FAITH & THOUGHT
Saved by beauty
Some time ago I came upon a talk by Pope Benedict XVI that dealt with beauty as a way to God. Several courses that I teach deal with the meaning and experience of beauty. In one course,“The Problem of God,” after dealing with traditional proofs for God we read and discuss the most influential 19th-and 20th-century atheists. Then we discuss some new ways of thinking about God including to think of God as Ultimate Beauty.
I was pleased to see that some of the points that I make in class about beauty the Holy Father also made. After mentioning that the Lord offers us many occasions to remember Him, Pope Benedict says that he wishes “to consider briefly one of these channels that can lead us to God and also be helpful in our encounter with Him: the way of artistic expression, part of that ‘via pulchritudinis’—‘the way of beauty’ — of which I have spoken many times, and which modern man should recover in its most profound meaning.”
In trying to grasp how earthly beauty can speak to us of God I find it helpful to recall the vision of St. Thomas Aquinas. We often say that God created us from nothing. It is more accurate to say that God is creating us from nothing. I cannot write these words except that God is creating me at this very moment. God can not create anything that does not resemble God in some way. Everything that God creates is good and beautiful. God cannot create anything that in no way is beautiful. This means that if we have the ability to see the traces of God in God’s creation, then we are surrounded by beings that are beautiful.
Pope Benedict appeals to our experience of works of art and suggests that through art we may have experienced something that “speaks” to us on a deeper level. I suspect that all of us have had this experience. Watching a Shakespearean play, listening to a piece of music by Mozart, viewing a painting by El Greco or watching a great film — all of these experiences mysteriously can give us a sense of something far greater than the material components of the artistic work.
Pope Benedict also said the following: “Art has the capacity to express and to make visible man’s need to go beyond what he sees; it manifests his thirst and his search for the infinite. In fact, it is like a door opened to the infinite — to a beauty and a truth that goes beyond the everyday. And a work of art can open the eyes of the mind and heart, carrying them higher.”
Lately I have been doing quite a bit of reading about why religion has no appeal to many people today. An idea that keeps reappearing is that people have to be helped to ask important questions about what their life means. I agree that people should be encouraged to reflect deeply about their lives and about what values they embrace. Could great art help people focus on what is important? Pope Benedict seems to think that it can.
I agree but I know that art does not supply a “quick fix.” Patience is required and it may not be easy to evaluate the impact of great art on people’s lives.
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