I: Beauty and Solace

It’s been a while since I’ve felt like penning anything poetic, and I didn’t imagine I’d be musing on matters of the heart for some time. I must confess that this is far from the height of poetic prowess. As the good book should have said, long is the way and hard, that… leads up to light. Nonetheless, being enraptured has a way of bringing matters into perspective, and reflection naturally follows.

Everyone loves something beautiful. Perhaps in this I am no exception. Nor am I alone in wondering about the causal connection/s between beauty and feelings of endearment. My theory as it were – what I’ll posit here as beauty and solace – echoes a notion of beauty and sadness which was developed into a characteristically Japanese novel by Yasunari Kawabata. I, on the other hand, have in mind beauty and solace: beauty as reprieve from sorrow, a comfort for great sadness. This, in part, is how I have thought about my attraction toward beauty and the idea that there is a beauty which speaks to your soul. Some years ago, I wrote about how I looked upon a fierce beauty once, and was drawn to its force. So pure in its astounding force, yet it gleamed gently, as if to wash away my sorrows. And so, to glimpse at beauty is perhaps to momentarily leave pain behind. A reminder to endure, for how can such beauty exist alongside tragedy. Perhaps in beauty we see a kind of hope, compassion, empathy.

II: Beauty and the Good Stuff

For quite some time, my notion of beauty was mostly transcendental. You could blame this sensibility – Kantian, Ecclesiastical, Aristotelian, or Platonic – take your pick, on a range of factors which shaped me. And so, I couldn’t tell you where to find the thread living rent free in my mind which runs along the lines of beauty has been mixed with vice so that we may know that true beauty and goodness are in things beyond the physical. After all, it was also Dostoevsky who said beauty will save the world famously through a character titularly dubbed “the idiot.” In other words, all this points toward a beauty which is not just physically attractive.

But, of course, and perhaps this is the paradox, the sort of beauty with the force I describe is necessarily captivating and attractive. Stunningly and exquisitely so, truly exceptional and outstanding in its astounding force. Yet, it speaks to the soul. Perhaps the way out of this contradiction, or my ecclesiastical sensibility, lies in how such beauty, in its being, must be daring and bold, and push past all boundaries. And remain unfathomable, perhaps a secret to its own mystery.

III: Beauty as beauty, and as …

Then there is another beauty which I will distinguish from that of solace. This you could imagine as enchanting, the classic siren song trope where you are left out of your senses and your mind is beyond you. Admittedly, it’s a thin line in the sand. So, in the end, perhaps it is not so much speaking to your soul. How could it; how could it speak and maintain its allure. No, it can be but a whisper, like a caress of the wind, to stir and kindle, to enchant. And perhaps it is so, necessarily, suggestive and veiled. And we draw whatever conclusions we will, willingly, knowingly, with the full knowledge bequeathed from the proverbial tree of life.

But in the end, one hopes that the solace of beauty is not one quantum as a modicum from suffering. Rather, beauty as beauty is delightful. A true pleasure in every sense. So, beauty as solace becomes more than a reprieve. And here, beauty as solace becomes a quiet peace and a steady joy, an enduring love which abides forever. That last part is maybe a bit too much even with poetic license. But perhaps, even for more spice with a classic touch, I will say: beauty, as solace, as joy, as love which endureth.