I like flowers. For people who like flowers springtime comes in handy, since they seem to literally shoot out of the ground. As Spring begins I’m reading the book “Freckles” by Gene Stratton-Porter. It’s an enjoyable, heart-warming read, prequel to “A Girl of the Limberlost.” In it a one-armed young man is employed to guard the timber in a swamp. We get to have fun and grow with him along the way. He spends a great deal of time out of doors, and at one point he’s walking down the path and comes to a familiar creek:
“It was always a place full of interest, so Freckles loved to linger on the bridge, watching the marsh and water people. He also transacted affairs of importance with the wild flowers and sweet marsh grass”
Freckles was captivated by this natural beauty, and it’s nice to get to experience it with him as we read. What is this captivating thing called beauty? It’s rather hard to say, difficult to define. We can, however, guess at its essence based on what it does to people. Beauty can heal, bring peace, inspire, provoke, prick, even downright hurt. What does beauty do to you? Why does beauty do this?
Beauty is an expression of truth. Maybe sometimes the clearest expression of truth we can see. Many people are attracted to it, yet can’t say exactly why. Have you ever gazed on/into something that was beautiful and tried desperately to grasp it with every fiber of your being? If so, you probably felt like you fell short of doing so, despite your best efforts. I’ve experienced both. To me this experience is a sign of the human condition. We are not whole. Despite the fact that we can recognize beauty, even understand what it is to a certain extent, we are at a loss to fully comprehend it. Or even fully experience it.
Beauty hurts because it’s an unrelenting statement of truth about reality that pricks and prods our humanness, exposing our capacity for greatness, and at the same time exposing our shortcomings. For example, the stars put you in your place. The fact that you can start to comprehend them demonstrates your significance, at the same time viewing them can make you feel as if you were the smallest speck of dust in existence. It really is quite the paradox.
Beauty hurts because it heals. Experiencing what beauty says about reality slowly brings you back to that reality. The process can be painful. For example, trying to see something simple, like a flower, for what it truly is, can show you a bit of what you are.
Of course feelings about beauty (and flowers) are different for different people. Some don’t have or take the time to notice. For some it’s too painful to notice, too hard to attempt comprehension. I think each of us have a relationship with the beauty we see in the world around us. We can’t place expectations on it to do anything for us, just like our relationships with people. We can only understand it in part, but we can benefit from it greatly. We can be transformed by it. I encourage you to develop your relationship with beauty this spring. Go “transact affairs of importance with the wildflowers.”
Your statements about beauty as an “unrelenting truth about reality” reminded me of Lewis’s Surprised by Joy where he describes moments of intense joy and beauty as “signposts.” Great post.
I really enjoyed reading your post, Justin. I’ll have to think on this more.
Very nice post. I love the line ‘Beauty hurts because it heals.’ I love flowers, especially wildflowers, and I have pictures of them throughout my website that I have taken myself. It is often illusive to capture their true beauty. One has to be there to ‘see.’ They truly do bring you back to reality if you take the time to notice. Taking the time, it seems to me is what ‘hurts.’