Thinking about the problem with art today, and so-called religious art, I have been pondering the problem of utilitarianism and ugliness. Years ago, I wrote an essay on this point when Shrek came out, showing how dangerous this movie and the sequels were to the modern child's mind.
The fact that the princess became ugly is a complete inversion not only of Western mythology, but the truth of Catholic teaching. We become more beautiful in goodness, in virtue and love transforms one into beauty, not into ugliness.
Many people objected to my article, stating I was against "ugly" people. No. Where ugliness is chosen, beauty is misunderstood. Where ugliness is chosen, the soul is dead or dying. Monsters redeemed would become beautiful in stories for a reason. Love transforms.
The inversion of choosing ugliness over beauty is an undermining of two pillars of our Catholic Faith-revelation and reason. Tradition flows from both.
God inspired the Greeks to define harmony and create an aesthetic of beauty which has lasted until modern times. Throughout the history of the West, the ideals of symmetry and order in architecture and art dominated society and were the basis of the greatest artistic achievements made by men.
It was not until the totalitarian ideal of utilitarianism that we saw ugly buildings honoring those who had lost their souls. The monumental structures of the tyrants, such as Hitler and Stalin ruined the concept of beauty, as both fascism and communism do not care about beauty, only power.
Those of us who were fortunate enough to have Classical Education in the liberal arts, the arts which free the mind to think, learned the great heritage of the Greeks regarding beauty, and when those of us who studied our Jewish roots, we saw in the Old Testament, the theme of beauty as well.
In Psalm 25, David shows us the insights into beauty from the Illuminative State.
[1] Unto the end, a psalm for David. Judge me, O Lord, for I have walked in my innocence: and I have put my trust in the Lord, and shall not be weakened. [2] Prove me, O Lord, and try me; burn my reins and my heart. [3] For thy mercy is before my eyes; and I am well pleased with thy truth. [4] I have not sat with the council of vanity: neither will I go in with the doers of unjust things. [5] I have hated the assembly of the malignant; and with the wicked I will not sit.
[6] I will wash my hands among the innocent; and will compass thy altar, O Lord: [7] That I may hear the voice of thy praise: and tell of all thy wondrous works. [8] I have loved, O Lord, the beauty of thy house; and the place where thy glory dwelleth. [9] Take not away my soul, O God, with the wicked: nor my life with bloody men: [10] In whose hands are iniquities: their right hand is filled with gifts.
[11] But as for me, I have walked in my innocence: redeem me, and have mercy on me. [12] My foot hath stood in the direct way: in the churches I will bless thee, O Lord.
Some modern commentators have written that the Hebrew tradition, the creation by God in the Old Testament, the Old Covenant, eschewed beauty.
Not at all. Many of the woman were described as beautiful, but more than that, the Hebrews knew that Beauty was an Attribute of God.
Looking at David's psalm, one sees several indications that the Illuminative State allows one to begin to glimpse God's Beauty.
The Greeks did not have Revelation, but they had Reason. And these two great pillars uphold our Faith.
First of all, innocence underlies beauty, which is why I had so many rants about the bad art on the famous television network. If a person is innocence, the beauty of the soul shrines forth, not in a sensual manner, but in a clear simplicity. Both the Hebrew writers and the Greeks understood simplicity are revealing innocence.
David claims his innocence, having been purified by God. David is the man in the Old Testament "whose heart was most like God's" or "a man after God's own heart." Love in him was purified so that he could experience what we are all called to experience, a renewed innocence which reveals a beauty of the soul, mind, and heart.
David is referring not to the temple, which was not built yet, but to the Tent of Glory, the place of the Ark of the Covenant. But he was also referring to his own soul.
It is not until the Incarnation that most men, not the chosen few prophets of the Old Testament, understood the complete renewal of the mind and body, the heart and soul, through Christ, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity.
If you have friends who hate beauty, beware.
Second, to confuse beauty with ugliness is a sign of the decadence of our times. So much music, clothing, architecture, art is glorifying ugliness and not God, who is Beauty.
When I visited England in 2011, after being gone many years, I was shocked at one thing. The women had stopped wearing skirts and dresses and were dressing like American women in trousers and those jackets I call "athletic wear". I had a strange experience in Walsingham that summer of watching hundreds of women pilgrims getting out of coaches with their spouses and I could not tell who was a woman and who was a man.
Now, in Europe, skirts and dresses and "being feminine" are "in" again. God created women to grace the world with beauty. Our Lady is the epitome of grace and beauty.
