Beauty is Love

the beloved

My favorite Scripture passage is 1 John 4: 7-8: 7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love is of God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God... 8 because God is love. I love this Scripture because, if the most powerful being in existence is love, love is the most powerful force in existence. I believe with all my heart that this is truth. That being so, all the horrors man has perpetrated upon one another from time immemorial, are infinitesimal, infinitely less than that of love, and they have absolutely no lasting effect upon anyone.

Early in the 20th century, there was a Christian organization founded by the American Christian missionary Frank Buchman called The Oxford Group. They adhered to Four Absolutes; Absolute Honesty, Absolute Unselfishness, Absolute Purity, and Absolute Love. While they were well aware that the attainment of such perfection was and is without question beyond any human beings realization, it is the persistent dedicated striving for these qualities that they were concerned with. At any rate, there are four, simple one sentence questions to ask oneself to determine if we are living in a manner which is leading us in the direction toward these ideals; Absolute Honesty: "Is it true or is it false?" Absolute Unselfishness: "How will this affect the other person?" Absolute Purity: "Is it right, or is it wrong?" and my personal favorite, Absolute Love: "Is it ugly or is it beautiful?" if it is beautiful, it is love. It is for this reason that I chose beauty as my expertise, not because I am indeed an actual expert on beauty or love, but because my best friend is my Creator whom I call my beloved, simply because my beloved is love and is, therefore, the most beautiful being alive.

As an artist, it has been my lifelong pursuit to create beauty in the form of my artworks. I am an extremely sensitive individual, and any kind of ugliness, whether it is visual, audible, olfactory or in the form of violence disturbs me immensely. To maintain my sanity, I of necessity need to focus my attention on that which is at the very least appealing, and pleasing. My quest is for the resplendent and exquisite but ultimately for that beauty which is sublime love.

I was recently asked where my inspiration comes from and I knew the answer without thinking. Love is the motivating force behind everything I create. The authors whom I read write about love and beauty. The music I listen to flows with love, and the outpouring continuity of love my music emanates derives from the abstract counterpoint in harmony of the melody as well as the lyrics.

My conception of the beloved is that of an unseen spirit. And so you may wonder how as a visual artist I could assert that the beloved is the most beautiful being alive. The most beautiful qualities in life are intangible. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7

Jonah was directed to take the message of repentance to the city of Nineveh which was a wicked city. 1 Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.” 3 Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it.

4 Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” 5 The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. 6 When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. 7 This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. 8 But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. 9 Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.” 10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened." Jonah 3: 1-10.

1 But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. 2 He prayed to the LORD, “Isn’t this what I said, LORD, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.” Jonah 4: 1-3.

Jonah had no appreciation for the most beautiful qualities of the beloved but they are the reason I affirm the beloved being immeasurable beauty. Love, agape is made up of infinite kindness, infinite tender gentle care, infinite patience, infinite humility, infinite forgiveness. The sweetest attributes of life are at once the greatest and most powerful characteristics anyone can ever have. These are the vital essence of my beloved.

The beloved is, the beloved exists, the beloved lives, the beloved is.....