The Artist’s Vocation: Finding Beauty in the Hard Places

Recently, my Russian tutor had me read this snippet from Russian Modernist poet Nikolay Zabolotsky:

… что есть красота
и почему её обожествляют люди?
Сосуд она, в котором пустота,
или огонь, мерцающий в сосуде?

Or, loosely translated:

… what is beauty
and why do we worship it?
Is it a vessel for emptiness,
or a fire in a vessel, glimmering through?

My homework was to answer the poet’s questions. In Russian. Yikes.

I don’t know if it was an effect of writing in another language, or if the café atmosphere was just right that day … but I had a revelation.

Namely this:

Beauty, whether it’s the natural beauty of Creation, or the man-made beauty of art, is a glimpse of the divine.

And as such — a spark of the eternal.

We talk of beauty as “fleeting” only because we live in a temporary, fallen world, which is still waiting for eternity.

Here, we have atrophy to deal with. Here, beautiful things must fade or otherwise change, like the seasons. Even “changeless” landscapes must bow to the elements in time.

That’s why I talk about beauty as a glimpse or a spark. It’s only a piece of something much bigger, like a drop to an ocean.

We also talk of beauty as “empty” because we see people who look good, but whose actions don’t match up. And then, of course, you have the reverse: a woman, for example, who isn’t winning any beauty contests, but whose goodness transfigures her in the eyes of those who know her.

Remember the movie Shallow Hal? It was all about this inner beauty/outer beauty disconnect. Jack Black’s character was surprised to discover it, but we shouldn’t be.

It’s the status quo, the whole world over. Complete correspondence of inner beauty with outer appearance is impossible in this world. Our earthly existence is full of disconnect and deception.

From a Christian perspective, it’s a fallen world, which means we’re estranged from Creation, from each other and from ourselves. It’s only the death and resurrection of Christ that saves us. As we wait for the Resurrection at the end of time (when all things are renewed), we have to realize that certain kinds of beauty really are only skin-deep.

But you know what? It’s beauty all the same.

Even if we think it’s deceptive, the empty-vessel beauty is still a reminder that the soul came from Beauty and is called to return. Even in a heart shrouded in darkness or vanity, there’s a flicker of goodness that must be found and awakened.

The key is, beauty must be sought, not just with the senses but with the heart.

We must always seek the beauty “glimmering” through the vessel, especially when the vessel looks hard or ugly at first glance. You might find it, for example, in faces disfigured by suffering. In the homeless, the sick, the starving, the grieving.

We all have this vocation. But in artists, the call is specific and urgent.

As artists, we must dig through the mud of earthly life in search of beauty. The rarest, most beautiful diamonds can be found in the darkest places … and evil times often give rise to sublime art.

So when it hurts to look, we must look. And we must pray for the grace to find the beauty and then express it, so others can share the vision.

It’s not always easy … but then again, what vocation is?

Your turn, now. How would you answer the poet’s questions?

What is beauty, and why do we worship it? How do you find beauty where it isn’t obvious?