"The determinative flashes of sunlight...the moments of tenderness, the thousand impressions that have flowered into meaning - remain radically incommunicable. On the day we die, a hundred such chapters will go into the void for every one we leave on someone's desk... (We need) not simply to be lovers of beauty, but lovers of being, just because it is, for it is in seeing, knowing, 'the higher within the lower', that we find the root of beauty, goodness and truth".Robert Farrar Capon.
There is a 'yearning', in our best moments, that we share with all of creation. Like a fragrance, winsome and teasing, igniting a treasured memory from childhood, it occasionally plays upon us and briefly beckons us to look harder and further into what is here, woven into flesh and soil, than our usual modes of reflection. Such moments, like honeysuckle caught briefly in the air, profoundly still and argue with our thoughts which make art and beauty either concepts 'too high' (beyond us) or 'too low' (measured and understood) that we entirely miss the real wonder and greatness of what is upon us - the real value of what is here. At such a moment, "We do not want merely to see beauty, we want something more which can hardly be put into words - to be united to it, to bathe in it, to become part of it"(C S Lewis - The Weight of Glory). The 'yearning' is especially acute in our recreation, because it is here we most often pause and reflect, commonly with others but also alone, through the arts and engagement with friends or family, upon the true 'fragrance' of the world and life which, though marred by pain and crippled when a means for evil, resonates with the fact that there is a beauty, a wonder, a significance woven into its rich tapestry, and all that is good conveys this to us.
The passion to work with the body - with the person who is 'known' through their physicality - is truly a part of this 'dance' (the true 'romance' of existence). In his short New Testament letter, James speaks about looking upon our reflection and noting the true 'weight' of what this tells us about ourselves. When we look well (deep enough and hard enough), we can gain a glimpse of the significance with which we have been clothed - to know, express, share and enrich each other with a love and splendour which reflects the true 'glory' of the community of the Creator who made the marvel that we are and which surrounds us. Beauty truly becomes evident when such 'light' is conveyed, but it is a revelation both astonishing and terrifying, because so much of what we are, what we do, is so far from this - we are left outside.It takes something more than ourselves to get us beyond the pain and ugliness to allow us to once more truly engage with the beauty. It was some years ago that I first heard about the work of Eileen Fisher Turk, a New York artist who used nude photography to help women who had been sexually abused or suffered from various disorders to re-connect with themselves and especially the wonder of their own bodies through the use of images - holding a 'mirror' before them. Whilst I am not a therapist, I have certainly encountered the power of this use of nude images first hand, and personally seen the impact it had on one person in particular, totally breaking a destructive part of their life and changing their definition of themselves, allowing a much more normal, healthy course to begin.
The need we all share is that of 're-connection' to the true art, the amazing grace, that underpins our world. Glimpses of that window, reflections of that longing, often meet us in our richest, deepest moments of delight or reflection, when we stand on the edge of what truly counts. God is at work, through Jesus Christ, to reconcile all that has been tainted, says Christianity, because the love shared in the communion of Father, Son and Spirit needs to become, to permeate, everything, that we can truly know and revel in our true value and purpose. That is the goal- a world entirely motivated by, filled with and growing through the richest, deepest, affirming love. May our art play some small part in such a work.Image by Howard: Beautiful Dreamer - Model:Kari, Longing for the Garden - Model: Nicola, Beautifully Made - Model:Loella.
