Sociohorticulture and Beauty

During my senior year of college, I took a Sociohorticulture class. Sociohorticulture examines how horticultural practices and plants can be beneficial for the human experience because of the relationship between the two. Really fascinating, and it's surprising how impactful plants can be. Yes, yes, I have college credit for such a class. Plants don't fly, but aerospace engineering majors need their elective credits.

When I initially drafted this blog post, I was on a snowboarding trip with some friends. This trip was part of the reason why I went on an unannounced blog break. I thoroughly enjoyed myself since I've never been snowboarding before (or snow sports in general), and it was definitely an adventure!

But, even as I had fun on the trip, I had a ton of things that I'm thinking about. I mean, beyond this trip I was preparing for a multitude of important obligations, and life in general has been particularly stressful.

And so, as we traversed from our lodging to the ski resort and vice versa, it gave me some time to look out the window and reflect on all the things occupying my mind, whether for worse or better.

Praise God that the views right outisde of the car window were that of the wilds and lightly settled areas of southern Colorado! Forests, mountains, blue skies, oh my! And even alpacas?! Cool.

It made me think back to my Sociohorticulture class. There I learned that seeing scenes of nature can provide a calming effect to help with stress as well as helping with focus. Seeing the mountains of majesty covered in forests against a backdrop of blue, clear skies definitely helped me be less stressed about all the things. It was quite nice. I sort of yearned to view such views because it helped put my mind at ease or at least distracted me from focusing on negatives.

But wait. There's more.

I'm Catholic.

Digging deeper into my faith has helped me appreciate encountering beauty, especially such beautiful scenes here in Colorado.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches me in paragraph 2500 that

"Truth is beautiful in itself...but truth can also find other complementary forms of human expression, above all when it is a matter of evoking what is beyond words: the depths of the human heart, the exaltations of the soul, the mystery of God. Even before revealing himself to man in words of truth, God reveals himself to him through the universal language of creation, the work of his Word, of his wisdom: the order and harmony of the cosmos-which both the child and scientist discover-"from the greatness and beauty of created things comes a corresponding perception of their Creator," "for the author of beauty created them."

In addition to the sociohorticulture benefits, seeing the beauty of Colorado definitely had its taste of the divine because it is His creation.

Why is that helpful for me? Because a majority of my interior struggles (which I won't divulge here at this time) deal with a self-centered attitude. Marvelling at Colorado's beauty reminds me that such a thing is only possible because of God, who is the author of beauty. Acknowledging the source of beauty I encountered really reminded me to put things in perspective that God is greater than me. Even if all the things I'm worried and concerned about seems to not be working in the way I want, just to have these opportunities of encountering beauty in nature to acknowledge divine perspective is calming despite all the stress I'm dealing with.  It takes a certain trust of God's love, mercy, and will to be okay in these beautiful encounters pointing towards the divine.

Total trust in God? Something I still struggle with.
- JD

Why #100PicsOfBeauty

To kick off this blog post, here are the top 3 most liked of my #100PicsOfBeauty on Instagram:

#1 (two-way tie)

(83) A sincere thank you. #100picsofbeauty #MemorialDay #gratefulpost Day 339

A photo posted by JR (@r4nd311) on May 26, 2014 at 4:45pm PDT

My housemates and I hosted a small Memorial Day gathering at our house, and we hung an American flag like this while we were grillin' and chips and salsa-ing.

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#1 (two-way tie)

(97) Crushing the heads of serpents in the front yard #100picsofbeauty #ImmaculateHeartOfMary

A photo posted by JR (@r4nd311) on Aug 7, 2014 at 9:45am PDT

One of my housemates purchased this statue of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and she watches over our front yard. I'm referencing Genesis 3: 15 in the caption.

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#2

(17) A St. Michael the Archangel sunset #100picsofbeauty

A photo posted by JR (@r4nd311) on Sep 1, 2013 at 5:39pm PDT

My Knights of Columbus council has a hall, and in front of the hall is this statue. I was stopping by at my youth group's softball practice when I noticed a dramatic looking sunset from the other side of the hall. Someone suggested to me that  I should go to the other side of the hall and take the picture, but then I noticed (for the first time?) that this statue exists. Couldn't resist.

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#3 (three-way tie)

(44) Frozen roses #100picsofbeauty

A photo posted by JR (@r4nd311) on Dec 6, 2013 at 9:13am PST

We had some crazy weather back in December 2013 where it was still relatively warm, but got immediately cold and icy. Early on, we had freezing rain after some warm weather so that's why the roses are still vibrant but now iced over. 

