Saved By Beauty

“The world will be saved by beauty” Fyodor Dostoevsky

I read this quote in a book about the life of Dorothy Day . I understand it was her favorite quote. Although, I have not concluded reading this book, I can say from what I have read, she was truly a very special person. What stands out so far for me about her, is her burning heart of action for those that were marginalized in society. She was a woman of words (she was a journalist and author) but she also was a woman of action. She was a social justice advocate and political radical for change to the systems that enslave others. She paid for it, though, with beatings and jail time, but she persevered. I would say she lead a “beautiful life”. Her beauty was deep.

I was thinking about beauty and how we use the word in our language.  The first image I get when I hear the word, is the beauty we find in nature (like this photo at the top of this blog, from Costa Rica). As I mentioned, in the past, walking the Camino de Santiago, we enjoyed a lot of beautiful sunrises, as we walked across Spain (we had to get up before dawn many times to assure we could make our day’s destination). A beautiful sunrise or sunset can do wonders for us, it lifts our spirits and we feel instantly better in almost every case. It is something innate in all of us, I believe.

So, if I think of beauty in this way, something that lifts our spirits and makes us and others feel better, then maybe beauty can indeed save the world. I know there was an amazing beauty in Dorothy Day’s life. She lifted the spirits of those that were downtrodden in society and she was a strong advocate for changes to the “systems” that pushed them and kept them down. She was beauty.

We see beauty all around us in those caring for others who just need a little help. We can be beauty in how we treat each other. We can lift the spirits of others by what we say and do. We can be beauty, too!

Blessings and all good,

John

Photograph of the Week

The World will be Saved by Beauty

Ok, so I saved my best for the last, this photograph is from a sunset in Tamarindo, Costa Rica. A true beauty!

 

Listening to our Inner Life

“One of the elements of what makes a person extraordinary, I have come to believe, is when their inner and outer lives are in accord.”

This quote is from a book I am reading on the life of Dorothy Day, written by her granddaughter. The quote seemed to catch my eye and I wrote it down as it seemed like something that I wanted to think about more. A short while later while on our airplane ride to Costa Rica, I had a chance to watch the movie “Wonder Woman”, that was released last year. It is amazing to me, how often I will have a new insight or understanding come to me several times in different ways, usually near in time to each other.

That is why I titled my blog this week, “Listening to our Inner Life”. It is important to take the time in our busy lives to “ponder” and and “think more deeply”. This as I have said, is the one of the greatest benefits that Terri and I found in walking the Camino de Santiago. Lots of time for thinking more deeply.

Getting back to the Wonder Women movie, though, the insight I had was how Wonder Women  was a true heroine and did extraordinary deeds because she was true to herself in that she did not let the dangers she faced or the opposition and ridicule she encountered keep her from living out her purpose that she was created for in the first place. I believe that when we are living out of our deep inner purpose, we indeed can do extraordinary things.

We have been made for a purpose and we are on a journey in our lives to undercover it so that we can align our “inner and outer lives” and do great things. I leave you with another quote from a book called “Perfectly Yourself (discovering God’s dream for you) by Matthew Kelly. It is a good one for us to think about.

“We can become so preoccupied with what we have and we do we lose sight of who we are and what we are becoming.” 

Blessings and all good,

John

P.S. The image at the top of the blog was created from a photograph I took on a beach walk in Tamarindo, Costa Rica. I loved the heart shape of the rock formation I found and thought it was perfect for this blog article.

Photograph of the Week

Patterns of Nature

Ok, I know that my last blog “Photograph of the Week” was of trees but they are so darn much fun for me to photograph. My eye goes to them all the time. This is from a tree in Costa Rica. Costa Rica had some awesome trees!