beauty will save the world

Tish Harrison Warren writes in her book "Liturgy of The Ordinary":

"When we gaze at the richness of the gospel and the church and find them dull and uninteresting, it's actually we who have been hollowed out. We have lost our capacity to see wonders where true wonders lie. We must be formed as a people who are capable of appreciating goodness, truth and beauty." 

I have always been one who appreciates "the little things." Or, more colloquially referred to as, "the vibes." The warm glow of a candle, a coffee made just right, a glass of wine to accompany a board game. Savoring.

 A few years ago, I was exposed to the quote "Beauty will save the world." It's from russian novelist, Fyodor Dostoyevsky's "The Idiot". I have never read this book, but I've seen this quote a few times when someone is referring to beauty and truth. I have come to understand this quote to mean that Truth will save the world. Because everything that is beautiful points to the Truth. A dear friend of mine (who just moved away from me #military) is an avid book worm, theater kid and enthusiastic consumer of all mediums of art. She has a philosophy when it comes to consuming art and beauty. She believes all great stories are in part, telling The Story. The gospel. We just have to look for it. A self proclaimed, "beauty hunter" she would say that great books, movies, plays and songs don't have to be overtly "Christian" to convey spiritual and theological truths. She is more well read than I could ever hope to be and has pioneered a book club in my community for the last four years with that philosophy. Each month we gather with a few other women to discuss our thoughts on the book we read together. What beauty was imparted to us? What truth settled in our soul? 

I have found so much freedom in being a "beauty hunter". It is a much more positive and rich place to exist than in the doom of what is very obviously put in front of us on the news and in the media every day. We don't have to look far to know that things are bad and this is not me advocating for any kind of ignorance. It takes practice and careful cultivation of the intentional search for beauty while recognizing the brokenness of the world. The paradox of living in the gospel's "already but not yet." The "what is, and what can be." So, I've collected a handful things to share that I have found to be beautiful or true in the last year (2023). 

A City of Bells by Elizabeth Goudge

"We're all too apt to think that things are as we feel them to be, forgetting that they have an objective value apart from what we feel about them. An embittered mind colors the world black for its owner yet that does not alter the fact that the world is a treasure house of beauty and love."

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

"I have a new love for that glittering instrument, the human soul. It is a lovely and unique thing in the universe. It is always attacked and never destroyed- because 'Thou-mayest.'"

To Kill A Mocking Bird by Harper Lee 

"Atticus, he was real nice... Most people are Scout, when you finally see them."

The Keeper of The Bees by Gene Stratton-Porter

"I'm going where he went, and we're going to see what we can get out of Heaven together like we got a good deal of fun out of Earth."

Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

"And now Harry, let us step into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure." -Half Blood Prince

evermore Taylor Swift ft. Bon Iver

Call Your Mom Noah Kahan ft. Lizzy McAlpine

Loki (yes, the show)

"Annihilating is easy. Razing things to the ground is easy. Trying to fix what is broken is hard. Hope is hard."

Interstellar (movie and soundtrack)

"Love is the one thing we're capable of perceiving that transcends time and space."

May we continue to be formed as people capable of appreciating goodness, truth and beauty.