|
“I
would invite you to choose life. Aestheticize yourself,” said Matthew J. Geddes,
dean of the College of Performing
and Visual Arts at BYU-Idaho, in his devotional address Tuesday at
BYU-Idaho.
He
focused his address on aesthetics – things that enliven or increase
capacity and sensitivity, and contrasted it with anesthetics – things
that have a numbing effect or make it difficult or impossible to feel.
Geddes said anesthetics includes
things like vanity, darkened understanding, alienation from God through
ignorance, anger, hate and others. These conditions have a numbing effect,
which can cause us to inflict damage on ourselves without feeling it.
He
then compared those attributes to those found in the last part of the LDS
Church’s 13th Article of Faith, which says, “If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy,
we seek after these things.”
“Pay careful attention to the attributes listed
here, and don’t confuse them with their counterfeits,” he said.
“The ones listed are life giving; they are aesthetics. The
counterfeits do the opposite; they are anesthetics.”
Geddes said all too often “praiseworthy” is
compromised and confused with “popularity.”
“I
can assure you that you will inflict tremendous damage to yourself without
feeling it right away if your desire for popularity is not tempered by a
high standard of praiseworthiness,” he said. “When principle is
compromised for popularity, it is inevitable that both will be lost.”
He
added that education is another great aesthetic.
“One
thing that we can and should be doing to enliven ourselves is to become and
then remain excited about learning, to keep stretching ourselves in new
areas and directions,” he said. “The completion of a degree or
the finding of a job should never be seen as something that happens when
education is finished.”
He
spoke on the importance of the Spirit and the qualities it has to enliven
us and prompt us toward progression. Without the Spirit, he said, the
opposite can take place.
“It’s
only when we have anesthetized ourselves to the Spirit that we cannot feel
what we have heard or what we know to be true. It is in that state of
numbness that we can continue to consciously inflict the spiritual damage
of poor choices without feeling anything.”
He
concluded by saying, “Immerse yourself in
the things that are commonly thought of as the aesthetics, such as great
art, music, literature, theater or dance. But it’s not the subject
matter that is the determining factor. It is anything that inspires,
ennobles and enlightens. It is anything that invites the spirit of the
Lord.”
Devotionals
are broadcast live on KBYI 100.5 FM Tuesdays at 2 p.m. and are rebroadcast Tuesdays and Sundays at 9 p.m. Next week’s devotional speaker
is Brent L. Top, professor of religion at BYU in Provo,
Utah.
|