Think of the haunting, supernatural beauty of the prairie on an early morning in June, or the glorious but slightly menacing aspect of the Cathedral group in the Grand Tetons, or the gleaming splendor of Mount Shuksan and Mount Baker from Skyline Ridge, or the timeless crash and roar of the surf, or the melting sweetness of Mozart’s “Dona Nobis Pacem” that can bring hot tears to your eyes, or the incredible grace, beauty, and power of an ice-skating routine or a kickoff returned for ninety-eight yards. In each, there is a kind of yearning, something perhaps a little like nostalgia, or perhaps homesickness, a longing for one knows not what. This longing is different from sexual eros, though no doubt connected with it at a deep level. In these cases it isn’t easy to say with any precision what the longing is a longing for, but it can seem to be for a sort of union: it’s as if you want to be absorbed into the music, to become part of the ocean, to be at one with the landscape. You would love to climb the mountain, certainly, but that isn’t enough; you also somehow want to become one with it, to become part of it, or to have it, or its beauty, or this particular aspect of it, somehow become part of your very soul…When confronted with beauty, it is never enough; we are never really satisfied; there is more beyond, a more that we yearn for, but can only dimly conceive. We are limited to mere fleeting glimpses of the real satisfaction - unfulfilled until filled with the love of God. - Warranted Christian Belief, pages 317-318
Spectacular!
I had to hear this song he mentions . . .
Wow. What a lovely song. Thanks for posting that Cindy. 
https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/v/t1.0-9/p235x350/10645332_286350121555412_2233880157506631207_n.jpg?oh=d0a6c1009406aa2674c1f7a5bab55e57&oe=54890478&gda=1419861798_8c89258c07de647336ecb88ba050e8a0
http://quesada-trades.com/onewebstatic/f555617f01-beautiful-sunset.gif
In The Presence Of Beauty
In the presence of Beauty
I find gentleness and love
Wonder is awakened in me
As compassion comes alive
Within this Divine Matrix
All my fears melt away
I tremble at the thought
Of being in this radiance
For I long for union with it
And to drink it in and be one
For me, Beauty brings warmth
Releasing arrogance and pride
When Beauty whispers Her
Tenderness to my soul I am
Filled with childlike wonder
I want to stay this way forever
Cole
Beautiful poem this time, Cole. I love the sounds and the images you’ve evoked here. 