Classical Essence: Part 3
How Do We Experience the True, the Good, and the Beautiful?
By Dr. Brandolyn Thran, School Leader, Nevada Classical Academy Elko
In Part 2 (March 2025) we concluded that humans were created with a purpose to seek truth and to discover and act on the good and beautiful (the transcendentals). Because each of us embodies different gifts, talents, and abilities, there is an immeasurable and exquisite diversity illuminating the brilliance of what is true, good, and beautiful in this life. The challenge then is figuring out how does one experience the transcendentals?
Philosophical giants such as Plato and Aristotle to modern day wonderers have attempted to answer this question across centuries, so let this humble and simple presentation serve as a primer to your own investigation regarding the transcendentals in your life. Thankfully, theologian Thomas Aquinas provides us with some grace in our endeavor to comprehend and capture the transcendentals as he wrote, “the primary truth is greater than the soul”, suggesting that the fullness of truth is much greater than something the human brain and soul can process. It’s an understanding that is simply beyond us, which in turn allows us the opportunity for continual searching and growth; seizing this opportunity translates as a form of maturity.
C.S. Lewis argued that humans are attracted to goodness through beauty. Aristotle encouraged striving for beauty because he believes the process of searching is transformative, and through searching for beauty, truth can be found. Therefore, while we may not ever be able to fully grasp the relationship between the transcendentals, because they transcend our physical and material world, they do play an vital role in our interactions with things and people in our world.
Art, music, books, other humans, and nature all contain the true, the good, and the beautiful, and it is through contemplation, reflection, and conversation that one discovers and identifies their existence. Much like separating wheat from the chaff, through the process of intention and choice, things that are not true, good, and beautiful begin to exit our lives. However, one must always be aware and choose carefully what is allowed into their spirit, mind, and body because, due to human nature and the slippery slope to mediocrity, it is easy to lose sight of the true, the good, and the beautiful.
“If all people competed for the beautiful, and strained to do the most beautiful things, everything people need in common, and the greater good for each in particular, would be achieved.”
– Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics)
An example of the insidious slide away from the true, the good, and the beautiful is what we choose to spend our time looking at. If we choose to spend our time watching visual media that does not broadcast life-affirming messages, then we may begin to see the world skewed and develop fears of mankind that are not aligned with truth. We may begin to think more about only negative things and lose sight of the beauty that surrounds us. But, when we choose to only watch videos with meaningful content, we are reminded to hold mankind in high regard, focus on what works well in our world, and see beauty.
We must be aware and careful about what we allow into our brains, and in turn, into our souls. This awareness is transformative and causes the selfish to be extinguished into the selfless, so that our best selves emerge much like a butterfly. Let us embrace this lifelong journey, awakening to the true, the good, and the beautiful that surrounds each of us.