Beauty and the Rose

[Guest guest]

How is it that we know anything? Certainly not because the first ready-state

said it was okay. The starkness of our knowing is a mystery, and it has no

reason for its being. Likewise, how is it that mere words convey such meaning?

Certainly not because of the dictates of the chemistry of ink. This semiotics is

a mystery too, it is a stark given that we understand. What words show is

this: that all that is expressive is relative (the assertion); all that is

relative is not yet totality (the assertion's negative); and all that is

expressible

is not relative (fine-tuned unification). This three-ness is as far as we can

take this mystery before it slips away, the spirit returns to source and

leaves meaning in its wake. The felt beauty is our satisfaction in watching the

spirit escape.

 

Christ appeared in the flesh and was shown to be righteous by the Spirit. He

was seen by angels and was announced to the nations. He was believed on in the

world and was taken up into heaven (Timothy 3:16,17).

 

God's wisdom and God's creative works are found in the mere rose, and the

rose is announced to the nations. The rose's subtle beauty is all too obvious.

Its fragrance cannot go unnoticed. Its deeper secret is held tightly when its

young peddles are still unopened. A deep red bundle it is. And its secret is as

much its felt beauty even when the flower opens and releases its charm. Its

sublime beauty remains even as the flower grows old, even as the peddles fall

and the flower is no more. The rose gives way to the second law of

thermodynamics as the spirit escapes.

 

Roses as these are never owned. They remain beautiful even in death, even

when there is nothing to sell, and nothing to take by threat of bodily harm.

Their beauty was in their complete giving of themselves. The stark beauty

remains

even as the rose passes away, a deep secrete that slips away with the rose.

The Holy spirit is found returning (taken up into heaven), and the announcement

that remains is stark as it is beautiful.

 

Greed is said to be ugly, unlike the rose. Greed is uncultivated self-love,

and like the rose we are all given this self-love to cultivate. The challenge

is to cultivate our self-love as well as the rose. Some meet this challenge

better than others. When we are called to perfection the ugliness is nearby, if

we hold onto our love too tightly or not tightly enough. Real beauty is found

in knowing when to let go and knowing when to hold on. It is given that the

spirit will escape our most selfish clutches, even as beauty is left in its

wake.

 

 

I believe Kant (in his " Critique of Judgment " ) also reconnects

design/teleology with sublime beauty. This beauty has as much to do with God's

handy work,

as the spirit returns to source. The spirit returning to source is the basis of

healing, and alternative medicines.

 

Stephen