Firstly, we must
respect all human life (those who are rich and those who are poor) because just
like the rich build our society the poor teach our society. Secondly, the quote
points to a central theme within humanity; the struggle and tension between
physical and spiritual beauty in the midst of suffering. In the midst of trial
and suffering how can one see beauty clearly? Beauty is a path leading to the
truth but the modern world is disfigured and trapped in darkness. How can we
overcome this train of thought? Authentic beauty unlocks the desire of the
heart, the craving to know, to love, to unite with others and to reach beyond
our capabilities. If we acknowledge that beauty touches us closely, that it
sores us, that it has the ability to open our eyes, then we rediscover the joy
of seeing and most importantly to grasp the profound meaning of our existence.
This is portrayed in the life of the idiot. The saving power of beauty could
not overcome his sickness, but nonetheless illumined his vision, “What matter
though it be only disease, an abnormal tension of the brain, if when I recall
and analyze the moment, it seems to have been one of harmony and beauty in the
highest degree-an instant of deepest sensation, overflowing with unbound joy
and rapture, ecstatic devotion, and completest life?” In the midst of his
suffering, he saw, in a paradoxical manner, the heart of reality.
The fight for beauty is
a battle of the soul and is linked to the crisis of faith. Dostoevsky indicated
this tension in his epic, The Brothers
Karamazov, “The awful thing is that beauty is mysterious as well as
terrible. God and the devil are fighting there and the battlefield is the heart
of man”. What looks beautiful might not be beautiful, and what seems terrible,
such as a dead body, may show true beauty. Dostoevsky manifests this tension by
placing the idiot in the midst of his suffering and insanity to speak the line,
“Beauty will save the world”. Beauty is understood only in paradox. How can we
see beauty in that which is good? We won’t appreciate beauty if we see it in
good actions. However, when we encounter suffering or maybe death, it is at
those moments that we begin to appreciate and clearly see beauty. As an
individual dies we remember all the good moments and events he or she enjoyed
when they were alive. Beauty that begins to develop from the deepest and
darkest point of the heart is the starting point of authentic beauty.
For good or bad, beauty
has power. This power is not found in materialism and secularism but rather it
is a power that illumines the path toward truth and goodness. If beauty does
not point toward the truth and the good, it becomes divorced from our beings.
It becomes a darkness, which makes human beings turn on each other. The Idiot demonstrates this when he
said, “Such beauty is real power…with such beauty as that one might overthrow
the world”. This beauty can be found in every simple act done with our fellow
human. From eating a meal to talking to the stranger on the bus, beauty has the
power to save humanity from utter destruction. When beauty sheds its light in
the right direction, it saves the world, not overthrow it. It is in suffering
that we find joy. The realism of suffering is scandalous (Christ on the cross),
but suffering represents itself as an opportunity (Christ rose from the dead).
We must learn to work with each other to overcome the darkness imposed by the
deceptive beauty the world throws our way (materialism etc). In contemplating
the suffering of Christ, in particular, we see a beauty which starts with
Christ taking on our fallen nature and overcame the darkness. Christ suffering
leads to the resurrection, a resurrection not done as a selfish act but rather
as a redemptive one. This explains why the icon of the resurrection is always
showing Christ rising from the dead holding in his hands Adam and Eve. It is a
challenging beauty, but a powerful one-with power to transform our own
suffering and lack of beauty. It is a beauty that scares us and makes us
vulnerable and ultimately is the same beauty that will save the world.
Dostoevsky was a
Christian philosopher, and a person who contemplated the mystery of man. Even
as a religious individual he allowed himself to grow as a free-thinker and a
powerful artist. Being a religious man, a free-thinker and an artist were not
differentiated in him and did not exclude one another, but penetrated all his
thoughts and works. In his beliefs, he never separated truth from good and
beauty. In his artistic creativity he never placed beauty apart from good
and the truth. I agree with how Dostoevsky intertwined these three topics
because these three lived only in unity with each other. If we separate the
good, truth and beauty, they all become an indistinct feeling, a powerless
surge; truth becomes empty words; beauty and good become nothing more than a
mere idol. These three, understood in unity, form one absolute idea. The human
body, having been revealed and become God, fitting into itself all aspects of
Christ-becomes the greatest good, the highest truth, and perfect beauty. If
Christ is understood as the perfect human, the one who personifies all that
is good, beautiful and true, then we are called to live and to be held in the
same standard as Christ. Truth is good, perceived by the human mind; beauty is
the same good and the same truth expressed in living form. The full expression,
the end, the ultimate goal, and being united to God-already exist's in
everything. This is why Dostoevsky said that beauty will save the world. The
world and life comes in full circle to its creator. If beauty saves the
world then all that is beautiful and good is expressed in truth through humanity.
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