Foundational Values: The Depth of Beauty
How moments of wonder point to common ground.
Greetings, Readers!
A warm welcome to our newest subscribers. If you haven’t yet had a chance to read our introduction, be sure to do so. Last edition, we started a series to explore our three foundational values—Truth, Beauty, and Excellence. This week we explore the second of those, Beauty. It should be quite lovely!
Beauty can be difficult to define because its depth is immense. While its textbook definition is straightforward, “the quality or group of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or the mind,” philosophers, authors, theologians, and artists over the ages have tried to understand its full meaning.
Often, moments and experiences of deep beauty are difficult to put into words; things like holding a baby in your arms for the first time, standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon overlooking its breathtaking expanse, hearing a piece of music so exquisite that it causes you to weep, or receiving an act of selfless service. Beauty evokes something eternal in us, dropping anchor at a soul level rather than merely at eye level. The great C.S. Lewis described it this way in The Weight of Glory.
“We do not want merely to see beauty, though, God knows, even that is bounty enough. We want something else which can hardly be put into words — to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it.”
We might think, given the immensity of beauty and the creativity of people, that beauty is totally subjective. However, it is important to orient ourselves around the reality that objective elements of beauty consistently ring true when it comes to quality, complexity, and technique. It would not, for example, be reasonable to equate the beauty of my sketch of a stick figure (which, I assure you is pathetic at best) with the beauty of a Monet or Unga painting. There is no comparison. To put it in another context, we could explore the beauty of music by classical composers—but there would be no reasonable comparison between the works of Bologne, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, or Debussy and, those of avant-garde classical composer John Cage (here or here). Suffice it to say, there are objective elements of beauty, even within the vast variety and preferences of different people, cultures, and styles.
Holding Beauty as a core value calls us to something greater. Remember, our goal is to raise the bar for how we think and engage in our shared workplaces, churches, homes, and communities. Beauty is an important ingredient that reveals our humanity and reminds us that we are not as different from one another as we may think, despite the loud voices that clamor to tell us otherwise.
Beauty can helps us…
Unify people of varied backgrounds and perspectives around shared awe and wonder. Consider some of the most objective examples of this in nature—a sunset, sunrise, ocean, mountain, desert landscape, flower, bird, the list could go on—and we see that there is a commonality among people of all cultures, backgrounds, perspectives, or beliefs to be drawn to such things.
Educate people and enjoy the rich history and cultures within which artistic works are created. Nothing is created outside of a particular context. Beauty allows us to explore important information. For any given piece of work, we might ask, “where/when was this created?” or “who was its creator?” or “what was happening in history at that moment in time?”
Inspire people….to excellence, joy, humility, creativity, action. When you are face to face with something that leaves you in awe, there is a sense of the eternal. Whether it is the powerful art of speech that calls people to action, or the wonder of nature, it all resonates with the deeper places of the soul.
Why does this matter for what CivicSophisticate is setting out to do?
Beauty will be the value that softens and reminds us of our shared humanity as we engage with one another. Further still, it will keep us mindful of the inherent dignity of every person—even, dare I say, the ones who disagree with you.
Think on These Things publishes new content every other Friday. Our introductory series of articles will lay the foundation for what is ahead, so be sure to stick around to get a full understanding of our vision. We are hard at work curating some fabulous tastes of music, art, literature, and more to roll out in the coming months!
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