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Monthly Archives: September 2011

What Makes Good Erotic Art?

29 Thursday Sep 2011

Posted by Racer X in art, beauty, erotica, spirituality

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What is it that I search for in a good erotic piece? It is hard to say. Certainly my own biases and preferences determine what I like, as opposed to what others like. As in all critical judgement of art, there is really no right or wrong, no absolute standard to determine what is good, and what is not good. In the end it is all subjective. This is probably even more true when discerning erotic art.

What appeals to me are things that are alluring and evocative. I search for the spirituality of sex, the mystery of eroticism. What I use as my standards of artistic perfection are the old masters, especially those of the Renaissance. Leonardo in particular was able to capture a certain, unique kind of evocativeness in his paintings. His women are eternally mysterious. Botticelli also paints evocative, alluring women.  And these are only two among many artists. A good erotic piece of art, whether in painting or photography, should possess something of that mysterious. I feel it needs to express the deeper, more transcendent qualities of sexuality, rather than simply be an image for lustful titillation. Certainly lust can be aroused; but for me there needs to be something more, in order for me to think it has some artistic merit.

The photo posted above seems to have something of that allure, that mysteriousness of sexuality. The soft lighting, the shadows, the gentle poses, the delicate hair of the two women wistfully dangling about their lovely bodies, is not only quite artistic, but quite sensual as well. In particular, the play between light and shadow, something that the Italian Renaissance masters were quite skilled at (know as chiaroscuro), and none more so than Leonardo, bathes this photo in a erotic evocativeness that is quite beautiful.

Leonardo's Virgin of the Rocks (later version). A good example of chiaroscuro of which he was the supreme master.

I wrote a post earlier on Leonardo’s portraits: https://theracerx.wordpress.com/2011/01/12/leonardo-da-vincis-sense-of-feminine-beauty/  He is one of those artists who was so good, that his style is immediately recognizable, and inimitable. He had many followers, but no one could ever quite match his atmosphere. His works have always been among my favorites: hauntingly beautiful, spiritual, and eternally evocative. What Leonardo’s own approach was to religion and spirituality is hard to say, he was certainly far from being a devout man religiously, yet he was able to capture in his paintings a profound sense of spiritual wonder and mystery as few others have.

One of my favorite Leonardo drawings. Mysterious and alluring, evocative, yet still beautiful. Leonardo enjoyed depicting the delicacy of hair, as in the photo above.

So if there is some reference point for me in my taste for erotic art, it would begin with these old masters. Leonardo in particular, although not necessarily associated with erotic art, nevertheless captures a certain type of mysterious beauty that for me, when hinted at by later artists in their own erotic works, is quite powerful. These old masters are not the only vantage point from which I view erotica, but they are an important one.

The Angel from the Virgin of the Rocks above. Again, a nice play of light and shadow, as well as Leonardo's love of delicate hair. I always found this quite beautiful as well.

But, since I like to keep my posts a certain manageable length, I will say more on this in my next post.

Erotic Art Stirs Up Nice Memories and Desires

27 Tuesday Sep 2011

Posted by Racer X in art, erotica

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by Malcom T. Liepke

I like this. As I was saying in my post yesterday, when a girl dresses a bit more modestly, I always wonder what she has on underneath. When I see a girl in skirt, but a skirt that is not too revealing, it makes me wonder and imagine other things. This painting captures something of that wonder, at least for me. This piece shows how painting can often capture a certain kind of atmosphere that photography often cannot. A good photographer can of course create a good atmosphere, but unfortunately a lot of porn is lacking in good atmosphere. This painting conveys mystery and enticement. We don’t even see her face, but we can assume she is quite attractive. At least her body is portrayed as attractive. It is all so simple, nothing fancy: a blue blouse, black skirt, white panties, and lovely legs. There is nothing too explicit here, not even any nudity, yet it portrays the powerful allure of sexuality in a way that is primal, yet still civilized.

