Beautiful Motion

Beautiful Motion

Gerardus Van Der Leeuw/Sacred and Profane Beauty

October 2015

“Before man learned how to use any instruments at all, he moved the most perfect instrument of all, his body.”(p.13) The beauty of motion begins and ends with the human body. There is beauty in the ritualistic repetition of running and feeling the ache of your legs. Engaging the body in physical activity and play is one of the best ways to release pent up desire and longing. The intimate relationship between soul and body is greatly underestimated today. Van Der Leeuw comments on this breakup of unity, lamenting how dance has become entertainment rather than religious and sports have become secularized rather than sacred. But despite this, the power of this divinely ordained connection between the body and soul remains. The body and soul are not dualistic entities. They work together to create beautiful motion. The bodily movements we make are an expression of ourselves. The body is the outlet for the cultivation of the soul. Bodily motion has the reciprocal ability to shape the posture of one’s soul. Assuming the position of prostration during prayer, for example, is a posture of the body that usher’s the soul into quiet reverence. Out of the overflow of what we feed our souls, we act. Lashing out in violence, making a degrading comment, and acting selfishly are all symptoms of an unhealthy soul. The soul thirsts for constant exposure to beauty. We were made to taste, touch, smell, see, and hear beautiful things and express the joy received from these things through our bodies. Bodily movement is the consummation of experienced beauty.