A Brighter Future
Chromolithograph: E. L. Trouvelot, "The zodical light." Observed February 20, 1876. From New York Public Library's Digital Gallery.
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ARCS
Illustration: Hubert von Herkomer "Beauty's Altar" 1900
"Now, what is beauty? This is one of the most fundamental questions, it is not superficial, so don’t brush it aside. To understand what beauty is, to have that sense of goodness which comes when the mind and heart are in communion with something lovely without any hindrance so that one feels completely at ease - surely, this has great significance in life; and until we know this response to beauty our lives will be very shallow. One may be surrounded by great beauty, by mountains and fields and rivers, but unless one is alive to it all one might just as well be dead."
—J. Krishnamurti, Think On These Things
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Painting: John William Godward (1861-1922), The Tambourine Girl, Oil on canvas. c. 1906.
"As we meditate, we experience some tranquillity, a measure of calm in which the mind has slowed down. When we look at something like a flower with a calm mind, we are looking at it as it is. When there is no grasping — nothing to gain or get rid of — then if what we see, hear or experience through the senses is beautiful, it is truly beautiful. We are not criticising it, comparing it, trying to possess or own it; we find delight and joy in the beauty around us because there is no need to make anything out of it. It is exactly what it is.
Beauty reminds us of purity, truth and ultimate beauty. We should not see it as a lure to delude us: ‘These flowers are here just to attract me so I’ll get deluded by them’ — that’s the attitude of the old meditating grump! When we look at a member of the opposite sex with a pure heart, we appreciate the beauty without desire for some kind of contact or possession. We can delight in the beauty of other people, both men and women, when there is no selfish interest or desire. There is honesty; things are what they are."
—Ajahn Sumedho.
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Photograph:Leni Riefenstahl’s “Dance to the Sea” in The Holy Mountain (1926, dir. Arnold Fanck)
"Then it was as if I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts, the depths of their hearts where neither sin nor desire nor self-knowledge can reach, the core of their reality, the person that each one is in God's eyes. If only they could see themselves as they really are. If only we could see each other that way all the time, there would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed... I suppose the big problem would be that we would fall down and worship each other."
—Thomas Merton
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Photograph: Brian English, Bodhi Leaf. Brian English is an acclaimed photographer who has worked with Robert Mapplethorpe, Richard Avedon, Horst P. Horst, Annie Liebowitz, Herb Ritts, and others. He currently works as an Arts Adminisitrator at the Herb Ritts Foundation in Los Angeles, and continues to create and exhibit his photographs. For more information, visit www.brianenglishart.com. Visit parabola.org for an exclusive photoset by English, if you haven't already.
The Meaning of Existence
Everything except language
knows the meaning of existence.
Trees, planets, rivers, time
know nothing else. They express it
moment by moment as the universe.
Even this fool of a body
lives it in part, and would
have full dignity within it
but for the ignorant freedom
of my talking mind.
- Les Murray
Thank you to Whiskey River..
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