It also stirs my imagination as well as my memories. It reminds of those delightful moments when I have been on a couch with a girl who was wearing a skirt, making out with her, and running my hands up her legs and up under the skirt and over her moist panties; or how I love to kneel in front of a woman and lift her skirt up and kiss her through her panties; or all the woman I would love to do that to…

Good art is always a pleasure to see.

The Erotic Beauty in Modesty

26 Monday Sep 2011

Posted by Racer X in art, beauty, eroticism, spirituality, women

≈ 8 Comments

Modesty comes in different forms...

I was in Church today. I usually go early in the morning on Sundays, but today I went a bit later, when it is more crowded and the crowd tends to be a bit younger.

What I saw was quite pleasant. There were many pretty girls there. Most were dressed in a way that was not overly sexual, just your basic jeans, sweaters, etc. A few had on shorter skirts, shorts, or tighter fitting shirts. However they were dressed, I enjoyed the vision of these various girls in the pews. The fact that they were in Church showed that they had some sense of spirituality about them, which is something I find attractive, seeing that is an important thing for my own life. I like seeing and meeting girls who are the same. I find a deep spirituality often goes hand in hand with a deep eroticism. I find the photo above combines a sort of spirituality and eroticism, as well as a bit of mystery and intense beauty. I love seeing images of feminine beauty such as this one. In its own strange way it seems almost modest, as if the woman is a bit ashamed to be viewing her pudenda, so she does not open her eyes. It is an alluring photo. It reminds me of how I have known many woman who were shy and self conscious about their own bodies when we first made love, only to become more comfortable once they began to enjoy their sexuality and the pleasure of sex.

As I was noticing the different dressed females, I was thinking how much more attractive a girl is when she leaves more to the imagination. Eroticism is often enhanced through restraint. The mind is our most potent sex organ. I always preferred a girl who dressed a bit more modestly, than one who dressed like a stripper. There is a certain kind of beauty in modesty. Modesty speaks of the allure and intrigue of sexual desire, the what if lying beneath the layers of clothing. For me, the ideal girl is someone who is a bit more modest in public, but a complete freak in bed. When a girl exposes too much in public, less is left to wonder about, since you can probably assume she is quite sexual (and there is nothing wrong with that, and that can be attractive in its own right); but when a girl dresses more modestly, you can wonder in a deeper way what she is like in other ways. Is she sexual beneath those more modest clothes? What is she wearing beneath them? Does she masturbate? Or maybe her modest clothes reflect a lack of sexuality? You just never know with such girls until you get to know them.

Often there are discussions on different religious blogs about how a woman should dress in public. Modesty is always praised as a virtue, but often it can lead to frumpiness and a deficit of beauty. I sometimes even sense some hostility among women to those who dress well. Sometimes I notice different people arguing with each other over who is more modest, and therefore better, more virtuous, and what women should not be wearing (I am waiting for the neo-Traditionalist crowd over at Alte’s blog http://traditionalchristianity.wordpress.com/ to start wearing burkas in an attempt to outdo each other in virtue). They often say they do not want to be a cause of temptation to their male brethren in church. I can understand that, but still, I enjoy seeing feminine beauty, and I particularly enjoy seeing it at Church. For instance, today one girl was sitting to my right, and she was wearing a nicely fitting shirt and jeans. She had an air of sensuality about her. Her hair was long and flowing, thick with curls. She was quite attractive. Another girl was sitting to my left, and she seemed a bit more conservative. Her shirt was not as tight, and although she too had nice long and sumptuous hair, I did not sense the same air of sexuality about her. A few pews up a girl was wearing a very short skirt, almost half way up her thighs, but her legs were quite lovely to see. A little near her was another girl who was wearing a pair of orange shorts, nothing too extreme, but short and complimenting well her butt. It was hard for me not to check them out during the Mass. I checked out the one girl in the orange shorts on my way to communion. I will probably go to hell for that one. It was hard to resist. I was surrounded by many beauties today.

