Beauty--Day 39

As I added Tarja Turunen's song "I Walk Alone" to my playlist, I thought of how the name of the song goes totally against my beliefs. With Jesus in our hearts and on our minds, we are never walking alone. I wondered if I should even add it. After the posts of the last couple of days, I started to think of other "dark" things I like. Movies, for one. Requiem for a Dream, Trainspotting, A Clockwork Orange, and Memento could all be considered darker movies than what some make like. Although I like comedy, I can only really watch Will Farrell comedies and I heard Semi-Pro was pretty bad, so I'll be staying away from that one.

Edgar Allen Poe stories and poetry is another. The Christopher Walken reading of "The Raven" has always been a favorite of mine, although I could do without the sound effects. I looked for an analysis of the poem and found it interesting. Finding http://www.poedecoder.com/essays/raven/ , I see that Poe chose Beauty to be the theme of the poem, since "Beauty is the sole legitimate province of the poem" (Poe, 1850). I would have never thought that about that poem, but eventually it becomes clearer as he goes on... Poe considered sadness to be the highest manifestation of beauty. What?? That makes no sense. I read on:

"Beauty of whatever kind in its supreme development invariably excites the sensitive soul to tears. Melancholy is thus the most legitimate of all the poetical tones" (Poe, 1850).

That's deep. And a seemingly accurate assumption to make. It seems like those tears might be tears of joy, but no, they're not. As I'm moved by Pastor Don's or Dennis' sermons or noticing something very innocent about my children or seeing someone moved to add the words in my blog to their blog as well (thanks, lila), it does not feel like joy. It feels, in a word, melancholy, yet beautiful. I think Poe is onto something there.

I had read Ravi's definition of worship from the cover of my notebook earlier in the day (and in bold type on Day 24) and I thought of that as I read of Poe's definition of the highest manifestation of beauty. I thought of all the times I have used the word beautiful or beauty on this blog. I like to use a thesaurus if I need to find a better word for my meaning or if I feel I've used a word too often. I've thought of the latter as far as beauty is concerned, but I never change it. In these 41 posts, I've used it 14 times. More than once on a couple, but that still averages out to about a third of my posts.

Speaking of beauty, I've talked about God with more people in the last few weeks than I have in the first 35 years. Now I can why some people in my past brought Him up to me. You just feel moved to do it. I feel like I have to do it. I try to do it differently with everyone in a way where they are comfortable with me bringing Him up and I've been surprised by the reactions. Most are very open to the conversation, and will continue the conversation in one direction or another. I don't know how I expect them to react, but it's been a very fruitful experience.
Thank you, Jesus.

Much Love,
Mark