Beauty as Vaccine
“Have you been vaccinated yet?” “I got my first shot today.” “Which vaccine did you get?” “Where did you get it?” “How did your body react?”
As more and more people get vaccinated against Covid-19, these kinds of phrases have become part of our daily conversations. It makes sense, really. We tend to get pretty excited and talk about things that promise relief or protection from sickness and other harm. And that’s exactly what a vaccine is designed to do as “a substance injected into the body to provide immunity against one or several diseases.”*
Just yesterday I found myself in yet another conversation with a casual acquaintance when this topic came up. That’s when the synapses in my artist’s brain fired off an interesting thought: What if there was a vaccination for the non-physical parts of our being that are susceptible to immaterial diseases? In other words, what if there was something we could “inject” that could provide immunity against things like depression, despondency, despair, and everyday doldrums? If such a vaccine were available, I wonder if we’d all be clamoring for it the way we’re clamoring for the Covid shot.
And then it hit me. There IS a vaccine for many of our inward, immaterial, non-physical ailments. Beauty! When we pause to enjoy beauty, we are in that moment receiving a vaccine for some of our deepest inward diseases. Beauty-fan and writer John O’Donohue puts it this way in excellent book Beauty: The Invisible Embrace.
It is quite fascinating how beauty touches the mind. No-one is immune to beauty. Regardless of background, burdens or limitations, when we find ourselves in a place of great beauty, [then] clarity, recognition, and excitement awaken in us. It is never a neutral experience. Despite all our disaffection with what can sometimes be a harsh and cynical world, there is an eternal beckoning in the heart of beauty that touches what is still innocent in us. …More like a visitation than a solid fact, beauty invests the aura of a person or infuses a landscape with an unexpected intimacy that satisfies our longing.**
Perhaps our biggest challenge in receiving daily doses of beauty-vaccine is to “find ourselves in a place of great beauty.” O’Donohue’s inclusion of that adjective “great” intrigues me. It suggests that a tiny jpeg of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers on our smart phone simply won’t do. Sure, it’s beautiful. But – to continue our vaccination metaphor – it’s too small a dose! Why skimp on beauty like this, anyhow? To settle for such paltry doses of beauty is like going to a pharmacist and saying, “You know, I don’t really want the full Covid-19 vaccine. Just give me one little drop, please.”
Compare a tiny jpeg of Sunflowers to an experience I had last summer. I was exploring Confluence Point State Park in Missouri and found myself walking through an entire field of radiant sunflowers. What an unexpected encounter with great beauty! The universal positive effect of this sunflower patch on human hearts was obvious as dozens of park-goers wandered through the bright yellow fields giggling and taking photos. Several had dressed up their little children and driven to this spot for a photo shoot. We all received a much-needed vaccine that day for our souls.
Taking time to “find ourselves in a place of great beauty” is a blessed endeavor that can take many forms. Perhaps it’s sitting down and actually listening to beautiful music instead of just playing music as background noise for your life. Perhaps it’s visiting your local art museum and truly observing the art. Perhaps it’s taking a walk in a local park or around your neighborhood with eyes peeled for beauty in flora and fauna, in the dance of sunlight in the leaves, in the soft landing of a honeybee on a flower, or in the smell fresh-mown grass. Perhaps it’s pausing to appreciate the colors, fragrance, and taste of your food. Perhaps it means beautifying your living and working spaces with a fresh coat of paint, some new furnishings, and beautiful artwork (yay for beautiful artwork!).
In my humble estimation, we all need regular beauty-vaccinations at least as much as we need our Covid-19 vaccinations! The benefits are amazing! So, how about joining me as we “find ourselves in a place of great beauty” today?
*Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, 1953, p. 938
**Beauty: The Invisible Embrace by John O’Donohue, Harper Perennial, 2003, pp. 20-21