AESTHETICS BLOG #2
BEAUTY = Integrity + Proportion + Clarity
The human person is an artwork of God. We were knitted in our mother's womb (cf. Psalm 139:13), crafted by the Creator's own image and likeness, and proclaimed as good. In a sense, we share in God's goodness, perfection, and beauty. In studying aesthetics, and particularly in reading the aesthetic theory of St. Thomas Aquinas, I came across the Thomistic formula for what constitutes the beautiful. If we are indeed beautiful since we are the Divine Artist's artwork and we share in his beauty, these qualities proposed by Aquinas are evident in us.
In Aquinas' Summa Theologica (q.39, article 8), he puts forth three qualities of the beautiful:
For beauty includes three conditions, ‘integrity’ or ‘perfection,’ since those things which are impaired are by the very fact ugly; due ‘proportion’ or ‘harmony’; and lastly, ‘brightness’ or ‘clarity,’ whence things are called beautiful which have a bright color.
Now I ask: does man, as beautiful artwork, possess all three? Reflecting on this matter, I am brought to not only see the human person's physical appearance but also to peer into man's soul.
INTEGRITAS
Integrity means the quality of wholeness or perfection in the object and the appropriate fullness of being. In other words, it is the state of being whole or complete. This would remind us of a transcendental property of being: UNITY - Being is One. What has ontological unity (one in itself) is intelligible; that which is not one in itself is not. I think that the contrary to this concept of oneness is captured by the Filipino term "sabog."
Sabog denotes a number of meanings: wasted, acting crazy, and disorganized, to name a few. These terms are opposite to integrity, and sadly these are also used to describe people. Some people have a life that is 'sabog' - unorganized, drowned in problems, and could not quite figure out the path that they are walking in. It is like the parts of their lives do not have integrity. Something is missing in their lives. Direction, maybe?
PROPORTIO
Proportion means having harmony or the right ratio between parts, and it could also be understood as psychological proportionality - the right relation between the human senses and the object of beauty.
On a physical level, a normal human being possesses proper proportion in his body parts: his/her head has just the right size, arms are in proportion with the legs, the placement of the organs and their sizes are also properly symmetrical.
It is also worth noting that the brain is larger and heavier compared to the heart, and the former is placed above the latter. As I interpret it in a spiritual sense, these organs are like that so the head, above all, can regulate the heart, and the heart can 'slow' the head down. Man's reason is what governs his endeavors and decisions; his feelings and emotions are what connects him with his fellowmen and take them into consideration for his every choices and actions.
CLARITAS
Clarity pertains to an ontological splendor which means that it is clear in itself. This could be understood in both a physical sense and a spiritual sense. In a physical sense, clarity has something to do with light and color; in a spiritual sense, clarity has something to do with the spiritual sense of reason.
In both a physical and spiritual sense, the clarity of the human person is present. Physically, we are born with distinct skin colors. The human person is not a dull creature; the brilliance of one's skin shines forth to every eye. Spiritually, the human person shines in a kind of spiritual luminosity with how s/he lives her/his life. Living a virtuous and moral life and fulfilling her/his personal vocation -- all these radiate a certain light, a light s/he shares with the Creator.
God has intended for the human person to be a great work of art. Following the Thomistic formula of beauty, it could be concluded that every man or woman possesses integrity, proportion, and clarity. S/he has a lot of dimensions that are complex and rich. Investigating her/his beauty, it is noteworthy that these dimensions are one, harmonious, and splendid. The human person, after all, is the imago Dei.