Beauty and Work

Speeches, Scruton, and Pieper

Welcome, readers and listeners!

Yes, you read that right. With my husband’s expert ear (and equipment), we are now recording my regular missives. You can listen to me read my own writing while you check those emails and do other things! Let me know what you think.

As I prepare my second commencement speech ever, I am mindful of the impact a ten-minute speech may or may not hold. Words are an unusual thing. Words are said to carry weight. They are said to capture us. They have life and power and influence. Here I am as a teacher and administrator; words are my currency. I give them away daily and often receive them back with interest in multiple forms—in the essay, in discussion, and even the occasional thank you note. I hope they bear fruit.

In the classroom

When I hear a student say that any thing can be beautiful, I always ask what they mean. Many times they think we each “have a right” to call something beautiful, but a right in their minds is like free speech. It’s both a mushy definition and an odd application of the First Amendment. To me, that’s sloppy thinking, and I wholeheartedly join in those conversations, conversations that center on definition.

What is a right? How many things do you have a right to? How do you know? How is a right different than opinion?

But more importantly, If any thing can be beautiful, how do you know what beauty is?

My hope is that I can help my students define what they perceive and hopefully realize that beauty has a careful standard. I ordered a copy of Roger Scruton’s Beauty: A Very Short Introduction (2011) for a refresher on how to think and talk about beauty.

Early in the book, Scruton writes,

Much that is said about beauty and its importance in our lives ignores the minimal beauty of an unpretentious street, a nice pair of shoes, or a tasteful piece of wrapping paper . . . They are part of the context in which we live our lives, and our desire for harmony, fittingness and civility is both expressed and confirmed in them.

Scruton goes on to say that the humble beauties are fitting accompaniment to the stunning ones, that they require each other. I think of the ivory green of our dogwood blossoms brushing against the rough tree trunk. The bark is a contrast, but it is not ugly. Blossom and bark accompany one another in God’s design, and I see beauty in both.

As I wait to hear back on a few pitches, Front Porch Republic published one of my March articles, “Work and Leisure: A Pieper Primer.” In it I summarize two of Pieper’s books, Leisure: The Basis of Culture (1948) and In Tune with the World: A Theory of Festivity (1965).

With true leisure, the worker is not only refreshed from work but for work. Pieper is not trying to pose a call to action; rather, he is hoping to make people think and consider the way they see, live, and embrace life. Our perspective and manner of looking at work and life, and not just living through it, are key. We can begin the joy of active leisure by acknowledging that our lives are a gift and that the ability to receive this truth and its correlating gift of perspective is outside of ourselves, a gift from God.

On my nightstand

1. Martin Schleske’s The Sound of Life’s Unspeakable Beauty (2020). I am new to Schleske and find it amazing that this translation from German to English was released a month after COVID shut down the world. Schleske has a gift to see spiritual metaphor in every aspect of his work as a violin maker, from harvesting trees with the right tone to describing resonance profiles in his instruments. To me as a cellist, extremely fascinating insights.

2. Oxford School Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Though I have read the play for coursework before, this is the first time I have taught it. I love the subtle humor and am most definitely using Adler’s “twice-read” practice I mentioned last month in Focus and Finish: Rejections, Waves, and Shakespeare. I can’t wait to show my high school students the Globe’s 2013 production starring Roger Allam as Prospero!

As always, thanks for reading! And don't forget that the List Library at my website is always available to you, my readers.

Christine