Circles of Courageous Commons is in the process of creating a new website. Being true to our belief that we are wiser and more whole together, we have had many Zoom calls, gathering thoughts and ideas about how to express our work to the world. Last week while we were discussing our values one person added to the conversation, (and I paraphrase) “We have said nothing about beauty, delight, or joy. That is what coming together in the commons means for me. It brings me joy and hope to go on in this world.”
This brings me today, to John O’Donohue, an Irish scholar, poet and writer. May his words “awaken the Beautiful” in you today. (Jean)
In Greek the word for ‘the beautiful’ is to kalon. It is related to the word kalein which includes the notion of ‘call’. When we experience beauty, we feel called. The Beautiful stirs passion and urgency in us and calls forth from aloneness into the warmth and wonder of an eternal embrace. It unites us together again with the neglected and forgotten grandeur of life. …
Beauty does not linger, it only visits. Yet beauty’s visitation affects us and invites us into its rhythm, it calls us to feel, think, and act beautifully in the world: to create a life that awakens the Beautiful. A life without delight is only half a life. Lest this be construed as a plea for decadence or a self-indulgence that is blind to the horrors of the world, we should remember that beauty does not restrict its visitations only to those whom fortune or circumstances favor. Indeed, it is often the whispers and glimpses of beauty which enable people to endure on desperate frontiers. Even, and especially, in the bleakest of times, we can still discover and awaken beauty; these are precisely the times we need it most.
…. Perhaps this is why there is such delight in beauty. In the midst of fragmentation and distress beauty draws the soul into an experience where an elegant order prevails. This brings a lovely tranquility and satisfies the desire of the soul. When the Beautiful continues on its way, the soul has been strengthened by a delight that will further assist her in transforming struggle.
Beauty: Rediscovering The True Sources of Compassion, Serenity and Hope, by John O’Donohue, pgs. 12 -14.
Invitation: “… beauty enables me to…”
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A Commons Practice
We believe that people are not meant to navigate life, work, and uncertainty alone.
Every reflection is an invitation to pause, wonder, and connect. If today’s piece stirred something in you, we’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
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Listen to John O’Donohue and Krista Tippet in this lovely interview on Beauty at this LINK
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August Courageous Citizen
Lois Gibbs
What inspires me about Lois Gibbs, who had no aspiration to be an advocate, is that she became one once she knew about how bad the chemical toxins were in her neighborhood in Love Canal. She fought for her own sick child. And, she believed she had to fight for the people who lived in her community.
“The dioxin story is the story of how science has failed to provide us with answers, how corporations control policymaking and decisions in our society, and how government is silenced.”
This from John O'Donohue -- for a time such as now in our nation and world --- "Even, and especially, in the bleakest of times, we can still discover and awaken beauty; these are precisely the times we need it most." Thank you Circles of Courageous Commons for this post.
JEAN!!! JOD (as I call him) is a true soul favorite. This really lit me up today, thank you. <3