"Beauty reaches far beyond art, music and literature, for it is characteristic of the natural world – creation. For beauty, like truth and like goodness, has its origin in God. So we mustn’t think of beauty as merely belonging to objects in the world, as if beauty were a quality like size or yellowness: beauty is in the relationship between the object and the person who comes into contact with it. The world is 'haunted' by the presence of God and we are the ones who register that presence. In John Ruskin’s expression, we are touched by the sublime, and our reaction is to be moved and thrilled by it". Peter Mullen on beauty.
One of the most common objections I've come across to Christianity in many shapes and forms is that it is all too "other worldly" - to do with things we cannot see or really understand, but such definitions are usually the result of pretty unclear thinking. At the heart of Christianity is God evidenced in our world as a man who is born, suffers and dies with the rest of us (and it is in that place that He essentially tells us that all of this really does matter), but even before this, amongst the events recorded in the Old Testament, it is actually often the nearness of God (because there is a God who is involved with us) that is the problem, not His transcendence, and it is when this God conveys to us the astonishing depths of beauty and grace involved in the creation that we are not only often deeply troubled, but truly, totally drawn to the wonder and splendour of such endearment.
It isn't by chance that some of the most inspirational poetry on creation and on love is found in the very core of these writings. The Psalms, Solomon's insights on Wisdom and the exquisite passion described in the Song of Songs come from a moment when God was truly seen to be present amongst a people who were catching a genuine glimpse of what human life is really all about - living in the 'glory' (the true meaning and value) of all that has been made and deemed good (in spite of our propensity to spoil it).One of the highest expressions of all of this is the Bible's affirmation of the glory of erotic love.
The Song is literally dripping with moments that revel in the wonder of two persons becoming one, not just in a bodily sense (although the bodies of the lovers here are rightly and beautifully described), but in the fact that the sheer beauty of each of them becomes the true source of praise and meaning for the other, It is when just such a 'view' is truly in focus (in the key part, for example, of Chapter 2 of the poem), that the verse becomes so rich and tender:
"Arise, my love, my beauty, Come! The Winter has truly passed, the rains have gone, and the earth is filled with blossom. Now, the time of song has arrived, as fruit appears and ripens on the trees, The vines fill the air with fragrance. Come, my love, come away with me".
All good art touches us in this way. It lifts us, amidst our pain and decay, if but briefly, to look beyond this and to gain a scent of something deeper in our days here. Art photography echoes such aims, for even the most non-religious artists working in this field will speak of what truly matters in their work is moments of what can only be described as pure 'grace' - a linking with a beauty far higher than ourselves.
The aim, then, remains the same as Christ spoke of it in the Lord's prayer - to see the will of heaven (a God who cares for us in all of daily needs) here on earth - to touch, taste, smell and eat the 'romance' of reality... to be ravished by the beauty of the fact that in spite of our fall, we are so deeply loved, and art, amongst other things, can allow us to express and reflect upon something of that amazing grace.
The problem, perhaps, is not a God too far away, but a 'glory' that can be encountered within our very breath.
Images:
Midsummer Morning at Tintagel, Model: Loella.
Treasures of Grace. Model: Erin.
Within the frame. Model:Kari.
