CREATING and BEAUTY go well together. I was astonished to surf the Internet, seeking others who are interested in creating beauty in this world, because I discovered that most websites were concerned about plastic surgery or selling garden seeds, when discussing creating beauty. there was little about making the effort to create beauty for the world from ther inner self. Emily Dickinson wrote:
(I Died For Beauty)
I died for beauty, but was scarce
Adjusted in the tomb,
When one who died for truth was lain
In an adjoining room.
He questioned softly why I failed?
"For beauty," I replied.
"And I for truth - the two are one;
We brethren are," he said.
And so, as kinsmen met a-night,
We talked between the rooms,
Until the moss had reached our lips,
And covered up our names.
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What's significant in this poem is how Dickinson links beauty and truth. "We brethren are" she wrote, for death claimed each soul over the issues of beauty and truth-- worth dying for. They talked together until the moss covered their names on the tombs, but did that mean the world forgot what they had died for? As long as beauty is cherished, as long as truth is honored-- one's death, to achieve the goal of creating beauty, of disseminating truth -- is not in vain.
In our barbaric society, glints of beauty and truth still illuminate the seeking souls of humankind. Though it may be difficult to find 'creating beauty' on the Internet, I would ask you to seek within yourself the most beautiful moments you can remember in your life. Write them down. Perhaps it was a lover's kiss. A flower, blooming in the snow. A dog, looking up with sweetness into your eyes. A fragrance. A drop of golden color in the center of a pool of blue.
You can create beauty within yourself by avoiding evil and thinking on the beautiful/ then, reflecting it, through your talents, your speech, your actions. What is evil? That which destroys beauty and truth. How can truth and beauty be saved from evil? By creating beauty, and fighting for the truth. Creating beauty within will allow you to express yourself with beauty to the world. Fighting for truth will give you incredible power to do good in the world.
Beauty is more than plastic surgery and planting garden seeds--though these can indeed create ephemeral beauty. Beauty of character comes by embracing the truth and eschewing evil. In a world where ethics and morals are supposed to be a play of mere shades of gray, being a champion for beauty and truth can scatter a kaleidoscope of color in rainbows that arch across the universe of your soul--and that beauty will be with you, to share with others, until the moss grows over your name.
Judyth Vary Bker
