Ephermeral Beauty by Curtis Peter van Gorder A friend of mine mentioned how he often feels melancholy after experiencing something beautiful. I wasn’t quite sure what he was talking about. It wasn’t until I started to recall my feelings at the end of a magnificent sunset, a fantastic day, or when the curtain comes down after a moving performance that the realization hit me of how often I feel the same. Strange this paradoxical mix of joy at what we enjoy- and sorrow that we can not make it last. Could it be that it reminds us of the transistory nature of those pleasures? How universal this mysterious feeling is. The Japanese call it mono no aware or the pathos (sadness) of things. It is something they experience yearly when the cherry blossoms are in all their glory. Sometime around April, people picnic and party under the flowers to sing, frolic and fully savour the moment that will fade away in a week or two. The Japanese try to capture special moments in their flower arranging, tea ceremonies and especially in their haiku poetry, which is like a snapshot of an event in nature that conveys a deep feeling -often a ‘sad sweet thought’. 翌あらばあらばと思ふ桜哉 asu araba araba to omou sakura kana tomorrow and tomorrow will they still be? cherry blossoms My favourite time of the year in Jordan is in spring when the rains come and the barren desert bursts into a symphony of floral color. One time we went to the desert of Wadi Rum during a rare rainstorm and marvelled at how the mountain peaks abounded with waterfalls cascading down into the sandy valley below. We were trying to get out of the rain, but the Bedouin locals loved it and drove back and forth through the newly formed streams in their jeeps like kids splashing in puddles. They knew how soon it would be soaked into the insatiable desert sands. Each year there are one or two days when the snow falls and everything is covered in a white blanket. On such special days, we would take a walk around the block to see the mundane transformed into a magical wonderland of snow and ice. The kids would build snow forts and have all day snow fights, loving every minute of it. The next day, the sun would come out and it would all disappear. Music and drama are inherently ephermeral in their beauty and that is perhaps why we love them so much. A recently popular art form is “land art” where objects in nature are arranged aestethically to enjoy for the moment. India has an art form called rangoli where sand is used to make intricate floral patterns and geometric designs as a sign of celebration and welcome. Tibetan monks work long and tirelessly to make large intricate sand mandalas on the ground and then ceremoniously destroy them by putting the sand in jars and then pouring the grains into a river or ocean to show the impermance of life. The Bible compares emphermal beauty to a flower that today is and tomorrow is not. However, it also encourages us that God’s Word and love will never pass away. Jesus told us, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” And in 3 gospels it tells us that: “Heaven and Earth shall pass away but My Word shall not pass away.” Realizing that all the pleasures of this life are fleeting, helps keep my perspective on what really matters. There are times when I really feel I am a ‘wayfaring stranger’ passing through this world of woe and wonder, but it helps to know that what’s done in love will last. I recently gave one of our family photo alblums to my daughter to take to a place where they would be ‘safe’, however, the suitcase that they were in was lost by the airline! At first I was devasted at the loss, until I realized that those moments that were recorded in those photos live on in my memories and in the lives of my children, something that no one can lose or steal from us. I believe that as we channel God’s love and Word to others we can be assured we are building something that will last – something we can enjoy forever and that will never fade away.
Posted on: Thu, 11 Jul 2013 02:19:23 +0000
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