How do we most often engage beauty? We gaze upon it, engaging ourselves as closely as we can to its beauty. Despite our affections, the things that we call most beautiful often cannot engage us. Does a sunset ever turn to gaze upon you? Does the Grand Canyon take notice of your presence?
“We have been mere spectators. Beauty has smiled, but not to welcome us; her face was turned in our direction, but not to see us.” [C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory]
Our desire for beauty can lead us to the ends of the earth to find what we may call truly beautiful. It may take us to the ends of ourselves, exhausting our souls in the pursuit of what is truly beautiful and all-satisfying. The end is this: if we do not find something that also engages us, our most treasured ‘beauty’ will fade, if not in itself, then in our perception of it.
Put this to the test: Every sunset fades to darkness. The beauty of the Grand Canyon will fade in our perception the longer we gaze upon it. We are always hungry and searching for more. What thing has left you all-satisfied? I believe that the answer to this question must be something that can also be satisfied in you.
A wondrous quality of life is that it’s deeply engaging. From a baby’s first cry to a person’s final words, life is reaching out to other life. People inflict great joy upon those around them. They also inflict great pain. The path of every life will be greatly shaped by their interactions and perceptions of other people. This is a beautiful thing, but it is not all-satisfying. Each failure and flaw we see in ourselves and others leaves us wondering what could right those wrongs. We may spend our lives desperately searching to bring change, be change, or ignore the weaknesses. Still, there is so much pain and suffering in the world.
Some may argue that knowledge and its pursuit is a satisfying and worthy endeavor. Ultimately it is not all-satisfying because knowledge and truth has a strange quality of being rejected even when it is offered innocently. Galileo was accused a heretic for his belief and defense of heliocentricity (the state of the sun being the center of this solar system, around which all the planets revolve). Certainly he was not all-satisfied by his discovery in light of the oppression and punishment it bore him. Neither could his objectors be all-satisfied with their zealous objection because it was proved false!
As for the noble pursuit of knowledge, that road is found to be less than all-satisfying, as it is populated by many challenges and discouragements. Consider philosophy, the observational and contemplative pursuit of truth and knowledge. Looking inward and outward, the philosopher must scrutinize and provoke what he already knows intrinsically. What will he find? Amidst the fond and pleasurable thoughts will also lay the realization that every evil act of man must be rooted in something deeper than mere conduct. Behind every action lies a motive and those motives are what show us our deepest desires. To know that there is evil in the heart of man is a discouraging thing if our pursuit of knowledge is an end to itself. How can we be all-satisfied with ourselves if we learn that we are also victim to less than virtuous motives? One must either accept the ‘burden’ of knowledge, or trade his pursuit for more trivial things, or pursue to reconcile every evil with something that is truly all-satisfying.
By examining the created beauty and the human state, it seems that anything all-satisfying must have at least two important qualities to it. It must first be able to engage us as we engage it. It also must be able to reconcile our faults, so we may be found guiltless in its sight. Imagine you are a lowly criminal standing in the presence of a king who has just pardoned you of all guilt so that you may join him at his dining table. That is a beautiful scene!
True beauty is found in the Creator, who gives and sustains life to all creation. This Creator is all-satisfied by expressing and making known the weight of all His glory. We are found to be truly beautiful and all-satisfied in Him alone. In the arms of His love and mercy we are told that we were created to live wholly satisfied lives in His presence. In the grip of His grace He makes us whole again, righting us of every wrong. “Come now, let’s settle this,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them white as snow.”
This is an impossible thing to grasp in its fullness, at least as long as we may be sustained on earth. “I still have many things to reveal to you,” Jesus says to His disciples, “but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”
All that is the Father’s is the Son’s, is the Spirit’s, is ours also. By the Spirit, we learn of the Son, who is the image of the Father. This is the all-satisfying beauty!
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