Of course my mind can be downright filthy too. I was having many impure thoughts about these girls. As a matter of fact, I often think about sex at Church, regardless of who is there. In the end I am truly a hopeless case! Oh well…

I like experiencing beauty in different setting, including those where feminine beauty might not as acceptable or understood, such as a Church. I don’t like the idea of women covering their heads in Church. I know many think this is a proper thing to do, but I like seeing a girl’s hair. It is not necessarily a source of evil temptation and lust, nor is it a distraction from my worship of God, but rather, it is something pleasant to see, to enjoy visually, to remind myself of the beauty of God’s creation all around us. And that beauty is all around us, including religious settings, where the mixing of the earthly and spiritual can be a powerful type of otherworldly experience as well.

The Celebration of Erotic Beauty

25 Sunday Sep 2011

Posted by Racer X in art, beauty, erotica

≈ 2 Comments

I love erotic art. I love erotic nudes. I love the female body. I love seeing an attractive woman naked. There is something particularly delightful about erotic art, erotic photography. It is pleasurable. The above photo is quite nice: how it is framed, the flowery background, the sensuous curves on her body, the diaphanous drapery she is wearing, her expression as she gently holds a flower up towards her face, all paint the poetics of erotic love, beauty, longing and desire. It captures something almost spiritual. It is a beautiful representation of the mysterious allure of a soft, feminine sexuality.

And yet many would call this porn and have it censored.

Why are so many people uncomfortable about sex. I was reading today about a teacher in Ohio who was arrested last February because she had sex with her students. Now, she obviously should not be in teaching, and so it was just that she lost her job,  but she was arrested, and the tv footage showed her in shackles, on her hands and her feet. She is charged with sexual battery. And just whom did she “batter”? She had sex with some of the football players on the school team. That is right, this petite woman “sexually battered” a bunch of football players who are four times the size of her. It is all ridiculous. This woman had consensual sex with someone who was old enough to fully know what they were doing and she is put in shackles and treated like a rapist. It is insane. I guarantee you the guys thoroughly enjoyed what happened. It was my teenage fantasy to have sex with an older woman. It is most young men’s fantasy. Yet we continue to live in this neo-Puritan society of prudes. In some states it is still illegal to sell a vibrator, or at least it was up until a few years ago. Sodomy is still a felony in many states.

I write on erotic art, photography and literature partly because this neurotic, schizophrenic, hypocritical atmosphere we create around sex is toxic. I am sure many of those involved in the prosecution of that woman were themselves enjoying lots of internet porn when they got to the privacy of their own home. And yet they are the first to throw stones at a woman who had sex with someone they do not deem appropriate. Eroticism makes many uncomfortable. It creates tension. Therefore, I enjoy posing erotic nudes, even more explicit art work, simply to stir the societal pot just a little bit. I want to say “fuck you” to those asexual, anal retentive and often hypocritical and lying moralists who have such a sway over our society.

Beauty gives us pleasure. Erotic beauty gives a particular kind of pleasure. There is nothing wrong with that. If there is, then why did God create beauty and give us the capacity to enjoy it, or the capacity to enjoy sexual pleasure? Yet the prudes, the Protestant neo-Puritans, and Catholic neo-Jansenists (or neo-Traditionalists if you like), and the humorless, sexless feminists would have us think and react very differently about sex, eroticism, sensual pleasure and erotic beauty. I am not saying that people should be completely reckless in their sexual lives, that can be dangerous to everyone involved and have severe societal effects, but I think we should be less afraid of the expression of erotic beauty in art and literature, of experiencing erotic pleasure in our own lives, and little less harsh with people who may have made a few sexual mistakes along the way. A thirty two year old woman having sex with high school football players does not deserve to be put in shackles and treated like a common rapist. And all erotic art and photography should not be labeled and categorized by the Michelle Bachmann-Rick Perry crowd as “porn”.

Life, and people, are more subtle, complex and complicated than these simple minded, morally pure idiots make it out to be.

