30 July 2009

Father Stephen Freeman on beauty:

We see beauty not simply by looking at a thing — but by seeing it.

And:

There is much in our life and culture that pushes us away from beauty. Mass production and the nature of our economy (marked by a level of productivity unknown in human history), are driven by questions other than beauty. Beauty has value as it can be marketed, but too often is absent in any depth from much of our experience. […]

Deeply distressing is the drive to “utility” in our lives. Value is given to that which is “useful.” Beauty thus becomes an avocation, a luxury not seen as useful or necessary to our existence. Of course, this is a deep miscalculation of the nature of human existence. Human beings do not exist well without beauty — and in most of human culture throughout most of human history, beauty has been valued beyond many of the things which we think of as “useful.”

The article is foremost regarding beauty within Christianity — specifically within the Eastern Orthodox Church — but also all of life in general. It has me thinking further on the concept of being dressed in value. This is one to study and full of good ponderings.