Walking in Beauty - Wayne Arnason December 2, 2011

"Beauty is inseparable from the real and the true, because like them, it accompanies the reflection of the One in the many. It opens the doors of the finite unto the infinite, and frees the soul from the confines of mortal forms..." Seyed Hossein Nassr , from "The Garden of Truth".

"The Garden of Truth" is a book about the theology and teachings of Sufism that we are reading in preparation for the beginning of the Rumi Intensive course offered by Starr King School for the Ministry, that will conclude the Children of Abraham half of our sabbatical. I came across this quote today as I was contemplating how to tie together the diverse experiences of the past couple of days into one blog post. Since Wednesdays we have explored ancient cave churches, watched sunsets and sunrises, walked on a beach, marvelled at a waterfall, gazed into the eyes of ancient Roman faces, and splashed in brilliant blue pools of water cascading down white limestone cliffs.

Instantly, it was clear; what was clear was not only one of the unifying threads of the last few days, but a unifying thread of all that we wanted to do on this journey through three countries, faith traditions, and cultures. We wanted to have the time to simply walk in beauty, and to appreciate all that these countries, faiths, and cultures treasure as beautiful.



Wherever we have come as pilgrims, to a holy site revered in sacred history (like St. Basil's Cave in Cappadocia), or to a famous archeological museum with ancient treasures of art (like the Roman sculptures retrieved from Perge on display in Antalya), or a natural wonder admired for thousands of years by Romans, Christians, and Muslims alike ( such as the limestone cliffs and pools at Pamukkale) we have ultimately come as pilgrims in search of beauty.




Tourists are notorious photographers and we are no different. In our defense, I must say we are only trying to capture the beauty that has astounded and moved us, in a form that will help us remember it. In this we are perhaps no different than the Orthodox Christian worshipers praying before their icons. In the 1500 photographs we have made so far, ( pity upon any who ask us if we took any pictures and can we see them?) we are only trying to honor and preserve the reflection of the One in the many that we have found, over and over again, along this road.