At various points in my life, I get uniquely geeked out on different aspects of the nature or character of God. I suppose a way to explain this “geeked out” sensation is that I am profoundly impressed with God for some reason or another.
At the moment, I am impressed with God’s design of the human mind in relation to truth, beauty, and goodness. Usually this ancient triad is used for philosophical apologetics of the Christian faith, but right now I am just blown away that this triad even exists!
There is something truly amazing about the fact that the human mind can actually identify truth in contrast to falsity, beauty in contrast to ugliness, and goodness in contrast to badness. I suppose I may be straying a bit from this ancient triad in this blog post, because when I say, “goodness in contrast to badness” I do not mean “morality in contrast to immorality” (though it is pretty freaking cool that we recognize that too), but rather “excellence in contrast to the mediocre.”
It is incredibly cool that these categories automatically exist within our cognition, but this is what is way cooler; when something is identified as maxing out on all three of these categories at the same time, something absolutely indescribable happens to us. We have just touched something untouchable. We have emotionally grasped something that cannot be measured or even articulated.
Let me give an example.
When you hear a truth, you celebrate it. It stimulates your intellect. That’s incredibly cool. But what if that truth is sung in a song? Now imagine that this song is actually good. Boom! Just like that your intellectual stimulation has just been magnified! The truth by itself was a solid rock you were standing on, but when it is present with beauty and excellence, it becomes a mountain!
It’s the difference of grasping a truth in your fist, and embracing it with your whole body.
Incredible.
This is why words are magical. Not only can they convey truth, but if they are strung together in just the right way--if prose find their sweet spot--they convey truth with power. Should we be surprised that God chose to disclose the nitty gritty details of his nature and character in the word?
This is why words are magical. Not only can they convey truth, but if they are strung together in just the right way--if prose find their sweet spot--they convey truth with power. Should we be surprised that God chose to disclose the nitty gritty details of his nature and character in the word?
A whole new level of your existence is revealed to you when your mind and emotion and spirit are all completely engaged in a beautiful truth which has just been presented with “excellent execution.”
What is amazing to me is that God created this layer in every human being, and we can only have access to it at those precious moments in time.
We read a truthful book written by a man who actually knows how to write, and does so creatively.
We listen to the ebb and flow of a preacher who understands how to string a phrase together in such a way that it is not only grammatically correct, but beautiful.
We hear a song in which the melody and rhythm build perfectly with the content of the lyrics; providing a wave for your mind and emotion to surf on.
We read a truthful book written by a man who actually knows how to write, and does so creatively.
We listen to the ebb and flow of a preacher who understands how to string a phrase together in such a way that it is not only grammatically correct, but beautiful.
We hear a song in which the melody and rhythm build perfectly with the content of the lyrics; providing a wave for your mind and emotion to surf on.
This layer of humanity exists.
I just can’t help but be profoundly impressed with the fact that God included this layer as a common design feature in every person. This admiration is worship.
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