Beauty in Everything
Through Balthasar, beauty is defined by the love God reveals to man as long as man is attuned to seeing the world as a gift. Beauty is intrinsically tied with religion since man can only recognize beauty when it cycles back to envelope man in God’s self-giving nature. Beauty is not sensed when man is overwhelmed by the darkness of manipulation and the individualistic nature the current capitalistic world is accustomed to. One must ponder what the death and resurrection of Christ means in terms of God’s ability to transform the being. Once love is taken hold of, it must be given out again in order to actually get beauty since beauty is gained by living out an ethical life. In addition, Goizueta defines beauty as the actions one commits since God is being known more by every good action in the world that allows one to live with others and take in God’s gift to humans. Gonzalez-Andrieun follows Gouzueta’s thought of having experiences that shape the beauty one experiences in the world since wonder springs from the awareness of the mysteries God creates through love.
Before one learns attunement of the spiritual sense, beauty, as explained by Balthasar, is seeing the world not in its full glory. There is no depth to the mundane objects and senses one experiences, and art is simply superficial. Humans are clouded by everyday life which does not allow one time to really appreciate God’s creation. It is through the attunement of the senses that one is able to see and experience the omnipresence of God. Thus, one discovers the real self to see God. Once seen, man is transformed. It is also through beauty that one is able to see Christ as a human since one believes Christ to be alongside you in an effort to be liberated from the oppression similar to Jesus as his struggles.
The senses are formed by a human’s experiences with spiritual life. It is by understanding Jesus’ crucifixion that one gains a sense such as seeing, hearing, tasting or smelling. One can gain a deeper understanding by visiting Church and taking the Eucharist since one is tasting and touching Christ. The best way to attune the senses is to love and feel the spirit of Christ with one. It will lead to a rejuvenation of the soul causing one to sense beyond the material world.
The community through Goizueta and Gonzales-Andrieu perspective is that the community is beautiful because it is due to human interpersonal relationships that occur through love gained from Christ. The love is able to bring about beauty which seeks out ways to be able to give back the love they received; thus, they create communities. The communities are a way to be able to live fully as a way for liberation. The Church further serves as a place where the public and private can gather and be one within the community with no barrier. Popular catholicism is an additional manner in which community can be created among the poor since it serves as a way to unite the people through signs.
