As I bustled around my house sprucing things up, hanging artwork, rearranging furniture, and sweeping up clutter, this quote from “On Fairy-Stories” came to mind:
“[In modern times,] goodness is itself bereft of its proper beauty. In Faerie one can indeed conceive of an ogre who possesses a castle hideous as a nightmare (for the evil of the ogre wills it so), but one cannot conceive of a house built with a good purpose—an inn, a hostel for travellers, the hall of a virtuous and noble king—that is yet sickeningly ugly. At the present day it would be rash to hope to see one that was not—unless it was built before our time.”
Making things beautiful should not be a frivilous pursuit. It is a serious task, one to be undertaken with thoughtfulness and joy. In every age, and in every moment, the world has needed beauty more than ever before.
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