noun, plural -ties.
1.
the quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind, whether arising from sensory manifestations (as shape, color, sound, etc.), a meaningful design or pattern, or something else (as a personality in which high spiritual qualities are manifest).
com·mod·i·ty
[kuh-mod-i-tee]
Show IPA
noun, plural -ties.
1.
an article of trade or commerce, especially a product as distinguished from a service.
2.
something of use, advantage, or value.
I'm sure all of you can come up with many examples of this scenario. This idea has permeated into every avenue of life, secular or sacred. We've taken from a created world, objects of God's creation (everything from nature to people, places, objects, art, music, talent, ideas) and have marketed it as our own creation, whether publicly or secretly.
Why is this? Shouldn't something that contains "personality in which high spiritual qualities are manifest" not be exploited, but appreciated as having values worthy of appreciation? Of course this is the image/idea of modern Western civilization of beauty, but only as a marketing strategy. This of course, threatens the very essence of beauty. It has transformed the definition. No longer is the idea of beauty intrinsic, as if it were created that way and should be maintained. On the contrary, something that contains beauty should be "shared with the world" in order to turn a profit, not because the world is incapable of recognizing that beauty.
I had the privilege of talking with Joan Tower a few years back. She is a well-known American composer of classical music and her works have been performed alongside many masters of classical music, all men and long dead. I asked her what she did to "make it" in the music industry, albeit the classical music industry. Her response was unexpected, "I just went home and wrote the best music I possibly could. Good music will be found and appreciated by the world for what it is. Marketing is for people without talent."
So here lies the cross-roads when it comes to beauty. The entrepreneur shall ask in his/her mind, "Here is something that the whole world will appreciate. Therefore I must be the first one to control its exposure before someone else can cash in on the opportunity."
At the same time, we have used the same marketing strategy to convince people that "things" have beauty and in reality they have nothing of the sort. Think about all of the people that we give celebrity status, how they are portrayed in TV shows or movies and compare it to their actual personalities or contributions to society. Think about the plethora of uninspired art, both visual and performing, in which the exercise of creativity has been transformed into a formula which can be reused again and again. Think about how many times the media tries to convince you that a spade isn't a spade, but is actually the one thing that everyone who is anyone must have.
There was a story told long ago about a boy who wanted a goldfish from a pet store. Every time he would pass by the pet store, the goldfish would be on display in the store window in an elaborate aquarium, surrounded by craggy rocks, sunken pirate ships and exotic plants. The boy would watch the fish continuously swim from side to side in what he perceived as an elegant dance miles below the ocean's surface. As his mother jerked his arm to keep them on schedule with their daily errands, he would beg and plead with her to buy him the goldfish. His mother told him that she didn't have the money for it and that if he wanted the goldfish that badly that he should find a way to earn enough money to purchase it for himself. Later that week the boy began collecting cans and bottles from every trash can in town in order to turn his labors into recycled cash. After 2 weeks of rummaging through filth and grime, scavenging every corner of the town just to find another 1 cent can or bottle, the boy had earned enough money to purchase the goldfish. As soon as he realized this, he persuaded his mother to take him to the pet shop in order to purchase the object of his affection that he so tirelessly had worked to obtain. The moment finally came when the boy handed over his hard-earned money to the clerk in exchange for the golden image that constantly danced to boy's delight. But the boy's heart immediately grew troubled when the clerk handed him a plastic bag containing a tiny orange fish that simply floated in the same small space with a blank expression. The boy began to cry. His mother was baffled at her son's reaction to the thing that he regarded as so wonderful. "Son, what is the matter?" she asked flabbergasted. "Mommy, this isn't what I wanted." the boy replied. "I wanted the dancing fish that lived beneath the ocean with the pirate ship and plants." "Son," his mother responded, "this is that very same fish that you saw in the window. It's just in its purest form. There is nothing else to enhance its desirability. It is simply a goldfish."
The trouble with beauty is that it has been so distorted by the company that it has been forced to keep that it is no longer recognized as what it is or once was. It is now commodity; something that can be marketed and exploited for personal gain. This broken world still contains objects of beauty because God created this world and called it "good". In a true response to this creation, we must approach everything with a sense of awe and wonder, methodically differentiating true beauty from imitation. And then once that beauty is discovered, to appreciate it in its purest form; one that seems to transcend this material world and containing a spark of the Divine. Only then can we see the world, and its inhabitants the way the God saw it when He pronounced it "good".
