Why we trust the beauty of nature -- and where it leads me

Some things approach being a human universal: one is an awareness of the beauty of nature. When we perceive it we experience joy or wonder, sometimes awe and reverence. And it brings a deep sense that underlies many spiritual traditions: the certainty that the original order of the universe is good, wholesome, beautiful, and holy. In a similar vein, the Psalmist wrote, "The heavens declare the glory of God, the firmament shows the work of his hands. ... There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard." (Psalm 19:1, 3). Meditation is respected in most spiritual traditions though it can be seen as either a chore or an acquired skill. But the times when we are overtaken by beauty has led many people to unplanned moments of meditation, where duty and skill are irrelevant and we are carried by the realization alone. I have tried sketches of some of those moments, where an experience of wonder can be caught partially in art. The imitation -- or commemoration -- is worthwhile but I have never quite captured the whole feel of the original moment. (I am not quite sure that it can be done, though it can be close enough to validate the effort.)

For me, one of the deeper draws of Christianity -- of the teachings of Christ -- is that I find the same resonance, the same beauty, the same voice in his teachings as I find in those moments in nature. Every now and then another voice in Scripture will also attain that height and depth and feel: some passages in the Psalms or the prophets or in Paul's writings, Mary's Magnificat, Solomon's dream. And some places in Scripture will draw me especially for the insight into the character of God. But nothing draws me so consistently as the words of Jesus. The unplanned meditation overtakes me again with the same sense of peace and connection, the same certainty about the reality that gives rise to our world. That would be enough to ensure my attention, but he keeps going to address the aching gap between that primal good and lived human experience. He brings words and matching actions that the underlying goodness behind the world is deeper than the problems that we see (and cause). And in the words of Jesus, he speaks of healing to come, and justice to come, and mercy to come, and the treasure that is mercy in this world, for this world. I may not have quite captured the whole feel of the unity between the unfiltered beauty of the world and that of the Word of God, but for me it is enough to trust they come from the same source.