The older I get the more convinced I am that spiritual maturity lies in the simple capacity to admire – to admire beauty, admire talent, and admire youth, without trying to possess them.
Ron Rolheiser, OMI
THE GAZE OF SHEER ADMIRATION
It takes years and lots of restless sadness to come to understand that. Happiness doesn’t come from achieving great things, being the centre of attention, or being recognized for being exceptional in some way. Paradoxically, the near-reverse is true, real joy lies in being able to admire another, in focusing attention away from self, and in being able to enjoy the beauty and giftedness of others without trying to possess them.
That’s easily said and very hard to do. Our congenital metaphysics militates against it. Soul and the body resist it. We want to possess what’s beautiful, press it against ourselves, make it our own. The heart wants to capture, possess, and control what attracts it. That’s the way we’re built.
And it’s the reason too why we often find it so painful to experience beauty. Strange, rather than filling us with joy, the experience of beauty often makes us sad and restless. Beauty attracts us, even stuns us sometimes, but, too often, leaves us with the bitter-sweet feeling: “This is beautiful, but I can’t have it, and so it accentuates everything I am not!”
To admire someone attractive or something beautiful without trying to possess, that’s the real task, not just of aesthetics but, especially, of spirituality. When the rich young man comes up to Jesus and asks: “What must I do to possess eternal life?”, Jesus gently corrects his verb. He tells him: “If you would receive eternal life, then open your hands and, in that posture of non-grasping, eternal life is free for you.” But, as we know, the story has an unhappy ending. The young man goes away sad, unable to do what Jesus asked of him.
That’s our problem too, generally, with sadness. We are unable to stand before beauty without trying, like the rich young man, to possess it, to close our hands over it. If only we could be content just to receive it, to admire it, to bless it, our restlessness and sadness could turn to joy.
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THE GAZE OF SHEER ADMIRATION
The older I get the more convinced I am that spiritual maturity lies in the simple capacity to admire – to admire beauty, admire talent, and admire youth, without trying to possess them.
Ron Rolheiser, OMI
THE GAZE OF SHEER ADMIRATION
It takes years and lots of restless sadness to come to understand that. Happiness doesn’t come from achieving great things, being the centre of attention, or being recognized for being exceptional in some way. Paradoxically, the near-reverse is true, real joy lies in being able to admire another, in focusing attention away from self, and in being able to enjoy the beauty and giftedness of others without trying to possess them.
That’s easily said and very hard to do. Our congenital metaphysics militates against it. Soul and the body resist it. We want to possess what’s beautiful, press it against ourselves, make it our own. The heart wants to capture, possess, and control what attracts it. That’s the way we’re built.
And it’s the reason too why we often find it so painful to experience beauty. Strange, rather than filling us with joy, the experience of beauty often makes us sad and restless. Beauty attracts us, even stuns us sometimes, but, too often, leaves us with the bitter-sweet feeling: “This is beautiful, but I can’t have it, and so it accentuates everything I am not!”
To admire someone attractive or something beautiful without trying to possess, that’s the real task, not just of aesthetics but, especially, of spirituality. When the rich young man comes up to Jesus and asks: “What must I do to possess eternal life?”, Jesus gently corrects his verb. He tells him: “If you would receive eternal life, then open your hands and, in that posture of non-grasping, eternal life is free for you.” But, as we know, the story has an unhappy ending. The young man goes away sad, unable to do what Jesus asked of him.
That’s our problem too, generally, with sadness. We are unable to stand before beauty without trying, like the rich young man, to possess it, to close our hands over it. If only we could be content just to receive it, to admire it, to bless it, our restlessness and sadness could turn to joy.
To read more click here
Or copy this address into your browser
http://www.ronrolheiser.com/