Eclectic Erotic Art

24 Saturday Sep 2011

Posted by Racer X in art, beauty, erotica

≈ 5 Comments

Another nice drawing by Milo Manara

Thanks to a link left in my previous post’s comment section,  http://blondiraq.posterous.com/ , I have learned that the art work in my previous post was by one Milo Manara, an Italian comic book artist and writer born in 1945 who has been creating good erotic art for many decades now. He is also considered one of the best comic book artists alive. I remember being in Italy once and seeing a number of erotic comic books at a newsstand, which seemed strange to me at the time, seeing that we do not have such a comparable industry so openly displayed in the U.S. I have never thought about that much since then, but after learning of this artist, it all makes sense. Leave it once again to the Italians to appreciate good erotic art. It has been going on with them since the Renaissance (although apparently Milo is more appreciated in France than in Italy for his comic book skills). The above illustration is another one of his works. I find it quite well done: sexual, sensual, erotic and down right hot. It brings back many delicious memories for me as well as the present desires with different women in my life right now…

I find this fascinating. As far as art in general, there are many fine artists, artists of great talent, who are working in mediums that others may consider less high brow and serious than traditional artistic mediums. For instance, the illustrations for comic books, magazines, and, in the past, pulp novels, are often created by some very fine artists. In a previous post of mine  https://theracerx.wordpress.com/2010/12/16/pulp-fiction-a-lost-male-literary-genre/ on the male genre of pulp fiction, I write about how I was initially attracted to many of these magazines, when I found them online, through the art work. If people think that somehow magazine artists are somehow inferior to more traditional canvass artists, I think the popularity and growing appreciation of someone like Norman Rockwell, and his influence on American self perception, should help put that myth to rest. These are good artist, just working in slightly different medium. Of course most artists tend to work in both mediums, but the magazine and novel art that is created needs to be acknowledged and appreciated critically more than it is. It is good stuff.

The above mentioned blogger has a nice blog with lots of eclectic erotic art. I suggest those interested in good erotic art visit it.

I am trying to learn more about what erotic art is out there, so anyone who has more information about all this, please, pass it along my way…not only for the information, but also for the pleasure of viewing.

Erotica Art And Porn

23 Friday Sep 2011

Posted by Racer X in art, beauty, erotica, spirituality

≈ 3 Comments

I have been doing a lot of “research” out there on nudes, and only about ten percent of the stuff I come across I consider to be of any real value. The rest of the stuff is not good: either the images are too graphic, or the models are not that attractive, or they engage in stupid poses with strained expression on their faces. This is why art is often a good expression of eroticism. The artist can create an erotic scene, nude or situation, and endow that scene with whatever atmosphere he pleases. He can capture the mystery of eroticism in a way that photos often do not. Sometimes, if not far too much of the time, the models in photography just don’t cut it, and it seems as though the business of porn restrains a true and natural sensuality from emerging. The models may look unhappy. Or you can tell they are acting. It is one thing for an attractive woman to pose naked; it is another thing for her to convey to the camera some senses of true sensuality. Too often porn is nothing more than jack off material. Not that there is anything wrong with that; but in an attempt to distinguish different qualities of erotica, I think the higher quality stuff has to be separated from the lower quality.

With erotic art you have something more elevated, yet still erotic. It seems better, more substantial, even more real a lot of the times than a photograph. As I said above, the artist can create a scene of true sensuality and sexuality; we know there are no models pretending, perhaps acting because they are high on drugs, strung out, or whatever. As for more explicit art, no one is getting paid to fuck. The work is simply a creation of the artists imagination, whether drawn from his past or from a pure fantasy world. Porn is most often created to make some sort of profit; erotic art is usually created out of the need of the artist to create. In that need for pure creation, the result is often a deeper expression of sexuality than standard porn can provide. In that sense, good erotic art seems more real than standard porn.

