The "Constants" of Life

In today's ruminations, I want to talk about what, in my memory, used to be called, "the varities"--the irreducible constants. To be "irreducible" means that something cannot be broken down any further. The constants I want to cover are generally considered to be subjects of Philosophy. (In our modern world, Philosophy has been relegated, unfortunately, to the garbage heap of history.)

Those constants, for me, are Truth, Beauty and Love. In my last blog, I wrote about knowing what is important to oneself. We have just been made witness, again, to the swiftness with which Nature can literally sweep away everything most people think of as, "important", leaving nothing but ruble in its wake, and lone individuals searching for small bits of their former lives in the ruins.

By focusing on what is truly important to oneself, perspective can be gained as to what has been lost. For many who survive, what is important to them, has become, "I am still alive"; "my cat survived," etc., etc. Whether they like it or not, for the survivors, what has happened becomes an opportunity to start over; create a new life for themselves.

I am sure most of us would prefer to not have to go through such harrowing experiences to re-evaluate what, exactly, is important in their lives. As indicated, for me, it is the constants--truth, beauty and love. For many who have survived recent catastrophic events, "life" would be added to that list.

"Truth," for most people, is what they Believe, and is why it is so difficult to let their Beliefs go, or to even begin to question them. For me, it is a never-ending search for what is "real." Unfortunately, the best one can hope to achieve is truths relative to other possible truths, and to the best of one's comprehension.

"Beauty," to me is a Constant, and not subjective, as in, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." While it is certainly true, fortunately for many more than mere artists, I maintain that Beauty is a constant, as expressed by John Keats in his poem, "Ode on a Grecian Urn," "Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know." In the middle of the '60's, many artists lost their way, believing that ugliness was equivalent to, "true art." My sculpture teacher expressed this idea well, when she told us that when she began creating sculptures she believed that, "if people liked it, it wasn't true art."

"Love." "How would you define, 'love'?", I was asked, by a speaker at a recent event I attended. I replied, that, "For me, love is the highest emotion, and others, such as anger, and hate, are expressions of lack, (of love)."

The ancient Greeks had four words for, "love" instead of our one. Briefly, they were: "Eros," (for passionate and/or romantic love); "Philia," (for non-sensual love as expressed in true friendship), and meaning "friendship" in modern Greek language; "Agape," (used, in a religious sense, for God's love, and for love of one's fellow man, also, holding one in high regard), generally considered to be what modern humans think of as "love", and "Storge," (to indicate affection for members of ones family, and, reportedly, rarely used in ancient times).

Having, once again, born witness to the power of Nature, and the havoc it can create in the lives of vast numbers of people, no matter where they live, is just one more good reason to become clear, in one's own mind, what is truly important. Doing so can create a solid base on which to build, if necessary.

So, I end today's blog.

Shirley Gallup