The soul is reflected in the body. And, David, in the Illuminative State, sees the connection between grace, beauty, innocence and God's glory.
Third, those who are on the path to perfection re-discover beauty if they have lost it. I have seen women change in their walk to God and perfection. They set aside "pants" and begin to wear women's clothing. They are not obsessed with make-up but with pleasing God in every way-in their minds, their bodies, their hearts, their souls. Every woman I know who harbored self-hatred in some way, or did not have a loving relationship with God dressed like a man. They were and are denying their call to be women, to be someone beautiful. When the ego is subdued and the predominant fault faced and conquered, a new beauty is set free in the soul, the Beauty of the Indwelling of the Trinity.
It is said of St. Bernard of Clairvaux that he was an exceedingly handsome man. God chose him to renew an order which went back to the basics. Stephen Harding's Cistercians moved away from the excesses of Cluny. But, beauty was not thrown out in minimalism. The beauty of the chant and the words of the Divine Office, the beauty of the Rule of St. Benedictine all came to fruition in Bernard's sermons on the Song of Songs, proof of his Unitive State.
Like the Greeks, the Benedictine Rule, and, by extension, the Cistercian Rule, show us beauty in order.
David understood this order as well. Go back and read the section of the psalm above.
and I am well pleased with thy truth.
My foot hath stood in the direct way: in the churches I will bless thee, O Lord.
A people who do not value or see the ideal of beauty as from God are a people with shriveled hearts. Catholics whose lives do not reflect order in their day cannot be pursuing God, but themselves and the maker of disorder. Remember that the maker of disorder, the first disobedient creature, perverts and lies and cheats to get a soul. And, he horribly rejoices in ugliness and sin.
Those who pursue perfection will become more beautiful.
Look at Psalm 44:
[1] Unto the end, for them that shall be changed, for the sons of Core, for understanding. A canticle for the Beloved. [2] My heart hath uttered a good word I speak my works to the king; My tongue is the pen of a scrivener that writeth swiftly. [3] Thou art beautiful above the sons of men: grace is poured abroad in thy lips; therefore hath God blessed thee for ever. [4] Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O thou most mighty. [5] With thy comeliness and thy beauty set out, proceed prosperously, and reign. Because of truth and meekness and justice: and thy right hand shall conduct thee wonderfully.
This is a prophetic psalm referring to Christ. He is the Beloved. The psalmist experienced Beauty, in God. Grace and beauty, blessing and reign, through truth, meekness and justice. These are clearly words of one in the Illuminative State.
[6] Thy arrows are sharp: under thee shall people fall, into the hearts of the king' s enemies. [7] Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a sceptre of uprightness. [8] Thou hast loved justice, and hated iniquity: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. [9] Myrrh and stacte and cassia perfume thy garments, from the ivory houses: out of which [10] The daughters of kings have delighted thee in thy glory. The queen stood on thy right hand, in gilded clothing; surrounded with variety.
So, one is reminded strongly of the Songs of Songs, the great love song of God's love for each person.
[11] Hearken, O daughter, and see, and incline thy ear: and forget thy people and thy father' s house. [12] And the king shall greatly desire thy beauty; for he is the Lord thy God, and him they shall adore. [13] And the daughters of Tyre with gifts, yea, all the rich among the people, shall entreat thy countenance. [14] All the glory of the king' s daughter is within in golden borders, [15] Clothed round about with varieties. After her shall virgins be brought to the king: her neighbours shall be brought to thee.
We must all forget our "father's house", which is the heritage of Adam, the sin of the old man in us, and for some, it literally means leaving home and finding God outside the family. It does mean detachment, which is learned in the Dark Night. It means an objectivity, and a total following of Christ.
[16] They shall be brought with gladness and rejoicing: they shall be brought into the temple of the king. [17] Instead of thy fathers, sons are born to thee: thou shalt make them princes over all the earth. [18] They shall remember thy name throughout all generations. Therefore shall people praise thee for ever; yea, for ever and ever.
A sign of the Illuminative State is joy. One is now centered on Christ and not on the self. The ego is gone.
For those who have settled for sensuality instead of beauty, this path is not found. For those who follow Christ into the desert and out again, into the temple of the king, from the Dark Night to the Illuminative State, these words belong to them as well as to David.
If one is confused about beauty, look to Mary. Look to the fact that the soul is the form of the body.
Why have women and men chosen ugliness? Because they are trapped in some type of sin.
Why have some artists succumbed to a sort of political correctness regarding the avoidance of depicting beauty? Because they do not understand the route of perfection and the goal of perfection.
to be continued...