KALOS: The Good Life

Christian Observations in art, music, aesthetics, and all things related to the good, beautiful, and wonderful.

[kalosthegoodlife]

God fills heaven and earth (Jer. 23:24) His steadfast love fills the earth (Pss. 33:5; 119:64) The whole earth is filled with his glory (Num. 14:21; Isa. 6:3) We cannot escape God; he is everywhere (Ps. 139:7-8) He is everywhere, and he is asking us, "What do you want me to do for you?" (Mark 10:51; cf. Jn. 14:14; Lk. 11:9-13)

The entire cosmos is embedded with the self-communication of God. His grace reaches forth out of every mountain, out of every tree, out of every flower. The indwelling Holy Spirit presents herself in every sunset, beckoning us to see, to hear, to smell, to taste that the Lord is good (Ps. 34:8).

If you expand your attention and search, you will find the Trinity all around us, making suckers of us all as they effortlessly show off their awe-inspiring beauty.

"What is it you seek?" asks the sunset, "Let me be of service to you."

[kalosthegoodlife]

If the power of God is present then we do not need any special effects.

Richard Foster,  Prayer

I think in our desire to pursue Beauty; we are really desiring the power and presence of God. 

[kalosthegoodlife]

"They say the God of Israel . . . they beheld God, and they ate and drank." (Exod 24:10, 11)

Brueggeman says to be an Israelite meant "to be in Yahweh's presence, to see God, to commune with Yahweh directly, face to face. This encounter . . . is a moment of wondrous abiding in the Presence."

This experience of "the splendor of Yahweh's holiness" (Pss 29:2; 96;9 1Chr 16:29), he says, "resituates and recharacterizes everything in Israel's mundane world."

Holiness is characterized by beauty. Can you see the beauty of God? Do you experience the presence of something beautifully beyond yourself?

When the Israelites saw God, they ate and drank--they engaged in what might be called communion! Communion is a time for opening one's eyes to God, to the splendor of his holiness, and beholding him, so that he may resituate and recharacterize everything in our mundane experience.

[kalosthegoodlife]

Too late have I loved you, O Beauty so ancient, O Beauty so new. Too late have I loved you! You were within me but I was outside myself, and there I sought you! In my weakness I ran after the beauty of the things you have made. You were with me, and I was not with you. The things you have made kept me from you - the things which would have no being unless they existed in you! You have called, you have cried, and you have pierced my deafness. You have radiated forth, you have shined out brightly, and you have dispelled my blindness. You have sent forth your fragrance, and I have breathed it in, and I long for you. I have tasted you, and I hunger and thirst for you. You have touched me, and I ardently desire your peace.

Augustine, Confessions, X, 27, 38

[kalosthegoodlife]

Arise, and drink your bliss, for everything that lives is holy!

William Blake

[unknown--user]

[kalosthegoodlife]

How easy is it for you too see the evil!? But shouldn't it be just as easy to see the good?

He is good. And you can see that.

[kalosthegoodlife]

Every experience of beauty points to [eternity].

- Hans Urs Von Balthasar

[kalosthegoodlife]

When thinking about my childhood, I believe that I heard the saying "God is good" all the time. I have been thinking about this regularly and wondering how many of us really believe this statement. Or maybe we don't even understand what this means. So my question is, what does this mean? What is goodness? How is it connected to God? I don't know all of the answers, but Exodus drives my thoughts on the matter. I want to inspect a few verses to encourage our thinking about God's goodness. In Exodus 33.19, this verse talks about God's goodness passing before Moses and it being connected to mercy, compassion, and God's name proclamation. Has God's goodness passes by you lately? Maybe a moment of mercy, compassion or God's presence?

[scarletheroisback-deactivated20]

Strive with all your might to bring your interior activity into accord with God, and you will overcome exterior passions.

From Abba Arsenius (The Sayings of the Desert Fathers; Cistercian Publications; Pg. 10)

Many of the Desert Fathers (especially Evagrius of Pontus) would say that through contemplation salvation comes to be actualized. If we can see Jesus bringing our passions into order then we will see our external lives aligning to our inner world.

[aplacetheyllneverknow]

[kalosthegoodlife]

What are your thoughts? Are Christians more likely or less likely to see beauty? Open up your eyes for there's more to see than meets the eye.

"For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made.." (Romans 1:20)

[kalosthegoodlife]

There are only two things that pierce the human heart: Beauty and Affliction.

- Simone Weil

Would you say that Beauty and Affliction would be two separate things? Perhaps for a Christian, they would be same. They would be embodied in the Man called Jesus.

[kalosthegoodlife]

Latin lesson: overcome evil with good Kalos will trounce over evil all day, e'ry day.

[kalosthegoodlife]

Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

Psalm 29.2 (KJV)

Does this mean that we are to have the beauty of holiness or the Lord does? What do you think?

[kalosthegoodlife]

“Wonder rather than doubt is the root of all knowledge.”

Abraham Joshua Heschel

[kalosthegoodlife]

I think this about says it all. Me and my wife walked into marriage to this song. I think it captures a good life, a Jesus life. You are the Beauty by Gungor Lyrics: Love, love, love of mine You have caused the sun to shine on us Music fills our ears Flavors kiss our lips with love divine You are the beauty You are the light You are the love, love of mine Breath and sex and sight All things made for good in love divine Behind the Song: The last several songs on the record were intentionally emotional, leading us eventually back to where we came from. We started with wonder and joy, walked through lament and anger into remembrance and hope, which leads us back to wonder and joy. Isn’t this mixture of emotions true of the human experience after all? We experience all of these mixed emotions all of the time. Our joys are tinged with sorrow, and our pain is rooted in passion and love, which brings us great joy as well. In “You are the Beauty”, we return to the goodness of life. The hope of the last song has led us into unmitigated celebration and joy, claiming all that is good and true and beautiful as gifts and reflections of the Divine. Musically, this song is an explosion of fun and celebration and even a bit of silliness. I laughed quite a bit in the construction and recording of the whole outro of the song, which moves among modes, styles and time signatures with a sort of childlike freedom. It’s not necessarily cohesive, except perhaps in the fact that the non-cohesion is kind of the point. It’s just kind of outrageous moving from recording the fast clicking of my pedal board case’s latches, to a fairly amorphous guitar solo, to a dirty organ transitioning to a new time signature, with some circus-like lick repeating over the top of it. Life is crazy. But it is wonderful. -- Gungor

[darichedel]

[untilonlyloveremains-blog]

I think Jesus is saying, ‘Look, you guys are running around like monkeys trying to get people to clap, but people are fallen, they are separated from God, so they have no idea what is good or bad, worthy to be judged or set free, beautiful or ugly to begin with. Why not get your glory from God? Why not accept your feelings of redemption because of His pleasure in you, not the fickle and empty favor of man? And only then will you know who you are, and only then will you have true, uninhibited relationships with others.’

Donald Miller, Searching For God Knows What (via untilonlyloveremains)