Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Thoughts on Beauty

Religious traditions believe that to behold the form of God would cause a person to go insane or simply die, because the human mind cannot comprehend something so complex and awesome.

Perhaps there really is a little bit of God in the world. Standing on a streetcorner, watching my fellow people go about their business, listening to a street musician play, and trying to comprehend all of what is good around me, it strikes me that the world is full of a terrible kind of beauty. It is the kind of strength and goodwill and powerful force beyond comprehension that, when I try to fully set my mind to the task of understanding it, threatens to consume and destroy me, and overwhelm me with its magnitude.

And that is a good thing.

1 comment:

Roger Whitson said...

have you gone insane yet? Just start looking at the clouds like they are indicators of this "terrible beauty" of yours.

what is that Yeats? "a terrible beauty is born?"