Beauty Lasts

"Power does not last -- even superpower; art and culture do."  This is one of the conclusions that Professor Robert Bucholz makes at the end of his CD course, Foundations of Western Civilization, for The Teaching Company.  How about less money for weapons and more for art!

Beauty Will Save The World  is the name of a book I read a month or so ago and am now studying.  The author Gregory Wolfe makes a good case for the truth of his title.  I think of how much all kinds of art have molded who I am.  I am especially indebted to movies which have enlightened me and taught me how to empathize.   Russian composers influence more how I feel about the Russian people than Russian rulers.
Natural beauty, which I try to capture in my pictures, lifts me out of myself and makes me one with the world.  Monday morning these flowers were shining for about a mile on both sides of a country road where I was driving.  They have a wonderful, spicey smell.  We called them "soap flowers" when I was a kid.  When we rubbed them together in our hands, they created a soapy liquid.  I find they are called "bouncingbet" and "soapwort."