritual enrichment and as signs of the Hope there is in our Faith.  I must not neglect this significant aspect of what God is and who I am created to be.  In this way, Joy is a discipline and is to be practiced in our daily lives.

An early Joy-note from my garden . . .

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