Beauty's Union
Reflection #91: When we experience transcendent Beauty, we are drawn toward it because, on the deepest level, we feel that it wants us
In our darkest hour, in the clutches of evil, Beauty is always there to hold us. It is there to caress us, it is there to comfort us, and it is there to possess us.
It is there to light our way, to raze us, to inspire us and to save us. Beauty reminds us that we are divine fire, and that, to kindle this purifying heart-fire, like all fires, we may have to endure friction to create sparks.
Beauty is not mere “prettiness” or “attractiveness.” We may have a desire to possess that which is attractive, but Beauty is something we hunger for, because it is something that we cannot possess. Instead, beauty possesses us and we can’t help but feel the pleasure of that possession. In Beauty’s lower form, when our gaze is not beautified and we can only perceive “attractiveness,” we want it, we experience a kind of lustful longing, but, when we experience its higher, true form of transcendent Beauty, we are drawn toward it even more because, on the deepest level, we feel that it wants us.
We experience, as Roger Scruton said, “a longing without lust” which allows us to experience, not a physical, sexual, union, but a spiritual one.
“Beholding beauty in the eye of the mind you will be able to nourish true virtue and become the friend of god.” — Plato
The themes in this post are explored deeply in my forthcoming book, The Sovereign Artist.
Further Reading
How Art Heals through Transcendent Beauty
The Healing Virtue of The Virtuoso
No AI Zone: Everything written in this post (and all my posts) is written 100% by me, Clint “Clintavo” Watson, a flesh and blood human seeking to grow my soul and come home my truest self; for that is the essence of creativity. I do not use AI to assist me with writing — that would deny me the very growth of my world through writing that I seek.
I only rarely use AI images with my (non-AI) writing. On the rare occasions I do use an AI image (usually fiction), I also feature at least one artwork by a human artist with image credits and links to their work or, if I can’t find a suitable image, I donate a free month of website service to one of our artist customers at my SaaS company, FASO Artist Websites.
Poetic expression, spiritual ideas, and musings upon beauty, truth and goodness should be free to spread far and wide. Hence, I have not paywalled the work on Reflections of the Sovereign Artist. However, if you’re able to become a paid subscriber, I’d be eternally grateful. It would help, encourage and enable me to continue exploring these topics and allow me to keep it accessible for a world that is in desperate need of beauty, truth, goodness and love. — Creatively, Clintavo.
Beauty runs deeper than meets the eye, its the revelation of accuracy, endurance and closeness to the divine 👍
I really appreciate your take on this and wholeheartedly agree. In my opinion beauty is so often misunderstood and has become a shallow human trait which does it an injustice.