Beauty order and newness!

We often think of order as boring! But one of the aspects of order is newness. Chesterton says in his book ‘Orthodoxy’ that children never get bored with listening to dad telling the same story. There is a beauty to seeing the sun rise each day, of having the meal with all the family.

There is a beauty in order. St Augustine wrote ‘From this stage, reason advanced to the province of the eyes. And scanning the earth and the heavens, it realized that nothing pleased it but beauty, and in beauty, design and in design, dimensions, and in dimensions, number.’

We often think of order as boring, the same old thing, nothing happens that is new., everything is predictable. And it is true a routine order and become boring. It is also true that beauty is an effect of order. Aquinas says ‘a thing is ordered when it has everything it should have, when it is perfect.’

Order bring surprise. Plotinus says ‘This is the spirit that beauty ever induce, wonderment and a delicious trouble, longing and love and a trembling that is all delight.’

As John Mark Miravalle writes in his book ‘Beauty’ ‘in beauty, the surprise keeps us from getting used to order.’ Order follows a things essence. But in order we are surprised that things are different than we expect. We know what a tree is.. but we fall down in wonder at the variety of trees.

So order brings newness and splendor. St Augustine ‘Beauty ever ancient, ever new.’

I love this thought from Aquinas ‘the mind is more inclined by desire to act intensely in things that are new.’

Why do we get tired bored from the old dinner party. It is formal, order but boring..but we can have the dinner party with different chairs of different colors and plates. Bright colors.. the table setting is ordered but it is beautiful in its order. That is one reason money can’t buy beauty.. beauty is something that a mom brings to the table.