Insist on Beauty as a Human Calling

So many websites and videos have come my way online in the last couple of days, and they are congealing into something. A friend shared an interview with poet John O'Donohue, described as a philosopher who "insisted on beauty as a human calling." That phrase grabbed my mind. 

You'd expect a poet to fervently defend such a concept. But why would anyone have to insist that beauty is a human calling? Shouldn't that be a given? Is it because we long ago accepted the adage, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder"? How can a poet embrace beauty as his life's calling when everyone's definition of beauty will be different? (This interview is well worth reading. O'Donohue's focus on the inner human landscape is one I plan to ponder.)

Another friend sent me a link to Nature 365, a site that posts a gorgeous video from nature each day. (Please click over and watch a couple of their brief videos!) Does it show my fragility that I long to view a calming video of nature each day? That I need to look at it all day, out my window? In today's ugly world, is beauty a salve? A distraction? An opiate? A dream of eternity? 

Our world seems to be engaging in and entertained with the ugly, more and more -- ugly behavior, ugly relationships, ugly words, ugly gestures, ugly news. When did we give up on beauty and decide, "It's no use. Ugly is winning"?

To be more specific, here's an excellent video by Keith Getty, church musician. I don't know much about the Gettys, and haven't used their music, but his message here is compelling -- we should be careful what we sing in worship, careful to sing of the beautiful, careful that we teach our children of the beautiful. The world will instruct them completely in the ugly. He describes Cecil Francis Alexander, poet and hymn-writer.  Dissatisfied with what children were singing in church, she set out to write songs for children herself, and gave us "All Things Bright And Beautiful" and "Once in Royal David's City." 

The fourth site I enjoyed this morning was an interview with Susan Wise Bauer, my favorite modern educator. Among other things, she emphasizes a parent's crucial role to constantly remind her children that the negative voices -- the words that tell them they're not good enough, they can't do it, they should doubt themselves -- are not the voices they should listen to. Those negative words are not the true inner voice. We can't block those voices, but we can recognize them for what they are. In other words, recognize the ugly voices inside us, and instead give more volume to the beautiful ones. This wisdom from Bauer touched me deeply because this is parenting that I can still do, in fact I can do it more, with adult children. They need to hear it as much now as they did ten years ago -- you are beautiful, God loves you, I love you, pursue what is beautiful in your life, pursue kindness and goodness, believe in yourself and your gifts, don't give in to the ugly. 

This is a human calling, and it's no surprise that the poets, when everyone else has forgotten, are the ones to remind us of it.

Even in July

Even in July I feel it coming

like the evening storm

you smell at morning,

a heavy waiting in the air

until the gray clouds

nibble into the western sky
at last.

Like the souring of a love affair

before anything’s gone wrong –

One feels one’s heart drift,

something’s changed.

Like the fluttering in the stomach

that's probably nerves,

but might be a baby.

How could something so important

be so small?

Even in July I smell you, Autumn,

my old friend, beloved season,

I’ve been waiting for you.

Oriental, NC

July 23, 2015

Mimosa at Sunset

These photos were taken at the marina. The mimosa trees are on the wane now, but they shimmered in the sunset's rays and the strong south wind.

Fall to Spring

Old magnolia leaves

Fresh dandelion blooms

A certain childishness in us loves to pick Nature's littlest pieces, examine, rip, dissect, keep them. The magnolia leaves look like aged skin. Yesterday Julia traced the veins on the tops of my hands, noting how they wiggle and slide around. "Does it hurt?" she asked. I remember doing the same to my mother's hands while sitting in church. I remember her magnolia skin when she was my age. The dandelions, however, are new like eyelashes, like cheerleader pompoms, like little-girl tutus ready for their stage.

Signs of Spring

When the trees begin doing this, I feel safe to commit my heart to springtime.

My neighbor has a lovely patch of pansies planted where some old pine trunks were removed.

This very moment, the ornamental pear trees are bursting in clouds of white.

The prettiest place by far for pear trees is Fulcher's Horse Farm, near Oriental.

Isn't it stunning?

It really looks like something from a movie set. Tara? The Ponderosa?

I've shared these trees before in the autumn when they turn vibrant purple/red.

And here's a slice of Neuse sky for you ~

Twice a Day, for your Health

To keep His children mentally healthy, God gives them something beautiful twice daily, just like medicine. Sunrise for the morning children. Sunset for the evening children.
We five (three humans, two doggies) went for a late walk down our street to the Wildlife Ramp (public access to the water). It was just sunset.

sunset clouds through pecan trees

Julia does a good job of wearing the dogs out with running.

I took a couple of cloud-and-water shots.

Then I walked out to one of the floating docks in Smith Creek. Adam was studying the sky. Tomorrow afternoon he begins his weekly Naked-Eye Astronomy sky-gazing classes with his students. He's teaching the class through the local community college. He was looking for the new moon and Venus and Mercury.
And I saw the river marker -- you can spot it in the middle of this photo, far away.

A pelican was perched atop it.

He was lovely against the sky, a figure in black against striations of cloud and shadow.

He posed for me in spite of barking dogs and squealing girl.

The pretty clouds obscured both the moon and the planets, so we turned to go. The opposite sky lay pink and subdued.

Along the walk home I noticed a flowering quince.

(My macro setting stinks.)

And the very first forsythia -

Our camellia is going gang-busters, of course. It's a winter bloomer.

Not wanting to discourage all of you still basking in your snow and skis and ice. This is just how coastal Carolina is :) Remind me of it in the middle of Mosquito Season!