Perhaps an objection to erotic art as something worthwhile might be, “Well, it is all fake. They are only drawings or paintings.” True, art is merely a representation of something, not the actual thing itself, but then again most porn is fake anyways. Most of the time the models are faking whatever sexual pleasure they are portraying. So really, all erotica is about creating the illusion of world totally awash in sexual passion. It is all to one degree or another fantasy. Porn exists ultimately as form of entertainment.

Good erotic art can be entertaining too, but it can also be something more, it can touch upon those passion which often remain hidden inside of us, locked away, afraid to express themselves, trapped in the prison of our own repression and societal fears. Art often touches those deeper parts of our minds and souls that remain hidden away. Good erotic art can fuse both the physical and psychological nuances of sex, it can even express the spirituality and beauty of deep and intense passionate love, and still be graphic, even dirty, and for me that makes it quite worth the consumption.

Beauty Will Win The Porn Wars

22 Thursday Sep 2011

Posted by Racer X in beauty, erotica, women

≈ 2 Comments

Why is that porn is so powerful? As much as people might want to deny this, we are awash in porn in today’s world. It is the single most consumed thing on the internet. I don’t even think anything else comes close. There are many blogs out there by people who are both promoting porn, and those who are trying to escape the influence of porn. In many ways the internet world is a good reflection of the schizophrenic nature of erotic enticements. We love them, but we hate them too. We have those who want to eliminate all porn, and those who want to enjoy as much porn as possible. The internet, which is here to stay, and has created a permanent change in the world, will ensure that porn will be ubiquitous from now on, probably until the end of time. Any attempts to curb this phenomenon most likely will be futile.

It used to be that one had to either order something through the mail, or visit an adult book store in order to purchase something, if he (and it was pretty much always a he) wanted to consume some porn. Magazines like Playboy and Penthouse were available at the local newsstand, but you still had to commit the act of buying one in public, and thereby risk being seen. Finding good porn was not an easy task. It took a bit of effort.

First, with the rise of videos and dvds players, and now, with the internet, everything has gone private. Anyone, male or female, can view as much erotic material as they wish in the complete privacy of their home. Girls can become amateur erotic models now, by simply submitting a half naked photo of themselves online. The proliferation of Tumbler sites devotes to nothing but self shots is more than a testimony to this. Scarlott Johansson’s recent cell phone photos are another sign that even the most affluent of women, a celebrity to boot, enjoy engaging in their own occasional amateur erotica. So we are now seeing the phenomenon of more and more women enjoying erotic imagery and even creating their own for other’s consumption. In the past most women would have read material, such as romance novels, for their illicit erotic fix, and that is still true for a great many today, but more and more are enjoying, and admitting to enjoying, at least some visual stimulation. It is an interesting result of the easy access to online porn.

Now, as I have said before, I think most porn is rather trashy, but there are some good erotic things out there, even explicit erotica. So why is this good stuff so powerful, so alluring. I think it comes to down to one thing: beauty. We crave beauty. We want to see beautiful things. We enjoy beauty. We derive a certain pleasure from viewing beautiful bodies. And good erotica is diffused with beauty: beautiful women, beautiful men, beautiful imagery. It is an idealized world, true, but still it is a world we long to see. For millennia we have desired these things. Modern technology has now made it possible for us to indulge these ancient and basic desires in a whole new way. It has truly been a revolution.

So I will be interested to see how the porn wars rage on, lead by those who think they can somehow eliminate this phenomena from our world, against those who not only enjoy seeing erotic things, but even create erotic images themselves. For me, I will just continue to enjoy as much beauty as possible, including erotic beauty.

A Nice Nude

18 Sunday Sep 2011

Posted by Racer X in art, beauty, erotica, women

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Just a little something pleasant to look at.

I think black and white photos are interesting for erotica. They seem to add a certain coolness to what is essentially a somewhat heated medium.  I need to find more of these older type of nudes: well done, sensual, clear, yet still possessing something of the mystery of sexuality and sexual attraction.  This has an all natural, down to earth quality that I enjoy in nudes.  The black and white gives it an almost classic, restrained feel, which is a nice contrast to what is essentially an erotic image.  And of course it possesses a certain type of beauty.

