Inconceivable Beauty

During the Green Gulch Intensive in January, the schedule included classes lead by Tenshin Reb. Usually the last part of class was open to our questions. During one of these times, someone brought up the Suzuki Roshi quote, "To say a flower is 'beautiful' is a sin." Although at first this quote sounds off-putting (Flowers are beautiful. In what universe could it be a sin to call it as it is?!), I find the depth of this statement very interesting.

When we think about language and words, these things we say and words we use are merely pointers to the things we wish to talk about or refer to. The idea that comes into my head when the word flower, for example, is spoken (or written) is going to be different from the idea that comes into your head. My flower might be a red rose in a vase while your flower might be a white daisy in a flower bed outside. We use language and words so that we have a reference point that is similar, but our interpretations of words will very rarely if ever be the same. This is the difficulty of language. I'm finding that this is also how arguments arise.

Back to what Suzuki Roshi was saying when he said that calling a flower beautiful is a sin. The flower is at its core and essence a flower and its flower-ness is inconceivable. Of course a flower is beautiful. In fact, its flower-ness is more than beautiful. The word "beautiful" itself is not enough to describe how beautiful beautiful is. So saying that a flower is beautiful is not doing the flower justice because it is more than beautiful. The flower-ness of the flower and the beauty of beautiful is greater than the mere words. These are so great, in fact, they are indescribable; they are inconceivable.  It would be a sin to call a flower anything. A flower is at its essence a flower.

When I think about words being a place holder for things and a way for us to share ideas about the world around us, I think about art as another form of language and communication. I believe, as an artist, it is my responsibility to convey the way I see things, moments, and ideas that are breathtaking in order to share those incredible things, moments, and ideas with others. And even though my resulting art piece might be lovely and beautiful to others, I usually feel what was captured is never quite as amazingly beautiful as what I perceived and experienced. For example, I once did a painting of the sun rising over the peaceful beach of the Outerbanks in North Carolina. The sun rose rather quickly and I painted the full painting in the few hours of pre-sunrise and during sunrise, and then I was done. My mom loved the painting and still loves it because she had it framed and it's hanging in my parents' home. Every time I look at that painting I feel a little disappointed because it doesn't look as impressive as the actual experience was. How could it? The sun itself is such a force of nature and to see the first rays of light shining from the other edge of the earth, breaking the dawn, dispersing the darkness, is a moment that is just inconceivable in its heart of beauty and breathtaking-ness. Of course I think art is important and artists are champions of the beauty around us. We are preservers of the appreciation of things that make us sigh. How can we convey with enough homage and respect this inconceivable beauty of the world and universe? This is my art question, direction, and quest.