A Sunday Thought About Pop Culture vs. The True, The Good, and The Beautiful
Too many of us wallow in a pop culture that drags us down every day. We're immersed in the sights and sounds spit at us through our iPads and iPods, our CDs and DVDs, and the myriad devices that tap into the Internet. Most of this stuff ranges from trivial to mind-numbing; some is downright disgusting and evil.
A while back we talked about about the great treasure chest created and preserved by our Holy Church. No, it's not the incredible collection in the Vatican Museum or the Vatican Library. This treasure to which we referred was amassed over centuries and consists of the great cultural achievements in music, literature, painting, sculpture, etc. It includes the magnificent works of craftsmanship that accompanied these "higher' works of art through the centuries.
I'm not being a snob here. I've spent more time soaking in the vapid offerings of pop culture than I care to remember. But at least I've made some trips to the treasure chest from time to time to find out what what has been stored up for us over the centuries created by artists and artisans striving to express the Beautiful in their creations.
And, yes, many great artists were well aware that they their creations were attempts to capture the Beautiful and many offered their work up for the greater glory of God. You wouldn't know this today, of course, because we're surrounded by a secular culture that doesn't recognize God, or at best pays Him lip service. Indeed, many of our fellow Christians - with I suspect the best of intentions - spend their time trying to bend pop culture into something holy, for example, those who write and perform "Christian" pop and rock music. But even as we recognize the attempt to turn vulgar, dirty, even evil slop into something holy, we're still left wondering why we turn our backs on that treasure chest filled with centuries worth of the True, the Good and the Beautiful. For example, many if not most of us today, haven't heard a single strain of great music, gazed on fine art or sculpture or even read a good book, never mind a great one.
You might want to ask yourself: When have you read a great book, listened to some great music, taken in the visual splendor of great art lately? I know when I did this lately, I was surprised that it had been months since I'd read a great piece of literature. I simply spend most of my time - really too much of it - reading professional stuff. While that stuff may increase my knowledge and skills (surely a good thing), it really shouldn't be taking up so much of my time that I have nothing left for the True, the Good and the Beautiful.
Of course, I'm not saying that everything in our culture is bad. Maybe the best thing out there in our culture right now is the attempt to eat well. Those of us turning away from fast food and trying our hand at cooking from scratch with fresh ingredients so we can enjoy the taste of real food prepared well have taken a step in the right direction. Our bodies are, after all, temples of the Holy Spirit. Fair enough. I use this example so we can take the knowledge that what we take into our stomachs matters, and go ahead and apply it to what we take in with our eyes and ears too. Think about it.
I just know that if more of us just lifted the lid of that treasure chest available to us all, things - everything in fact - would look, smell, taste and feel better. So grab your key, lift the lid and rummage around. Make time for the True, the Good, and the Beautiful.
A while back we talked about about the great treasure chest created and preserved by our Holy Church. No, it's not the incredible collection in the Vatican Museum or the Vatican Library. This treasure to which we referred was amassed over centuries and consists of the great cultural achievements in music, literature, painting, sculpture, etc. It includes the magnificent works of craftsmanship that accompanied these "higher' works of art through the centuries.
I'm not being a snob here. I've spent more time soaking in the vapid offerings of pop culture than I care to remember. But at least I've made some trips to the treasure chest from time to time to find out what what has been stored up for us over the centuries created by artists and artisans striving to express the Beautiful in their creations.
And, yes, many great artists were well aware that they their creations were attempts to capture the Beautiful and many offered their work up for the greater glory of God. You wouldn't know this today, of course, because we're surrounded by a secular culture that doesn't recognize God, or at best pays Him lip service. Indeed, many of our fellow Christians - with I suspect the best of intentions - spend their time trying to bend pop culture into something holy, for example, those who write and perform "Christian" pop and rock music. But even as we recognize the attempt to turn vulgar, dirty, even evil slop into something holy, we're still left wondering why we turn our backs on that treasure chest filled with centuries worth of the True, the Good and the Beautiful. For example, many if not most of us today, haven't heard a single strain of great music, gazed on fine art or sculpture or even read a good book, never mind a great one.
You might want to ask yourself: When have you read a great book, listened to some great music, taken in the visual splendor of great art lately? I know when I did this lately, I was surprised that it had been months since I'd read a great piece of literature. I simply spend most of my time - really too much of it - reading professional stuff. While that stuff may increase my knowledge and skills (surely a good thing), it really shouldn't be taking up so much of my time that I have nothing left for the True, the Good and the Beautiful.
Of course, I'm not saying that everything in our culture is bad. Maybe the best thing out there in our culture right now is the attempt to eat well. Those of us turning away from fast food and trying our hand at cooking from scratch with fresh ingredients so we can enjoy the taste of real food prepared well have taken a step in the right direction. Our bodies are, after all, temples of the Holy Spirit. Fair enough. I use this example so we can take the knowledge that what we take into our stomachs matters, and go ahead and apply it to what we take in with our eyes and ears too. Think about it.
I just know that if more of us just lifted the lid of that treasure chest available to us all, things - everything in fact - would look, smell, taste and feel better. So grab your key, lift the lid and rummage around. Make time for the True, the Good, and the Beautiful.
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