The rose "Elle" from my garden ©A. Rutherford
The poet John Keats said, "Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty—
that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."
One of the several "topics" I want to ponder more about this coming year is Beauty. Beauty both in the Aristotelian sense of one of the great moral virtues co-equal with Truth and Goodness, and also in the Scriptural sense of Beauty as an attribute of God. I also want to reflect on the effect it has on individuals and society when people lose their sense of and their appreciation for the Beautiful.
Sounds like a "hairy" topic . . . but it really isn't . . . and I believe it is such an important thing to think about.
Although Beauty is considered by philosophers as one of the "Great Ideas" of Western Civilization, Beauty can happen to us in such simple ways as well.
A while ago my daughter reminded me of a bit of a poem by Yeats, a poet we both enjoy.
from "The Rose upon the Rood of Time"
Come near, that no more blinded by man's fate,
I find under the boughs of love and hate,
In all poor foolish things that live a day,
Eternal Beauty wandering on her way.
Come near, come near, come near—Ah, leave me still
A little space for the rose-breath to fill!
I find the thought of rose-breath delightful and beautiful . . . maybe that's why I like to thrust my nose deep into the heart of flowers to inhale their essence. I especially like flowers that have a sweet scent but also a coolness on my cheek.
Ooops! I digress . . . this is supposed to be the beginning of a discussion about the way Beauty connects us with the eternal. But flowers are a God-gift, are they not?
I think that's what I like about this blog format . . . topics can easily be returned to and added to as your thoughts about them develop and grow and even change.
I think it was Southern writer Flannery O'Connor who said (although several others get credit for it too), "How do I know what I think until I write it down and see what I say?"
That's great! I always tell my students that writing is discovery, and you can't say you don't have anything to write about until you have "talked" to yourself on the page. Get it down there in black and white so you can see what you have to say or what you think about the topic. You may even disagree with what you think you thought! ☺ And that's how we grow in our understanding.
But for now, let's reflect more on a special bit of Philippians 4:8:
"Finally, brethren, . . . whatsoever is lovely . . . let your mind dwell on these things."
"In Appreciation"
Accept, Eternal God, my prayer of thanks
For roses blushing in the twilight's haze,
For grasses drenched with diamond drops of dew,
For azure pastures where soft "cloud sheep" graze.
Accept my thanks for these: The robin's song,
The emerald arches of the trees above,
The murmur of the crystal brook nearby,
The plaintive cooing of the turtle dove.
Accept my thanks for winds that moan and sigh
And shake the leafy trees upon the hill,
For crimson berries dripping honeyed juice,
For velvet moss on stones besides the rill.
Accept, Eternal God, my thanks for all
The beauteous things Thy tender love has planned.
With grateful heart I touch each flower, each leaf,
And in so doing, touch Thy blessed hand!!
-by Emma Stewart Jacobson
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