Beauty and Truth

"Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty... that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know." -- Ode on a Grecian Urn; by John Keats

I made a commitment when I started this blog, to only post when guided to do so, only when inspiration moves me. So over a month has gone by since my last post, and I was beginning to think (as egos do) that maybe I'm not supposed to do this anymore, and that's O.K. And then this morning I heard the title for today's blog. That's how it happens. I hear the title, or a quote, and understand more truly each time how Idea and its fulfillment are One. Every idea is like a seed... it has its own blueprint built in. And when we allow it to unfold organically, it always reveals more of Truth.

Beauty is an aspect of God that is dear to us. But like Truth and Love, we have distorted and confused it with human notions and projections. As an aspect of God, Beauty is an eternal quality, not subject to form or to the comings and goings of illusory time. Beauty is a quality, not a form. And because it's an aspect of God, it's everywhere, and for all.

Our human concept of beauty is based (like all ego concepts) on the scarcity principle. In other words, if it were everywhere, it would be common, and therefore not beautiful or special. If everyone had money, then no one would be rich (or special). If everyone had (fill in the blank), then no one would be special. You can see a pattern here.

But I grew up in rural Missouri in this dream we call life. And I knew at an early age that Beauty is abundant, and everywhere. In the barn, in the chicken house, in the garden, in the cornfield, in the hammock, in the yard, in the kitchen, in the bathtub... my early life flowed with a harmony and beauty that radiated not from form, but from Being. It was only with great human effort that I was civilized (ha!) enough to see that I must surely lack something, and that something could only come by wanting what everyone else seemed to want... an education (ha!), boyfriends (ha!), recognition and fame for my 'special' talent (ha!), and lots and lots of money which would set me apart from everyone else. What a crock. But who was I to argue with the rest of my seeming world? And how was I to know (yet) that I had created all of it? I did not want to know that my own thoughts and feelings and beliefs about who I am seemed to create incarnation after incarnation, story after story, serial adventures where I was first victim and then victimizer... and all of them, all of them, based on the belief in separation from God, on scarcity and specialness.

All of that is obviously very entertaining, since it has kept my attention and allegiance for countless incarnations. And yet... here I am. And my memory of Truth and Beauty are as clear in my quiet moments now as they were in the beginning, "when the morning stars sang together, and all the Sons of God shouted for joy." (The Bible; Job 38:7) It is obvious in moments of quiet Oneness that nothing has ever happened. Nothing has ever been more or less. Nothing has ever been less than Perfect and Beautiful.

Awareness of Beauty awakens us to the Truth and Love of God within the dream. The brushstrokes of Beauty have nothing to do with what is done, or who does them. The brushstrokes of Beauty are tangible Truth...reminders of Who We Are, as the Truth of Being is remembered. We can follow the brushstrokes back to remembrance... that Who We Are remains One with God, flawless and perfect, eternal and whole, harmonious and secure.

"This loveliness is not a fantasy. It is the real world, bright and clean and new, with everything sparkling under the open sun. Nothing is hidden here, for everything has been forgiven and there are no fantasies to hide the Truth. This small step, so small it has escaped your notice, is a stride through time into eternity, beyond all ugliness into Beauty that will enchant you, and will never cease to cause you wonderment at its perfection." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 17, Section II, 2:1-3, 6