I love this piece, particularly the insight that "you have to stand still so that the enchantment of the world can step out of its shyness." The thoughts on beauty resonate with what I wrote in Beauty Is Oxygen, that "beauty is not a thing to be used, purchased or achieved. Beauty must be encountered, witness, and received."
I especially loved that line as well. Reminds me of Malcom Guite’s explanation of T.S. Eliot’s statement “Poetry is peripheral vision”:
“The thing that is off [at the edge of vision] that you just can’t see, if you turn and focus on it, it disappears. But Eliot thought the poet could stay sufficiently still so as to woo the peripheral into [view] and give it voice.”
The line, “When one person shows too much because they’re afraid of missing out, another person inadvertently turns into a voyeur” is the first time I’ve read put into words the way social media makes me feel. Thank you for sharing. This is something to meditate on and seek Gods wisdom for our cultural moment.
Loved this piece. The idea that "secrecy now feels like theft" resonated deeply with me when I realized that a lot of the fantasies that I have and that other people have in the modern world revolve around becoming famous, or carving out a niche you can share with others online. Wondering if you have any thoughts on what the "sacred" is here; if everything has become public, what is there left to hold sacred? What should we take back?
Very well written and your thoughts resonate with me, as with others who have commented. I'm just curiously meditating the "catch-22" that this puts us in as artists who have specifically chosen a vocation that calls us to EXHIBIT. There are obviously "fine lines" to be drawn, but i feel this tension in myself. I must (as you so well state) be still and just let beauty absorb me and overwhelm me. At the same time, my desire as an artist is to capture portions, moments, glimpses of this beauty to specifically share with others, in hopes of drawing them into beauty, in hopes to give them moments of contemplation. Yes, this is different perhaps than the context of social media which is (perhaps?) the main object of the essay. But there are principles of "exhibitionism" with which we must contend as artists. How do we process the beauty that we take in in contemplation? How much is for our spiritual nourishment? How much is for sharing? Interesting questions that each one must answer for him or herself! Thanks for stimulating thought!
You give words to what I seek these days, in the midst of a blessed and hallowed bereavement. And why I don't like to take photos of people. Thank you.
This is a brilliant essay and reflects many thoughts I have had over the years. It is a problem American culture has had for many years and has only escalated exponentially with social media. But you articulate all this succinctly and beautifully.
Our culture of showing corrodes the very art of observing.
We do this with pictures now. We don't tell people where we've been and let their imagination fill in the pieces. We show them and tell them how to feel. It's a monologue rather than a dialogue. I've also been wrestling with the idea of knowledge and community. The more we know, the harder it is to maintain ties because we are stripping away a mystery and replacing it with a fact or an opinion with each piece of knowledge.
Sing the truth louder, Sherry! Beauty is not in the eye of the beholder, but, rather, in the depth of understanding only realized by pausing our hectic lives to absorb and fully make our own those moments of truth our loving God gifts us.
They aren’t ours exactly, these gifts from God. They’re a form of grace. This grace doesn’t belong to us, it IS us. When it was said we were created in God’s image, I believe within these holy instants full of grace and unsurpassed beauty we ARE God’s image. We see that God is what lives in us all.
I’ve put off reading this until now because I want to sit with it and savor it. As a writer working toward publication, I think about these things all the time. It’s such a delicate dance between revealing glimpses of your story/life for the intent of finding resonance with new readers and withholding other aspects for the sake of privacy. I do believe some things are too sacred and personal to share publicly, too. Thank you for this! 💕
Thanks for having me @inkwell! ❤️🔥
Lovely work, and true.
Thank you Scott!!
I love this piece, particularly the insight that "you have to stand still so that the enchantment of the world can step out of its shyness." The thoughts on beauty resonate with what I wrote in Beauty Is Oxygen, that "beauty is not a thing to be used, purchased or achieved. Beauty must be encountered, witness, and received."
