n e w c h u r c h l i f e : j u ly / au g u s t 2 0 1 5
For “wabi” (simple), we might substitute innocent; and for “sabi” (old
and weathered), we might substitute wise. For those who regenerate, years of
exposure to the afflictions of natural life culminate in the wisdom of old age,
the heart of which is a childlike trust in the Lord and a willingness to follow
Him. We must humble ourselves like little children in order to enter heaven,
or have it enter into us. (Matthew 18:3-4)
The distinction between the external quality of an artwork and the spirit
that forms its internal, and how they are related, is especially evident in the art
of little children. Outwardly it is crudely made, but it is beautiful (especially in
the eyes of their parents, of course) because of the innocence manifested in it.
The more we become again as little children – innocent – the more beautiful
our works will be in the eyes of our Heavenly Father.
As people age they become physically more imperfect, but at the same
time – assuming they are regenerating spiritually, which is the proper order of
things – they are becoming more perfect inwardly. The beauty of their souls
increases even as the beauty of their bodies fades.
The same passage of time that takes a toll on physical beauty also provides
the opportunity for spiritual reflection upon our experiences in this world
of space and time, and encourages us to look beyond its temporary, external
delights, so that we might grow in wisdom, and thus acquire an inner beauty
which is permanent. It is within the rough ordinary stone of earthly life that
spiritual life is formed, “like a gem in its matrix,” as the Writings say of conjugial
love. (Conjugial Love 97)
The entropy or tendency to fall into disorder and decay which we see in
the universe makes us especially aware of the perpetual renewal of life which
is also manifest. All created things, from stars to people, eventually wear out
and die, and yet, from the influx of life perpetually radiating from the Lord, all
things are also made new. It is a basic truth of revelation, referred to often in
the Writings, that “subsistence is perpetual creation.”
Nature as a whole is a finite, temporary, imperfect covering that both
obscures and reveals the Divine and spiritual – and thus human – realities
it represents. Nature is thus charged with supernatural meaning. In itself it is
dead, and if separated from the life constantly flowing into it from the Divine
it would cease to exist. But the natural world is encompassed by life, and the
beauty of life flowing into it from its Divine Creator. Although entropy never
ceases, it is overruled by the perpetual influx of life that restores order.
Everything in nature changes, wears out, and eventually dies. And yet, this
very feature of nature causes us to look past this world to the eternal beauty of
heaven, which is glimpsed, “as through a glass, darkly,” in the evanescent beauty
of natural life forms. Human life, also, for all its imperfection, is encompassed
by goodness and truth from above that inspires us to look beyond our natural
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