Victoria Cox
As Thomas Dubay states in his chapter, “Alive to Beauty,” our intrinsic identity as
humans made in the image and likeness of God give us the capacity to perceive beauty. However,
several factors affect this ability to behold beauty with wonder and awe. For example, children
are born with an inherent delight at everything they discover in the world around them, but
growing up in an environment in which their parents and those around them are jaded to beauty
often affects these children in a negative way very early in their life. Secondly, personal and
psychological maturity affect one’s ability to see beauty. A good education will rear individuals
with an awe towards the true and beautiful, while a poor education achieves the opposite effect.
The biggest impetus towards perceiving beauty, however, is sin. Selfishness and moral depravity
act as screens, dis-enabling souls from perceiving beauty with wonder and delight. To remedy
this jadedness, we must ask God to purify our hearts and open our minds to perceive beauty, so
that we may become like the saints, who “are so alive they readily thrill to the beauty that impels
them to the truth.”
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Dubay, Thomas, S.M., The Evidential Power of Beauty,” Ignatius Press, San Francisco, 1999, Page 76
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