In the Critique of Judgment Kant describes what it means to say that something is beautiful. He says that the beautiful is a kind of reordering,- through a touching of the supersensible substrate- (beyond the sensible) the feeling of which is what we know as beautiful. It is one way of saying that when we feel beauty, we are touched by god.
For me the examples of beauty I have been privileged to witness are below.
A) Kant says that in human art that which is beautiful is also what is “exemplary”, an example and ideal of the combination of capability, sensibility, and technique, that when experienced produces the feeling of beauty in us. We know this beauty through the work of history’s famous masters, in those celebrated as the world’s finest.
1) The magnificent paintings of Marc Chagall in the Musee National de Marc Chagall- “La Message Biblique”, off of Rue Cimiez in Nice. My favorite is the painting “Abraham and the Three Angels”. It is much larger than appears in books and expresses with awe and reverence the theme of the divine captured through the figures in much of Chagall’s work, and in the use of color in all of his work.
2) The impressionist collection at the Art Institute of Chicago.
3) Itzhak Perlman playing solo at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with Daniel Barenboim conducting. A truly magnificent performance and virtuosity without compare.
4) Yo Yo Ma at Ravinia.
5) The architecture of Helmut Jahn and Frank Geary.
6) The skylines of the cities of Chicago and Seattle.
7) Notre Dame in Paris, Notre Dame in Vieux Montreal, the Rockefeller Chapel at the University of Chicago.
Most of us personally witness these kinds of beauty as “extravagances” and “rarities”. Just as rare are the beauty found in the far away places of nature that we see just as less often.
1) The Dancing fires of the sky that reach to the firmament of the Northern Lights.
2) The spectacular color of the Smokey Mountains in the third week of fall in the drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway from eastern Tennessee to North Carolina, and in the drive from Eastern Tennessee to Ashville North Carolina.
3) The sweep of the bay of angels in Nice. The cliffs of Nice and Ville Franche-Sur-Mer, and the drive on the pas corniche between Ville Franche and Monte Carlo.
4) The iridescent blue of the Caribbean.
5) The spectacular colors of scuba diving off of Cozumel.
Then there is the beauty, now common and accessible to us, brought to us through the miracle of electronic media.
1) A documentary of Picasso showing a demonstrated ability to paint that is beyond belief.
2) Beethoven’s ninth symphony, Tchaikovsky’s 4th symphony, Mahler’s ninth symphony, and the entire soundtrack of the film “Amadeus” containing the music of Mozart.
3) The incomparable acting of Meryl Steep in “Sophie’s Choice”, Julia Roberts in “Erin Brockovich”, Hallie Berry in “Monster’s Ball”, Denzel Washington in “Glory”, Tom Hanks in “Philadelphia”, Shirley McClaine in “Terms of Endearment”, Marlon Brando in “the Godfather”, Al Pacino in “Looking for Richard”, and Charlize Theron in “Monster”, and of course others.
4) The incomparable directing of Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorcese, Francis Ford Coppola, and Sidney Pollack.
8) The literature of Gabriel Garcia-Marquez, Charles Dickens, William Faulkner, Saul Bellow, and Cormac McCarthy. The poetry of Walt Whitman, Robert Frost and Emily Dickinson.
5) The Philosophical constructions of Kant, Hegel, Levinas, and Ricoeur. The Theology of St. Augustine, Jurgen Moltmann, St. Paul, St. John, and Pope John Paul II (The Great)
6) The great singers- too many to mention. For me especially the great female voices which shower down like the voices of angels.
And of course many others brought to us by electronic media.
Deeper and more dear to us is the beauty of nature found in the Areas surrounding places we love. For me the drive on highway J in the Mark Twain national forest, through the ridge valleys that appear to depict the pastoral beauty and tranquility of 100 years ago along highway j.
The drive from Morrisonville in central Illinois, which has the flattest farmland. Because it is almost all farmland, the scene of these drives is always a blanket of color that stretches are far as the eye can see. Green, green, green of the spring through to mid-summer. Golden, golden, golden in the fall. The richest black, black, black after harvest. The shimmering, sparkling and blinding white, white, white when fresh snow covers the fields and the sky has no clouds. For me, and probably most others I know, these beautiful scenes found are the most beautiful places we know, those that can be found near to us, because we are home or are going home.
The most beautiful words to us as Americans are the words of our Declaration of Independence and Constitution, and the writings of Jefferson, Adams, Hamilton and Madison- of the rule of law and nonviolent change through the democratic process- through elections, and legislation.
The most beautiful and profound words I know are the words of Christ and the theology of nonviolent Christian forgiveness in the New Testament of the Bible. To be a follower of Christ, to be a true Christian, means to follow these words in your daily lives and acts- to give the best of yourself in everything you do- with our family, with our work, and with our fellow citizens and neighbors.
The most beautiful thing I have ever experienced, by far, is the smiling face and the presence of someone I love.
The Beauty of the World, and thus the Beauty of God, are right in front of each of us, and are present to each of us, in various ways, and in the most common ways, every single day.
