Beholding

I love being surprised by a new idea, or an old idea formulated in a new way so that it shakes me out of my complacency and causes me to encounter a familiar word anew.  Mark Epstein did that for me in the closing chapters of Open to Desire.  His passing comments on the familiar word beholding captured my attention and provided a launching point for some creative thinking:

In an apocryphal statement attributed to James Joyce, he once described the attention that is necessary to look at a work of art as "beholding,"  If the viewer gets too close to an artwork it becomes pornography or if he gets too distant it becomes criticism.  Beholding art means giving it enough space to let it speak to us, to let us find it, even if we do not completely understand what we are looking at.  (p182).

I dare say that this description of beholding applies to more than art appreciation; it certainly applies to the relationships with one another and with God.

What would it be like to behold God - to give God enough space to let God speak to us, to let us find God, even if we do not completely understand what we are looking at?  Epstein continues:

When we discover that the object is beyond our control, unpossessable and receding from our grasp, we have the opportunity to enter the space that Joyce was referring to...we learn to give the object its freedom.

We are familiar with the ways we try to control, possess and grasp hold of one another.  Are we aware of the ways we try to do these things in our relationship with God?

I love this concept of "beholding" - both with one another, and with God.  Just the right space allows for the grace of perspective - to be able to truly see and appreciate the other.

May you find that space - and grace.

With love,

Kim