Frankl demonstrates through the person's reaction to something of beauty that we possess an 'inner self' that yearns for something more spiritual. He depicts one such incidence when a comrade had called the other prisoners to view the setting sun. He claims they were 'carried away by nature's beauty.'
In this exercise I want to put the student face to face with his/her 'inner self' which Frankl also calls soul.
Is this not what makes us distinctively human? This is the aspect of ourselves that is made in the image and likeness of God.
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Explain
a sunset (Scientist)
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The earth's
atmosphere acts as a filter to the sun's light. As the atmosphere gets
thicker closer to earth's surface it begins to gradually filter out aspects
of white light. Eventually it only allows red light rays to penetrate.
Indeed it is incorrect scientifically to speak in terms of a 'sunset'.
It is the earth, while rotating around the sun that gives the impression
that it is the sun that is losing altitude. It is the angle of the earth
to the sun that is changing.
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Consider the two approaches to a sunset above.
Is there truth in one or both? You might deem both truthful but different. Yet where does the difference lie? If you reflect enough on the answer you might conclude the following.
Both insights are indeed truthful. The explanation is scientific - it contains empirical truth. It is presented in the language of the Scientist. It acknowledges that sunsets are a physical reality outside of human intervention. They were there long before the human being evolved and will probably be there well after we're gone.
The alternative insight is a description. It contains a human element. It is merely the human response or reaction to something as beautiful as a sunset. It could indeed be the language to describe almost anything of beauty. It is the language of the poet and the mystic. Within each one of us dwells the facility to appreciate beauty. But what essentially is this facility or dimension of the human being?
The Mystic and Poet John of the Cross would say that eternity is not at all in the sun itself as the sun will eventually burn itself out and exit no more. Eternity is rather in the person who gazes upon beauty.
When we look with amazement upon beauty it evokes within our 'inner selves' a deep yearning for the forever. There is an intrinsic belief that beauty is an objective reality. The beauty that is within me recognises forms of beauty without. Within us we possess the idea of perfection. Within us is the mark of that perfection - the Soul. Many of our efforts are attempts to achieve this perfection. We can call this openness to perfection the religious sense.
When we find ourselves describing beauty we are in some sense too describing who we are as persons for we too are beautiful. We are beautiful because we are made in the likeness and image of the Eternal Beauty - the source of all beauty. Indeed whenever we are not replicas of God's beauty we cease to be what we truly should be. The human being is the summit of God's creation here on earth.
"God is at the deep center of all things, and when we find him there we find eternal life. Every creature gifted with reason has received light to see in all created things both their own individual beauty and that of the Supreme being, from whom they have received their being, and who sustains them in it. With the light given us we should see God in all things. Our gaze should pass beyond the shadows of created things in order that it may rest in the true Light hidden in beings without reason, but discovered by those who have reason. And with this Being we should strive to be in harmony." (Dom Augustin Guillerand. Where Silence is Praise).
Mahatma Gandhi was famous for his fasting. He said, "How far am I in tune with the divine essence I do not know. But I know that the fast has made the passion for such a state more intense".
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Stephen Costello when interviewed about his recently published book; The Irish Soul: In Dialogue, had this to say about the soul;
"An interview is an interrogation of the soul. By soul I mean warmth, vibrancy, energy as well as darkness, depth, passion, and spirituality. Soul is the innermost essence of man. The desire to attain self-knowledge and knowledge of the cosmos is enough, to quote Camus, 'to fill a man's soul'. If spirit soars to the heights, soul descends to the depths, to 'the dark night of the soul', as described so vividly by St John of the Cross...We Irish are a soulful race. We are full of dark recesses, empty places, charm and grace. We have endless curiosity. We feel deeply. We have a sensitivity to the sacred...Soul allows us 'to see into the life of things', into 'the still sad music of humanity', as Wordsworth wrote. We yearn for something beyond the crass fulfillment of material needs. Contact with transcendence, in whatever form it takes, can soothe a man's soul". (The Irish times Magazine 15/12/2001).