As this photo shows, there are good nudes out there, that can be sexual, sensual and erotic without being crass or sleazy or absurdly graphic. These are the type of nudes that seem to have, at least for me, artistic merit.

How I love beauty and beautiful women!

Good Erotic Art

17 Saturday Sep 2011

Posted by Racer X in art, beauty, erotica

≈ 2 Comments

Often when I feel down, good art is uplifting. There is something pleasurable about viewing a nice piece of artwork. Good art captures the spirit of something, the soul that is within, a thing that mere photography often is unable to capture. Good photography often does capture these things; but good art almost always captures these things.

Artists often create their work through great pain. For some artists, this pain is often so intense that the end is usually not a good one. Van Gogh is a good example of this. Much of this brilliance stems from his own inner tortures, his psychic maelstrom. His paintings, alive with color and energy, seem to reflect the frenzied activity that constantly plagued his mind. In the end it cost him his life, to suicide, although it gave posterity some wonderfully intense creations.

I think this is why a good artists can capture the essence of eroticism in a way that transcends the mere sexual. Often through pain we grow spiritually and there is something spiritual about eroticism; lust and sex are merely animal, fun and pleasurable in their own way, yes, but still animal. Eroticism is something deeper, more profound, my transcendent. Eroticism can embody love in a way that pure sex cannot; the hint of something deeper, the allusive poetry of passions and emotions and timeless bonds, all these things can be expressed through eroticism. It is not merely about sex.

This is why good erotic art, whether merely a painting or perhaps more, conveys and captures something of this elemental power in our lives. The good artist, perhaps tested through pain and suffering, has learned to be sensitive to these deeper elements in the world, and through that sensitivity he can create a more nuanced depiction of eros, and often does.

Eroticism is all around us, always, daily. The smile, the flirtatious glance, the seemingly innocent but still suggestive conversation, the imagination and wondering about those we find attractive, the hopes and dreams of a future together with someone, the longing for physical intimacy, all these things are part of the erotic sea we are all awash in. This is why I feel erotic art has a place in the world, as an expression of these basic, fundamental part of our lives. We seek sex, love, intimacy, all of us do. It is the role of the artist to recreate these things in their art forms, whether through writing, music, painting, sculpture, film, or photography. To deny artists this desire would be as futile as denying those prehistoric men who painted buffalo, deer, and lions on cave walls 35,000 years ago the same desire to recreate the world around them.

As I stated above, this need to recreate the world around us through art is a fundamental part of our humanity.  And the sexual, the erotic, whether we like or not, or how much in denial we are, is a basic part of our world. It is part of what makes us human and so, for me, it is a legitimate, even healthy source of artistic expression. Only the likes of Michelle Bachmann and her religious nut case, Taliban like followers who now run the Republican party would think otherwise. I am sure they would enjoy burning the image posted above, just as the Taliban enjoyed destroying those ancient statues of Buddha in Afghanistan a decade ago. Oh yeah, and let me not forget to mention once again my contempt for the neo-Puritanical feminists too who hate all things sexual because they hate all things male…etc. Again, I have equal contempt for both sides of this same humorless and pleasure hating coin. They usually pose a serious threat to all good art and the free expression of artistic desires.

