Staring into the Grand Canyon, looking straight into that extraordinary beauty, it becomes perfectly clear that there is absolutely nothing we can possibly add to God’s creation. In these rare, blessed moments, it is obvious to one’s heart that we already have in front of us the fulfillment of God’s creation; and that includes us, as well.
In these rare, blessed moments, I know God expects nothing of me – when one is out there, overcome by God’s presence, that is perfectly clear. God is just waiting for me to realise who He created me to be, He is just waiting for me to recognise in myself the beauty of His creation. It is such an alien (not of this world, not having me as its source) state to feel oneself as Nothingness and All at the same time, and to be perfectly at peace with everything. Silence is the only way I can describe this state; silence and a sort of tension, as if the muscles of one’s spirit were perfectly stretched, just ready to spring forth.
In these rare, blessed moments, I know nothing I have built myself into matters. Nothing I am, nothing I do, can add or alter in any way the perfection of God’s creation. Neither my virtues, nor my sins are relevant in any way before God’s beauty – my virtues cannot add anything to it; my sins cannot alter in any way. There is nothing I can add to what God has already created: there is nothing to add to my own self, there is nothing to add to the world around. All I need to do is rejoice in God’s creation, and learn to recognize in my own being the alien (not of this world, not having me as its source) beauty of His creation.
I suppose this is all I wanted to say. Beauty, just like love, takes away any fear. God’s presence reduces everything to silence, and it suddenly becomes clear that there is nothing to fear. God is all; in all. And He is Love.
Reblogged this on Evangelistarion.
Thank you for sharing. May God bless us all.
Thank you. This kind of beauty, God’s perfect beauty, truly does take away all fear, unlike Rilke’s earthbound, self-absorbed beauty, which “… is nothing but the beginning of terror we can just barely endure, and we admire it so because it calmly disdains to annihilate us”.
Reading your Rilke quote I wonder … could it be that God’s perfect beauty/love can bring forth either response… depending less on the beauty/love than on the state of the soul who experiences it … (?) (in likewise manner as St. Peter … When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!”) (?)
I wonder if our appreciation of God’s perfect beauty, is indeed the mystery of love given and received, bringing us into the enormity of intimacy in which there is no fear, because it is perfect love.