The Eye of the Beholder

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” is meant to be a declaration that anything that is good is subjective and relative, as beheld only by the one who experiences it.

While the above adage is not above a healthy debate, it also raises a seldom considered notion: to behold something, the person’s cognitive, affective, and spiritual senses must be unobstructed, unveiled, wide-open, sensitive, and receptive to possibilities that are beyond the familiar, predictable, and mundane.

Yesterday, I was treated to three distinct expressions of beauty and God’s glory.

On his hospital bed yesterday, Bob told me a story of the inexplicable beauty of an indescribable frosty morning in Northern Manitoba when he was a copper miner.

Emerging from the bowel of the earth after a graveyard shift of mining copper, Bob and his fellow miners walked down a long, windy, and sloppy gravel road from the icy peak to the valley below where the bunkhouse lay. They could see the coy curl of smoke rising from the promise of where warm shelter would be, but hidden in the valley below.

The sun’s ray just pierced through the cracks of the mountains and shone on a thick shroud of frost hanging heavily in the morning air. The air was heavily laden with sparkling frost crystals. The morning light was so regally glorious as if it were the face of the Almighty.

“That was beauty! That was God Himself!” Bob gasped his exclamation to me.

“It was so cold that I could see in my mind’s eye wolves raising up their frozen paws in discomfort” Bob continued.

Bob’s total being was wide awake to behold the physical vision and to transform it into a spiritual experience.

Yes. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder indeed.

Last evening, our oldest son, Mons, had the rare of opportunity to play the piano at an art exhibit at the Piano Nobile Gallery of the Centennial Concert Hall.

Mons is a very talented musician. His music is soothingly enchanting. What’s exceptional about Mons’ musical talent is his ability and preference to compose as he plays, never missing a beat.

The art exhibit showcased Neil Kolton’s creative acrylic works, a unique technical and artistic style to which I was not exposed until last evening.

Somehow, the music of the sphere and the shapes, hues, and shadows on the canvas blended together in a complementary and beautifully sensual experience for all.

Once again, beauty was in the eye of the beholder, and the glory of God was in the hearts of those who graciously appreciate that all good things come from above.