Aesthetics

Aesthetics is that branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty, art, and taste and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. For a long time, I didn’t know such a focus of philosophy even existed, though I knew in my own mind it was an almost constant consideration. In some ways, I feel that attentiveness to beauty always goes beyond what most people observe as physical attractiveness and more to the role of aesthetic influence and power. Far beyond the human compulsion to attend to the visual issues of pleasantness, it has always been my sense that just as important, or more so, is the capacity of purpose to be fulfilled.

Human life that fails to discover the character of divine intention within the experience of living seems to share an element of brokenness and dissonance. The factors of human sin constantly undermine the divine intention of fellowship with God.
As the Christian Gospel so clearly spells out in the coming of the Messiah, by the Savior of the world, we find hope and a future bound in the relationship that we may know in Him. Aesthetically, we discover healing and wholeness and meaning and purpose in the context of this divinely initiated redemption. It is beautiful in every aspect. It is joyful in every discovery of divine intention.

Tragic disparity exists in the lives of those who do not experience the divinely inspired…God-breathed-into life. They are caught in repeated experiences of human failings and the unfulfilling tragedy of misdirected worship in idolatries of every sort.
The life apart from receiving God’s grace is futilely bound to a morbid existence without direction and vision.

Aesthetics is in some measure the longing of the human soul for divine order and presence. Likewise in the awareness of the Holy Spirit, there is the continuing recognition of human separation from God and the urgency of human appeal for repentance, change, refocus, redirection, and clearly faith directed to God. Only in such a time and place can there be a transformative experience of human aesthetic comprehension. Separation from God is understood and appeal to God’s invitation to faith is plausible and possible. In the aesthetic brokenness we discover our need and in the divine manifestation of grace we find our vision of hope.

The aesthetic of faith is then a unified expression of God’s working. Willing disciples of Christ are followers…these are those who are responsive to the teachings and instruction of Jesus. The realities of change brought about by this relationship of faith yield compelling recognitions of new approaches to life in every expression.