Email Post to a Friend: ahavafriend

Send Email

A Thirst for Beauty

I've been thinking lately about the concept of beauty. This theme recycles through my mind quite often throughout my day as I stock shelves at Costplus World Market. Yes, there are a lot of "things" that are beautiful in the store. But my thought is more on the universal "appetite" for beautiful things and how it influences us. Both genders are infected with this thirst for "pretty things", if I can use a more feminine descriptor, here. For example:

A woman may be seduced by a silver trinket or piece of jewelry just as much as a man is captivated by chrome trim on a car or a titanium-plated anything.A woman can find the deep red of a lipstick or evening gown just as tempting as a man finds a candy-apple red Corvette or a woman in a red evening gown.A woman can be drawn to the azure blue of a glass vase full of Irises or the relaxing waters of an island vacation just as much as a man can be mesmerized by a true blue silk tie or the stunning sparkle of a woman's blue eyes.
Whether we choose to possess such things by staring long, taking a picture, touching the shiny object, or actually shelling out some cold, hard cash, both men and women have this "curiosity" to find beauty and hold on to it. So we collect jewelry, ties, vases, or pictures. Some of us hunt for the perfect vacation spot, the best car, or the most beautiful woman; trying out a few along the way.

Having my hands unwrap and display dozens of beautiful things each day, and refraining from buying any of them, has me pondering the purpose of beauty; or, even more accurately, the purpose of our appetite for beauty. Yes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. There are many "ugly" things that I run across each day. But people buy them - and lots of them. For each of us there is this thing inside that says "That's beautiful. I want it." Maybe it's the design, the color scheme, the texture, the pattern, the combination of all of these, or even the creative function of the object that makes it attractive. Regardless, our senses tell us it is beautiful. So what is the purpose of this reaction?

My premature thoughts at this point have seemed to hover on the concept of the ethereal nature of it all. Mother of Pearl, chrome, slate, black sand, flower petals, shades of light, cloud formations; the list could go on ad infinitum. All of these substances, and the human ability to combine them in exponentially more beautiful things, reflects a characteristic of Nature that we are drawn to. But in their natural forms, all of these things are fading or impossible to "freeze in time." For example, I can take a jar of sand from the most beautiful beach in the world and put it on my shelf at home. But this can never recreate the experience of lying on that beach and watching the sunset on the final night of my honeymoon.

And at a deeper level, the diversity and complexity and simplicity (yes, both in the same object at the same time - like the luminescent skin/tentacles of a jellyfish captured in the previous video) of creation displays the vast breadth and depth of a creator that was intended to be discovered and marvelled at. To delight in a sunset or precious stone; to stand in awe at a bird or doe or whale is, in many ways, one of the most primal senses we have been given.

One does not need to be taught what beauty is. Although, you may have to teach someone to sit still long enough or quiet enough to see it. But a boy will always pick up a shiny penny or glass marble found on a sidewalk, even to his hurried mother's dismay. He will pick a handful of the most delicate, beautiful, round flowers he's ever seen, for his mother: those white pre-dandelions. A girl will chase a butterfly or try to capture a rainbow or stand in a mirror for hours playing dress-up, even "stealing" her mother's makeup if she can. And this hunt to satisfy a thirst for beauty only grows with the man/woman.

I think this longing for natural beauty can be eclipsed by or mistaken for a Hollywood image. But at the core, there is this more foundational/creational hunger to meet with God, like looking over His shoulder while he paints a sunset, or finding a buried treasure that he hid for us to discover. And when we find it, or when we see it, we see the fingerprints of the One who shaped us as well. Simply, I believe the reason for our appetite to consume/possess beauty comes from the fact that God created beautiful things. And when we find it, it is like finding Him. And only when we leave this material world will be be able to hold this ethereal substance.