Beauty Will “Not” Save The World

Okay, I think we need to get this right this Advent as we look toward the cultural richness and beauty of Christmas.

Too many writers are publishing articles on the need for a restoration of the sacred by headlining or quoting the passage, “beauty will save the world.” Um… restoration of the sacred, the importance of the language of beauty — all yes! But beauty “will not” save the world. Here is why.

As artist, novelist, and commentator, Michael D. O’Brien points out, the quote is rooted in Dostoevsky’s novel, The Idiot.

“Beauty will save the world.” This oft-quoted maxim of Dostoevsky’s, derived from The Idiot, is widely misunderstood and misused in our times. As the author demonstrates throughout the novel, beauty alone cannot save the world. However, one of his primary insights, well illustrated throughout the story, is that beauty and suffering can seize the human heart of the observer for reasons other than carnality or even romanticized idealized attraction, though these may be present at the early stages of a relationship. As the lover grows in love of the beloved, he must continuously seek the ultimate good of the beloved. If his love is to avoid degenerating into selfishness, it must become more and more Christ-like. I do not want to give away the plot of the novel to those who haven’t read it, but let me at least say that toward the end of the story Myshkin’s love for Nastassya is put to a supreme test. He is asked to show mercy, to be a presence of Christ, to the very person who destroys his beloved.

Dostoevsky once wrote in his Notebooks, “Suffering is the origin of consciousness.” A novel like The Idiot could only have been created as the fruit of the author’s personal sufferings. This is why the Church has frequently called artists to open their hearts completely to Christ, so that as they live in the fullness of both crucifixion and resurrection, living words might flow through them. In the age of comfort and materialism, many artists draw back in revulsion from this invitation and, like the rich young man in the Gospel, turn sadly away. They fail to understand that within the mystery of suffering with Christ is hidden a great joy—and inexhaustible riches.

The beauty that will save the world is the love of God. This love is both human and supernatural in character, but it germinates, flowers, and comes to fruition only in a crucified heart. Only the heart united with Christ on the Cross is able to love another as himself, and as God loves him. Only such a heart can pass through the narrow gate of the Cross and live in the light of Resurrection. The good news is that this resurrection begins here and now.