by Joseph Stoutzenberger
Those of us watching the news this August 2023 are seeing images of what was once the beautiful, lush, verdant Maui Island of Hawaii, now devasted by wildfires sparked by unusually dry conditions. We have also been constantly viewing beautiful people and places in Ukraine being destroyed, such as the magnificent Transfiguration Cathedral in Odesa or a theatre filled mostly with children. I am also struck by how the United States side of the Rio Grande River is now laid waste. Natural habitat has been replaced by a stretch of land devoid of vegetation and replaced with razor wire and unsightly fences.
The Bible begins by proclaiming that the created world is good, another way of saying that it is beautiful. The Psalms often sing of the beauty of the natural world, and St. Francis of Assisi wrote a song praising the beauties of creation. The bible’s Song of Songs also called the Song of Solomon, is a love poem filled with an appreciation for the beauty of the natural world and of the author’s beloved. “You are beautiful as Tirzah, my beloved, comely as Jerusalem…Turn away your eyes from me, for they overwhelm me!”
Jesus says nothing about beauty in the gospels. He does speak favorably of creatures of nature—birds of the air and beloved sheep. Jesus does have much to say about goodness, which is clearly an expression of beauty. Perhaps changing a few words would express his understanding of the two concepts. In the Beatitudes, instead of “blessed,” substitute “beauty.” “How beautiful are the peacemakers; theirs is the kingdom of God.” Matthew’s Last Judgment description contrasts that which is beautiful with that which is unsightly: “Whenever you give food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, and visit the sick, you create beauty.” Especially in the beatitudes, the beauty that Jesus proposes is not so much “doing for” as it is “standing with” the other. Our experience of beauty is always enhanced when we can see through another’s eyes, such as through the eyes of a child.
Studies have shown that spending time in nature inevitably uplifts our spirit. Even surrounding ourselves when indoors with scenes of sunsets and trees has a positive effect on our mood. Each season and every environment has its beauty. If we don’t appreciate the beauty of a sunset or a gentle stream flowing through a pristine forest, our lives will be greatly diminished. A barren landscape leads to a barren spirit. No amount of screen time can match the wonder and beauty of the natural world.
The link between beauty and goodness found in the bible has been shown to be scientifically observable. Today it is called “moral beauty.” Dacher Kaltner, the founder of the Greater Good Science Center at Berkeley, led a team surveying people’s experiences of awe from many different cultures. They found that: “Around the world, we are most likely to feel awe when moved by moral beauty: exceptional virtue, character, and ability, marked by a purity and goodness of intention and action.” An experience of moral beauty results in a sense of unity and connection with that which is greater, what we would call “awe,” but it also leads to a desire to want to be a better person ourselves. Moral beauty is contagious.
Dorothy Day, echoing her favorite author Dostoevsky, said, “The world will be saved by beauty.” Both Day and her Russian novelist linked beauty with goodness. She found beauty in the run-down Bowery section of New York City, transformed because she was engaged in serving meals to homeless people in the neighborhood. Her Catholic Worker House created an aura of beauty—moral beauty, where many would see only repellant shabbiness. St. Augustine observed that the beauty we see around us, which is finite, is a reflection of beauty itself, which is God. We are likely familiar with equating God with the good. To experience beauty as a way to God is not a separate pathway from the way of goodness. That sunset we see, and the life we live are more beautiful when shared. Spurred on by such feelings of awe, our acts of kindness become beauty passed along. Only beauty will save the world.
Joseph Stoutzenberger 