Beauty: I see it in flaming sunsets, soaring raptors, astonishing works of art. I want those experiences to last forever; they seem to activate a special quality of life. Roman philosopher Plotinus calls it the essence of beauty. But where, he wonders, does the essence really live?
Are the objects themselves beautiful? If so, what is the beauty they have? Thinking of beautiful human faces and beautiful sculptures, some answer: symmetry. But according to that answer, only complex arrangements of parts could be called “beautiful.” A single sound or colour, for example, could never be.
Beauty, says Plotinus, is not a quality of material things. Quite the opposite! When beauty grabs our attention, we are overwhelmed with feeling. Sometimes we say, “it’s so beautiful, I can’t bear it!” and wish we could overflow the boundaries of our bodies. A quality of the soul has been activated: its exultant yearning for ultimate good. At these moments, a human soul glimpses its true potential.
As I contemplate this week’s Omer quality, tiferet, Plotinus’ insight directs me. Literally, tiferet means “splendour.” Understanding tiferet as a splendid quality of soul, I sometimes interpret it as balance. Balance between love (chesed) and judgment (gevurah), that is: an imagined perfect equilibrium in life’s juggling act. But Plotinus warns us not to think of beauty as an arrangement of parts. Instead, he says, engage with the “exultation, the straining upwards of all your soul.”
To explore the meaning of tiferet, try these questions, articulated by Plotinus himself:
- What do you feel in the presence of acts of grace, morality and virtue?
- When you glimpse that you yourself may be beautiful within, what do you feel?
- What is this longing to break away from the body?
Source: Plotinus, Enneads I.6, trans Stephen MacKenna.
I am so enjoying your Omer posts that meld philosophy and Jewish tradition. Todah Rabbah!
Thank you, Julie!
“Beautiful Post”
I was asked to give a short Divar Torah tonight on Kedoshiem, and your post lit up for me the essence of “You shall be Holy, for I, your G-d am Holy”. That yearning to connect with the innate source of “beauty”, whatever that is for anyone, at any moment, so sparks the truth of who we really are, it can feel overwhelming. My friend, R. Monty Turner adds to the phrase with “This is not a request. Sooner or later, like it or not, you shall be Holy, for I your God am Holy. So work with me on this.”
Getting a glimps of this, a momentary sense of that “oneness connection” seems to mobilize my recognition of my own essence and takes me out of myself. For me, this happens most often when (I am) creating music, or writing something special, or seeing the beauty in the work of others.
Thank you for your wonderful posts and insights.
Brachot v’ahavah, Eli
Eli, what a beautiful comment. I love your articulation of “you will be holy” as a fact, and of the metaphysics of one-ness as the way the fact comes to be.