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#3 (three-way tie)

#100picsofbeauty (92) What it looks like from a 230 ft high suspension bridge in Vancouver

A photo posted by JR (@r4nd311) on Jul 3, 2014 at 12:48pm PDT

My parents and I visited family up in Canada last summer by meeting up with them in Vancouver. I got to see various sights around Vancouver, including a famous suspension bridge at Capilano Suspension Bridge Park north of Vancouver. This is a view from the bridge.

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#3 (three-way tie)

(96) Beautiful organ music playing when sneaking into a church at an awkward time #100picsofbeauty (St. Peter's, Lindsay, TX)

A photo posted by JR (@r4nd311) on Aug 1, 2014 at 11:29am PDT

One of the benefits of driving so freakin' far away for work was finding out about a really beautiful German-style painted Catholic church in north Texas. I wanted to pray here before lunch so I went in, but heard a buddy of mine practicing sacred music upstairs at the organ in the choir loft. So I went up there, and noticed how cool the organ looks.

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And why would I do such a thing, taking 100 pictures on Instagram regarding beauty?

Back in 2013, I had this crazy idea of registering for a young adult conference that was to happen right after I returned from my trip to Rio de Janeiro for World Youth Day. Like, arrive home Wednesday, go to work Thursday and Friday, and starting on Friday night attend this conference for the rest of the weekend. No rest for the weary.

The keynote speaker for the conference was Gene Monterastelli. He’s a Catholic speaker, storyteller, and writer. Most of the content of his keynotes were about how he navigates through life in practical Catholic ways. In particular, he talked about the 2012 presidential elections and how he noticed social media (Twitter specifically) had become a toxic forum regarding those elections. He was really bothered by that, so he decided he would inject some sort of antidote to combat the toxicity of discussion online.

His answer was #100tweetsofbeauty.  Simply just a tweet highlighting a beautiful moment or experience, online or in the real world. You can check out his #100tweetsofbeauty here.

After the conference and listening to him speak, I was inspired myself to do something similar. The late summer of 2013 didn’t have any particular dramatic controversies, scandals, or The Next Worst Thing Ever™.  At least, not that I can remember. Rather, I wanted to start something similar in order to combat the toxic ways I, myself, view the world sometimes.

So that’s when I decided to do #100picsofbeauty on Instagram (and shared via Twitter and Facebook). I like taking pictures, and I used no filters when capturing these moments. Anything that gave me pause and at least a brief sense of awe, wonder, and transcendence, I captured on my Instagram. Because that’s what beauty can do: bring about a sense of awe and wonder in a transcendent way.

It took me from August 2013 to November 2014 to complete it. Most times, a beautiful moment presented itself to me making it easy to capture that moment on Instagram. But there were a few times where I really had to stretch and seek beautiful things out. I realized just now as I'm writing this that beauty is all around us, but only if we are open to it and are looking for it are we able to acknowledge it. And respond to it.

As I was doing the preparation for this blog post (like making a spreadsheet of Like counts from Instagram per picture (omg, I accidentally did #47 twice (#101picsofbeauty))), I began to remember those moments and how awesome they were at the time.

I would say my personal mission to combat the toxic ways I view the world is a success. Doing #100picsofbeauty allowed me to pause and really reflect and contemplate on the beautiful moments of life, even in the littlest and trivial-est of things, that I would have otherwise bypassed without much thought.

We live in such a culture today that teaches people to seek pleasurable things, indulge in it briefly, and move on. But the problem with that is that it doesn’t teach me to really be consumed by authentic beauty that transcends (ie. that lasts more than a brief moment). My life is not a series of sensations, but a work to be accomplished and getting lost within the beauty of this world. That sense of infinite resonates within my being and helps me understand that there’s more to this life than simply what I observe and experience. After doing this at least 100 times, now I’ve formed a better habit to seek beauty.

So, I’ll return to my normal scheduled Instagramming, but I challenge you, dear reader, to take moments to pause and acknowledge the beauty happening in your life. Feel free to use the hashtag #100picsofbeauty (if you take pictures) as I’m the only one on Twitter who has used it so far.

“Beauty will save the world.” -Dostoyevsky, The Idiot
- JD

Vote for your favorite #100PicsOfBeauty!

At last! I have finally taken #100PicsOfBeauty through Instagram! It only took me something like a year and a half, but that's okay!

I'm surprised no one has asked me about why I did it...but...before I do, I figure I could have some fun with it.

From now til the end of the year, sign on to Instagram and follow me: @r4nd311, and Like your favorite pictures from my #100PicsOfBeauty. Conveniently, they are the most recent 100 pictures that I have on Instagram!

For my Facebook friends and Twitter followers, while my Instagram photos do get posted on those as well, I'll only count Likes via Instagram only.

After the new year, I'll post the top 5 most Liked #100PicsOfBeauty and then... explain why I did it!

