Why Beauty?
Beauty is an encounter with our living God, because God is beauty Himself. Through beauty, our heart is prompted to respond to the infinite call of our Lover’s voice. Beauty is God’s love letter to our soul.
Beauty is a key to the mystery and a call to transcendence. It is an invitation to savor life and to dream of the future. That is why the beauty of created things can never fully satisfy. It stirs that hidden nostalgia for God which a lover of beauty like Saint Augustine could express in incomparable terms: “Late have I loved you, beauty so old and so new: late have I loved you!” (26)
Letter to Artists, 16
Across the ages, the greatest philosophers and the humblest handmaidens have pondered what it means to “be” human. What are we made of? What am I here for? What is my purpose?
As Christians, we know that our ultimate purpose is to see God face to face and to dwell in the light of His love. And we know that Jesus is the way to God. Jesus invites us to transcendence—to seek what is above and beyond this earthly life, to strive to attain Truth, Beauty, and Goodness. These three are what the church calls “transcendentals,” and they can only fully be found in God himself. Like the relationship between each person of the Trinity, Truth, Beauty, and Goodness are distinct yet inseparable. Where there’s one, you’ll find the others. So, when we experience Beauty, we’re also inexorably drawn into the Truth and Goodness of God, too.
THE NEED FOR BEAUTY IN OUR CULTURE
One problem we face in our culture is that people don’t connect the beauty they encounter with God. Beauty is often misinterpreted as simply an appeal to the senses instead of an encounter with God Himself.
“This world—they said—in which we live needs beauty in order not to sink into despair. Beauty, like truth, brings joy to the human heart and is that precious fruit which resists the erosion of time, which unites generations and enables them to be one in admiration! (19)”
Letter to Artists, 11
When we no longer encounter the presence of Christ through beauty, our senses grow dim, and we trade the richness of the depths for the unsatisfying pleasures of the surface. We risk twisting true beauty—that encounter with something beyond ourselves—into a superficial experience that cannot help but leave us hungering for more. True beauty goes beyond the senses.
“Beauty itself cannot be reduced to simple pleasure of the senses: this would be to deprive it of its universality, its supreme value, which is transcendent. Perception requires an education, for beauty is only authentic in its link to the truth—of what would brilliance be, if not truth? — and it is at the same time ‘the visible expression of the good, just as the good is the metaphysical expression of beauty.’”
Via Pulchritudinis, 6
Why Creativity?
God is the ultimate Creator. Since we are made in His image and likeness, we have a natural capacity to craft. Our creativity has meaning and purpose. Through his “artistic creativity” man appears more than ever “in the image of God” (Letter to Artists, 1).
God is the only one who can create something out of nothing. However, God made us with the ability to craft, which means we can take materials that already exist and make them into something else. We desire to invite God into our creative process and pray that we can be restored to reflect His image and likeness through the work we do.
“The opening page of the Bible presents God as a kind of exemplar of everyone who produces a work: the human craftsman mirrors the image of God as Creator. This relationship is particularly clear in the Polish language because of the lexical link between the words stwórca (creator) and twórca (craftsman).
What is the difference between “creator” and “craftsman”? The one who creates bestows being itself, he brings something out of nothing—ex nihilo sui et subiecti, as the Latin puts it—and this, in the strict sense, is a mode of operation which belongs to the Almighty alone. The craftsman, by contrast, uses something that already exists, to which he gives form and meaning. This is the mode of operation peculiar to man as made in the image of God. In fact, after saying that God created man and woman “in his image” (cf. Gn 1:27), the Bible adds that he entrusted to them the task of dominating the earth (cf. Gn 1:28). This was the last day of creation (cf. Gn 1:28-31). On the previous days, marking as it were the rhythm of the birth of the cosmos, Yahweh had created the universe. Finally he created the human being, the noblest fruit of his design, to whom he subjected the visible world as a vast field in which human inventiveness might assert itself.
God therefore called man into existence, committing to him the craftsman's task. Through his “artistic creativity” man appears more than ever “in the image of God”, and he accomplishes this task above all in shaping the wondrous “material” of his own humanity and then exercising creative dominion over the universe which surrounds him. With loving regard, the divine Artist passes on to the human artist a spark of his own surpassing wisdom, calling him to share in his creative power.”
Letter to Artists, Section 1
The creative work we do can help bridge the gap between the visible and invisible. It can draw others closer to God. The Incarnation—when Jesus became man—helps make it possible for art and other creative works to evoke a deeper contemplation of God.
“Incarnation: if the Son of God had come into the world of visible realities—his humanity building a bridge between the visible and the invisible— then, by analogy, a representation of the mystery could be used, within the logic of signs, as a sensory evocation of the mystery. The icon is venerated not for its own sake, but points beyond to the subject which it represents.” (13)
Letter to Artists, Section 7
Why “Stirred to Wonder”?
Stirred to Wonder aims to help us witness to the dignity and redemption of the beauty found in our everyday lives, in our creative practices, and in our relationships with the Lord and others. Through our creative works, we will encounter God in beauty, and through encountering God in beauty, we will be inspired to create! We created Stirred to Wonder in an effort to help women to “savor life and to dream of the future,” as JPII describes.
We hope to facilitate space for reflection and growth so that you may…
perceive God’s presence more clearly in your life;
explore the natural postures your heart moves through when you encounter God through beauty;
harmonize body and soul through spiritual and creative prompts that allow us to experience God through craftsmanship;
and develop routines to help you respond to God’s invitation for encounter more consistently.
In short, Stirred to Wonder is a tool to help women more fully enter into the creative mystery and beauty, truth, and goodness of God.
UP NEXT: Stirred to Wonder is grounded in Church teaching. Click here to read more about which specific documents helped guide us.