beauty will save the world
song of the week: U2's "Beautiful Day."
it really is beautiful today, and has been the past several days . . . sky so blue it hurts, air crisp but not cold, red leaves flaming out among pines.
and of all things in the world that i don't understand, beauty is the top of the list--the strange, wild ache of it, that makes you full and empty at the same time. how is it that you can feel most satisfied while filled with boundless longing?
last week a pianist named Jon Kimura Parker came to perform here, and his playing was like that. he played a Schubert fantasy that took my breath away--i almost wanted him to stop just so i could breathe, but i didn't want the piece to end. i came away feeling a joyful hollowing, like all the heaviness in me had been lifted away, and i was light enough to fly.
"Beauty will save the world," Dostoyevsky wrote--an enigmatic sentence, profoundly puzzling. Image, being Image, has adopted it as a slogan of sorts, a proclamation of why they are.
a few weeks ago, two opera singers came to perform. i couldn't afford the concert (even at student rates), but i went to the master class the afternoon before. "Music will save you," one of them said, in answer to a question i have forgotten. She went on (and i paraphrase loosely): "There have been times in my life when people have failed me, when relationships have fallen apart, when I have been given terrible advice about the business aspects of my career. You will have times like this, when everything fails you--but music will never fail you. Music will save you."
at first i thought she was wrong, that she expected more of music than it could ever give . . . but there are many kinds of salvation, many paths of grace. our minds, our hearts, our souls, our imaginations--all need saving, all rebel against ugliness, all seek glimpses of the world as it was meant to be--all struggle with the problem of evil, and stare bewildered at the mystery of beauty.
where legislation and diplomacy fail, where war brings destruction and despair, where grief and abandonment overwhelm--beauty remains to quietly break our hearts, and give us hope.
it really is beautiful today, and has been the past several days . . . sky so blue it hurts, air crisp but not cold, red leaves flaming out among pines.
and of all things in the world that i don't understand, beauty is the top of the list--the strange, wild ache of it, that makes you full and empty at the same time. how is it that you can feel most satisfied while filled with boundless longing?
last week a pianist named Jon Kimura Parker came to perform here, and his playing was like that. he played a Schubert fantasy that took my breath away--i almost wanted him to stop just so i could breathe, but i didn't want the piece to end. i came away feeling a joyful hollowing, like all the heaviness in me had been lifted away, and i was light enough to fly.
"Beauty will save the world," Dostoyevsky wrote--an enigmatic sentence, profoundly puzzling. Image, being Image, has adopted it as a slogan of sorts, a proclamation of why they are.
a few weeks ago, two opera singers came to perform. i couldn't afford the concert (even at student rates), but i went to the master class the afternoon before. "Music will save you," one of them said, in answer to a question i have forgotten. She went on (and i paraphrase loosely): "There have been times in my life when people have failed me, when relationships have fallen apart, when I have been given terrible advice about the business aspects of my career. You will have times like this, when everything fails you--but music will never fail you. Music will save you."
at first i thought she was wrong, that she expected more of music than it could ever give . . . but there are many kinds of salvation, many paths of grace. our minds, our hearts, our souls, our imaginations--all need saving, all rebel against ugliness, all seek glimpses of the world as it was meant to be--all struggle with the problem of evil, and stare bewildered at the mystery of beauty.
where legislation and diplomacy fail, where war brings destruction and despair, where grief and abandonment overwhelm--beauty remains to quietly break our hearts, and give us hope.
posted by erendis nasard at 12:28 PM
5 Comments:
how beautiful!
I know what you mean--autumn colors and music are two of the top on my list of achingly beautiful (ah-ha! maybe this is why we make good friends! ;). I've always liked Lewis' idea that when we love this world the most, when it is the most beautiful, we're seeing a reflection of heaven, and we get homesick. [Hannah's poor paraphrase]
Miss you!
Helen....
stuff I've been thinking too....
but you write it perfectly.
it's like, an editorial. you know, an essay. in a good way.
Glim
The writing of all three other Wileys puts Alice to shame, and she is slightly miffed about it.
But otherwise... I really wanted to here JKM play. He sounds amaaazing. keep me posted on when he's coming back.
Thank you for the reminder, Helen. It is very true....Beauty must save the Beast in all of us. (It's actually my favorite Fairytale)....ahhhh.
Time for a new update. But first go see Stranger Than Fiction. Something towards the end reminded me of Dostoyevsky's quote.
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