Get excited! Click here to go to my Instagram profile, follow me, and Like your favorites! You can also use the sidebar to get to my Instagram profile.
- JD

"The Beauty Of A Soul Reflects Itself On The Face"

Jason Evert says in his book, Theology of Her Body (pg 31):

"The famous Russian novelist Dostoyevsky once wrote, 'Beauty will save the world.' Perhaps more than ever--at a time when beauty is so often distorted or idolized--his statement rings true. The world needs a renewal of women who understand the power of their beauty, and who will use it to draw the hearts of men towards God, instead of distracting them from Him. The kind of beauty that has the greatest power is not a mere physical attribute. In the words of [Venerable] Archbishop Fulton Sheen, 'The beauty on the outside never gets into the soul. But the beauty of the soul reflects itself on the face.'" 

 - JD

Picture of Fyodor Dostoyevsky from Wikipedia

Beauty in America's Got Talent

I've been reflecting on beauty moreso than usual lately. I won't get into why...but...just know that I am.

And...it's always interesting to see how we react and respond to beauty. Truly, if man and woman encounter objective beauty, there's a certain stirring from within that tends towards something infinite. Perhaps a sense of wonder and awe and the desire to be consumed by that beauty.

So, to help illustrate that, I found an example from a popular TV show, America's Got Talent.

This unassuming group pretty much surprised everyone with their singing. Notice that their skillful melodic harmonies evokes a sense of awe, wonder, and surprise from the judges and the audience to the point that the audience even gives a standing ovation even though they aren't even done with their audition! And wow, even Howard Stern looks on and listens with a smile!

We respond in a good way whenever we have a true encounter with beauty. Sure, the song they performed is in Latin, but they do it so. freakin'. well! And that, in and of itself, is beautiful.

And you know what? This is totally Catholic. Anything that is Good, True, and Beautiful? That becomes inherently Catholic even though it might not be explicitly Catholic.

But the song they sang is totally a Catholic hymn. 

Here's the YouTube video I saw that inspired me to write this post:

Beauty with a beat.

- JD

Forte - Pie Jesu // Rickey

Addendum: Angels and Saints at Ephesus

Allow me to quote a blog quoting a blog regarding the Benedictine Sisters of Mary, Queen of Apostles' latest album, Angels and Saints at Ephesus in addendum to my previous blog post.

From The Back of the World Blog (quoted in Fr. Z's blog):

A few weeks ago, I was sitting at the computer while my two-year-old son noisily played with some tupperware behind me. I clicked on a link to listen to a song from “Angels and Saints at Ephesus”, a new CD by the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of the Apostles (which, incidentally, has been tearing up the Classical music charts). The beautiful, a capella voices of the Sisters came softly over the computer speakers as they began a Gregorian chant in Latin. 

Suddenly, I noticed that the banging of tupperware behind me had stopped.
I turned to see my two-year-old, standing, staring at the computer, eyes wide open and mouth slightly agape. He took a few steps forward, and then said, breathlessly: “Dada…that’s Jesus music.” 

I was stunned. How on earth did he know that? (Our parish certainly doesn’t do any chanting at the N.O. Mass we attend…).He crawled up into my lap, and we listened to the rest of the chant together. And then we listened to it again. And then again. And then again. My boy was totally captivated, totally transfixed, totally enraptured…each time the chant would come to an end, he would look up at me and plead “again, Dada?”
I bought the album, and now every night my son asks to listen to the “Jesus music” as he falls asleep… 

***

Fyodor Dostoyevsky once said: “Beauty will save the world.”
Cardinal Ratzinger once said: “The encounter with beauty can become the wound of the arrow that strikes the soul and thus makes it see clearly, so that henceforth it has criteria, based on what it has experienced, and can now weigh the arguments correctly.”
Mother Theresa once said: “You have to learn from the Heart of Jesus. That is why Jesus said ‘learn of me’–not from books.” 

And somehow, in ways I will never understand, my two-year-old boy is listening to the beat of the Sacred Heart. He is encountering beauty, and listening to it with childlike ears of faith. He’s learning lessons that only the gentle notes and chords of Heaven can teach him. And all I can do is sit back and treasure up all of these things in my heart…

Wow, that's pretty cool.  Do I recognize beauty not only with my eyes, but also with my ears? It doesn't take a band nerd or Catholic nerd to appreciate the sisters' music because it is, in fact, beautiful.  When I encounter beauty, am I "totally captivated, totally transfixed, totally enraptured"?

Hmm...if not, at the very least I can at least begin to allow myself to be captured by beauty and listening to this album points me towards that direction.

Maybe it helps to know why the cloistered nun sings:

- JD