THE MEANING OP THE ESTHETIC IMPULSE. 



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and still more as we come to see behind this one-sided relation 

 the reciprocal relation of Love. And this we do through looking 

 behind the appearance which at first seemed to us to he reality, 

 to the fundamental Reality which is the Nature of God. 



Thus the cosmos, which is the expression of God's self- 

 limitation for the sake of vindicating His love — Himself — is 

 for Him beautiful, and for us. It becomes the symbol of 

 Creation's meaning, the Sacrament of Personal Being. Beautiful, 

 it is also true, in spite of its being but appearance, for it is 

 Appearance essential to the Reality behind it. Beautiful and 

 True, it is also Good, for it is rooted and grounded in Love, 

 and Goodness is the Appearance of Love under conditions of 

 Limitation — only, belonging to the practical aspect. But if 

 you fail to see and search out, and see further, the beauty of the 

 cosmos, just so far you fail to achieve the understanding of 

 Love that is possible to you. And this is just as important 

 an aspect of the cosmos as its truth or its goodness. We are 

 ready enough to blame the man who refuses to see truth or 

 goodness, but we are rather apt to think it does not matter 

 if he fails to see beauty. If our argument is just, however, 

 he will fail even more to understand Reality, and that means 

 the Nature of God, if he does not find beauty than if he does 

 not find truth or goodness. Press this point home a little farther, 

 and you find that you cannot get a real understanding of beauty 

 except in terms of either truth or goodness — in actual fact, 

 of both. This leads us to conclude that a man may approach 

 an understanding of Reality along any one of these three roads, 

 and whichever one he follows he will in the end have to reckon 

 with the others consciously, as he has already unconsciously 

 been doing, and will come to know that he will have to, because 

 Reality under the conditions of its own self-vindication as Love 

 through self-limitation, is at once Good, True, and Beautiful. 

 But it also leads us to the conclusion that men are much more 

 likely to arrive at a true understanding if they are shown that 

 all three roads are equally sure to lead them to that Reality, 

 and if their convergence is pointed out. I would urge the 

 importance of this, because so few men have either the ability 

 or the opportunity to follow any one of the roads right to the 

 end, and the majority will be left in doubt as to what that end 

 really is. Most of us have to be content with following first 

 one and then another a little way, and we do quarrel so dreadfully 

 about which is the best one ! It really would help us a lot to 



