Some Thoughts on Beauty and Virtue

I recently watched part of a BBC documentary in which philosopher Roger Scruton discussed why beauty matters. He wasn't speaking of the kind of beauty most women wish they had. He was speaking of the beauty represented in great art. There was a time when artists sought to lift the mind and spirit above the hard and cruel realities of life. But there's been a movement in the last several decades that minimizes the need for beauty in our lives and lifts the ugly and base things of the world to the status of importance that beautiful art once held. There are some ugly and disturbing images in the documentary that illustrate the point that beauty is being replaced with ugliness, crudeness, baseness.

The 13th Article of Faith ends with the line, "if there is anything virtuous, lovely, of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things."

But are we seeking after these things? Are we reaching for the spiritual, the beautiful, the praiseworthy? Or are we becoming so accustomed to the shock value, the cheap thrill, the titillating humor, that we admire it, laugh along with it, or just shake our heads and accept it? Do we fill our lives and homes and minds with beautiful things that elevate our spirit? Or are we so used to the degrading and the crass that we put up with it, or worse, even celebrate it?


Yesterday, the local newspaper carried a story about a man who had had enough of foul, degrading and ugly language. He was driving an empty school bus after he'd dropped off his load of children. At a stoplight he saw the bumper sticker on the pick up in front of him. It contained foul language including the R-rated word. He didn't think it was funny. This wasn't a movie he could walk out of or a television show he could turn off. This was the back of the vehicle directly in front of him. He noticed a corner of the sticker was raised and immediately got off the bus, pulled off the offensive sticker and got back on the bus, throwing it away.

He lost his job. Whether or not you agree with his actions, one thing is clear. We're assaulted with ugliness and there are those who think we're just supposed to put up with it. In fact, while this man lost his job, the F-word touting pick-up driver's rights of free expression were upheld.

The bus driver quoted philospher and statesman Edmund Burke: "There is, however, a limit at which forbearance ceases to become a virtue." When we see crass and degrading things, do we forbear? Do we silently put up with it or do we give a little uncomfortable laugh? Do we find humor in things that are degrading or irreverent? If we do, we're contributing to the problem.


Our spirit seeks for beauty. It delights in virtue. It longs to be fed with things that nourish and uplift it. Beautiful art, music, language and conversation lift us up. We have to actively seek after the beautiful and virtuous things.