Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

I visited the home of Felicia White, a lady from church last night. She had found a box full of memories and begun to frame and hang them on the wall that leads from her front door and on through to her living room. She had her High School Diploma, her Masters Degree along with her Doctorate in Philosophy from the University of Maryland. This woman has accomplished so many things as to be quite impressive. I happened to look at a smaller picture, almost hidden away in a corner where the light didn’t do much for it.

I recognized the work, a small copy of a masterpiece, “The Last Supper”, by Salvador Dali. I have long been a fan of this man’s work. Even folks not familiar with his name would recognize his famous “melted clocks”, the drooping timepieces against surreal landscapes with renaissance colored skies. His depiction of the Last Supper is different than any other; having been structured within a framework, akin to those massive beams that hold huge pieces of glass breezeways or entryways for skyscrapers to show off their open spaces without giving up their necessary support. For me it was a mixing of ancient scripture with modern cubism, no simple task.

I was reading a piece on Eric Jahn’s blog, “My little garden”, one of his most beautifully written distractions yet. He reminded me of the many times I would sit in the foyer at the Louetta Chapel on those days that my back would complain about the hard pews in the chapel. There were a couple of high back arm chairs where I could sit and still hear the talks over the speaker system. The windows that were over the entry way, an air space created to act as a vestibule, had reminded me of Salvador Dali’s Last Supper. The shadows cast by the support beams that held the glass must have triggered the thought, remote as the two were, there must have been something similar or why would it have come to mind. So, instead of dreaming about putting in a walled garden outside the chapel, letting nature prove how the seasons appear without our help; my thoughts turned to great works of art and how simple geometrical architectural design can lead to other forms of expression. In any event, thank you Eric for reminding of those moments, quiet times to reflect and to appreciate beauty, simple beauty that is all around us if we but consider it in our mind’s eye.