I especially loved that line as well. Reminds me of Malcom Guite’s explanation of T.S. Eliot’s statement “Poetry is peripheral vision”:
“The thing that is off [at the edge of vision] that you just can’t see, if you turn and focus on it, it disappears. But Eliot thought the poet could stay sufficiently still so as to woo the peripheral into [view] and give it voice.”
Yes, love that!
Everybody go read www.sherryning.com!!!
The line, “When one person shows too much because they’re afraid of missing out, another person inadvertently turns into a voyeur” is the first time I’ve read put into words the way social media makes me feel. Thank you for sharing. This is something to meditate on and seek Gods wisdom for our cultural moment.
Loved this piece. The idea that "secrecy now feels like theft" resonated deeply with me when I realized that a lot of the fantasies that I have and that other people have in the modern world revolve around becoming famous, or carving out a niche you can share with others online. Wondering if you have any thoughts on what the "sacred" is here; if everything has become public, what is there left to hold sacred? What should we take back?
Thoughtfully written. I slowed right down to read and attend to the shy beauty of its storytelling.
Very well written and your thoughts resonate with me, as with others who have commented. I'm just curiously meditating the "catch-22" that this puts us in as artists who have specifically chosen a vocation that calls us to EXHIBIT. There are obviously "fine lines" to be drawn, but i feel this tension in myself. I must (as you so well state) be still and just let beauty absorb me and overwhelm me. At the same time, my desire as an artist is to capture portions, moments, glimpses of this beauty to specifically share with others, in hopes of drawing them into beauty, in hopes to give them moments of contemplation. Yes, this is different perhaps than the context of social media which is (perhaps?) the main object of the essay. But there are principles of "exhibitionism" with which we must contend as artists. How do we process the beauty that we take in in contemplation? How much is for our spiritual nourishment? How much is for sharing? Interesting questions that each one must answer for him or herself! Thanks for stimulating thought!
I agree. The artist decides for herself what best conveys beauty at its most subtle or most penetrating as she is becoming a master.
You give words to what I seek these days, in the midst of a blessed and hallowed bereavement. And why I don't like to take photos of people. Thank you.
This is a brilliant essay and reflects many thoughts I have had over the years. It is a problem American culture has had for many years and has only escalated exponentially with social media. But you articulate all this succinctly and beautifully.
Our culture of showing corrodes the very art of observing.
We do this with pictures now. We don't tell people where we've been and let their imagination fill in the pieces. We show them and tell them how to feel. It's a monologue rather than a dialogue. I've also been wrestling with the idea of knowledge and community. The more we know, the harder it is to maintain ties because we are stripping away a mystery and replacing it with a fact or an opinion with each piece of knowledge.
"Human lives are pressed flat into their reflections" 🔥
Sing the truth louder, Sherry! Beauty is not in the eye of the beholder, but, rather, in the depth of understanding only realized by pausing our hectic lives to absorb and fully make our own those moments of truth our loving God gifts us.
They aren’t ours exactly, these gifts from God. They’re a form of grace. This grace doesn’t belong to us, it IS us. When it was said we were created in God’s image, I believe within these holy instants full of grace and unsurpassed beauty we ARE God’s image. We see that God is what lives in us all.
What a truly fantastic essay! I would love to read more from this writer!
Thank you Christopher!
Sheesh. This was poignant and so timely for our cultural moment.
I’ve put off reading this until now because I want to sit with it and savor it. As a writer working toward publication, I think about these things all the time. It’s such a delicate dance between revealing glimpses of your story/life for the intent of finding resonance with new readers and withholding other aspects for the sake of privacy. I do believe some things are too sacred and personal to share publicly, too. Thank you for this! 💕
Lovely! I enjoyed the use of the myth to illustrate this. Reading this essay made me pause: am I doing that?
Here’s what I landed on:
Transparency isn’t exhibitionism.
Exhibitionism chases attention; transparency dismantles shame.
I share openly not to display, but to connect, to name what’s been silenced. And I retain my privacy.