“A man cannot be wise enough to be a great artist without being wise enough to wish to be a philosopher. A man cannot have the energy to produce good art without having the energy to wish to pass beyond it…they care even more, and desire us to care even more, about their startling and arresting dogmas than about their startling and arresting art…The men who have really been the bold artists, the realistic artists, the uncompromising artists, are the men who have turned out, after all, to be writing ‘with a purpose.’”—G. K. Chesterton, Heretics
She studied his face after reading the words he shared. “What are your dogmas?” she asked.
He answered, “I believe lives are changed in little moments. I believe eyes are opened in an instant—not by great force, but my small signs that affect and move a soul. I believe in simplicity and beauty, and that these little moments, which so often appear as random, are anything but. I believe there is grand design in what we experience throughout our lives, hints from God and the Universe that seek to guide us toward whatever purpose we are intended to achieve.
Maybe we listen. Maybe we act. Maybe we achieve, or maybe we stay scared, reserved, and hide away from our Destiny even when we see and feel it there.
I believe we are agents for advancing each other’s Destinies. I believe this is not something we force nor seek to do, but that, by being present and listening with our souls for what we sense to share or give, we are gifted the ability to present messages of spirit in the world to others bearing witness. Maybe we are aware, most likely we are not, but by example and our own spirits, expressed, we advance a good we, ourselves, cannot comprehend.
“What is Good?”
“I don’t know if I have a worded answer, but you know it when it’s there. You know it when it’s felt. Do you believe that?”
She nodded yes.
He continued, “I believe Good, of which we speak, is of the spirit and not of the world, and its standards are sensed in what we perceive and receive from other spirits that surround us. The language is not spoken; it is not world-bound, but of some transcendent force that ties us all together in a primordial awareness that we become ever more distant to as we become greater focused on life in our immanent states.
This Goodness is why we feel light in some, and alarm to others when remaining near strangers. It is why babies smile and laugh with some and hide away from others. It is why dogs do the same—showing immediate fraternity with some, aggression, and fear to others—and if we ever become so deep in your own dogmas and amazements, that the heavens and light seem to show, sense, and understand as well.
I believe our souls are tied to the Universe and God’s design, and that if we listen with our souls—expressing messages we perceive and feel compelled to bear—that we all have the ability to become mediums to a greater Wonder that suppressed souls too readily dismiss.
These are my Dogmas. I believe in God, in the Universe, and in little moments that direct fates. I believe in Destinies and free will, that we all have the former and are given the latter to either accept and seek—with faith—our Personal Legend, or choose to hide from it in doubt and denial of our own calling.
Maybe it’s crazy. Maybe it’s Truth. I won’t assert either, but will live by what I have witnessed and believe.”
“And the end,” she asked, “what is your purpose? Why is it you write?”
His voice became meek. The energy of his convictions fell away taking the tone, not of impassioned flame, but of surrender that raised no defense.
“I lived in a dark world, with dark thoughts, and I did not like myself because of the world I manifested through my mind. A little moment changed my world. Of a moment, I witnessed with new eyes, and from that instant, my world began to change.
Maybe it was random, but I don’t believe it was. The Universe, God, gave me what I needed in the moment when I did. I saw the sign. I acted then in faith for what I sensed. I have followed its message ever since.
I know the Universe is not about me. I know my place is not a center, but to play a part in advancing the good and wonder I have found.
I write because, the more I do, the more I witness and believe even more in the beauty and good that is everywhere around us. I see it in the light of the sun, in the blue of the sky, hear it in the songs of dawns and dying days when I stand or rest alone. It is everywhere, and if I write and share it right, the beauty, good, and Wonder are returned into the consciousness of others who will read. The message is restored and brought again before new minds, and the small effect of a smile, light, and encouragement, carries infinitely into the Cosmos.”
“The dogmas we really hold are far more fantastic, and perhaps, far more beautiful than we think…There are no rationalists. We all believe fairy-tales, and live in them.”—G. K. Chesterton, Heretics