Now by “erotic art” I don’t just mean any drawing or depiction of sex; rather, it has to be good, have some aesthetic merit. Of course this is all subjective judgement on my part, and what I find good someone else may not. That is fair enough. But good erotic art can reach a level of meaning that goes beyond the mere depiction of sexuality. As I said, good erotic art captures something of the soul in what is being depicting, something of the mystery and ineffable allure of sexual desires and fantasies. For me, there is a poetic quality to good art, even erotic art. I seek that out. Some good erotic art can be exceptionally good. Even explicit erotic art, which some might call porn, can be exceptionally good. I hope the things I post on this blog convey some sense of taste and artistic merit. To write about the good, artistic expression of eroticism is what I am striving for. Too much of this is wound up in shame and secrecy and hypocrisy, and those are things I enjoy breaking down. Too many people suffer because they enjoy erotic things; they feel alone and isolated, both men and women, or guilty about their sexual desires and fantasies. If done in a healthy way, I don’t think an enjoyment of erotic art is necessarily bad or harmful. It may not be for everyone, of course, but for many, it is a secret enjoyment and one I celebrate. As I said, seeing good art, and good erotic art, is a pleasurable experience for me.

Beauty Ennobles Life

15 Thursday Sep 2011

Posted by Racer X in art, beauty, spirituality

≈ 1 Comment

Another nice painting...I love well done artistic nudes.

The link between beauty and eros is powerful. My entire life I have loved beautiful things; now, only recently, have I come to understand that in the fullest sense. Beauty is intoxicating. Beauty is inspiring. Beauty can be soul ennobling. Beauty has the power to make our lives more bearable, to bring us small and great pleasures, and even fill us with hope. And the loveliness of erotic beauty is most powerful indeed.

William Styron, the award winning novelist who died in 2006, wrote in his memoir dealing with his battles with depression, Darkness Visible, that he had reached such a point of suicidal despair that he had actually planned the act, written the note and was prepared to complete his intentions. Then, one frigid winter night as he ready to cross that line, alone in his home, he heard some music by Brahms and the sound of this music, the beauty of this music and the memories it induced pulled him back from that the final edge of darkness. It is worth quoting, from his December 1988 Vanity Fair article.

“Late one bitterly cold night, when I knew that I could not possibly get myself through the following day, I sat in the living room of the house bundled up against the chill; something had happened to the furnace. My wife had gone to bed, and I had forced myself to watch the tape of a movie in which a young actress, who had been in a play of mine, was cast in a small part. At one point in the film, which was set in late-nineteenth-century Boston, the characters moved down the halfway of a music conservatory, beyond the walls of which, from unseen musicians, came a contralto voice, a sudden soaring passage from the Brahms Alto Rhapsody.”

 “This sound, which like all music—indeed, like all pleasure—I had been numbly unresponsive to for months, pierced my heart like a dagger, and in a flood of swift recollection I thought of all the joys the house had known: the children who had rushed through its rooms, the festivals, the love and work, the honestly earned slumber, the voices and the humble commotion, the perennial tribe of cats and dogs and birds, “laugher and ability and Sighing, / And Frocks and Curls.” All this I realized was more than I could ever abandon, even as what I had set out so deliberately to do was more than I could inflict on those memories, and upon those so close to me, with whom the memories were bound. And just as powerfully as I realized I could not commit this desecration on myself. I drew upon some last gleam of sanity to perceive the terrifying dimensions of the mortal predicament I had fallen into. I woke up my wife and soon telephone calls were made. The next day I was admitted to the hospital.”

I can understand what he is saying. When life seems dark and dismal, beauty can gives some sense of hope, it can lead us to something greater than ourselves, something beyond our complete understanding, yet something still living deep within ourselves. Beauty has the power to spark things in ourselves that we have long thought dead or extinguished, beyond the hope of redemption. As Muhammad said, which I have already quoted before but still love to carry around with me: “God is beautiful and loves beauty”. If only the Christian bible contained such a quote! I know the sentiment is there, but I have yet to find a comparable quote. Whatever the source, there is something fundamentally good in what is beautiful which for me means that beauty is truly a divine thing, a thing from God and part of his creation.

Whether it be in art, music, nature, literature, or whatever, the experience of beauty can be transforming, as Styron’s life shows, in both small and profound ways. The simple sound of beautiful piece of music changed, and ultimately saved, his life. The pleasure of beauty is something to be cultivated, at least for me. And one thing I love I particular is feminine beauty.

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