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God is the foundation and life of all morality, because He is the source of all good. Without God moral life is like a stone—beautiful, but cold and lifeless. That man alone who retains his contact with God unbroken can make progress in all goodness and truth, which is the beauty of the soul. But he who does not trust in God is like the shifting sand-dune which is drifted here to-day and there to-morrow, as the gusts of the wind and the force of the storm drive it hither and thither, and leave it without any fixed spot on which it can remain.
By living in the presence of God and knowing Him, we learn to know also about our own nature and being, and without this help we should always remain ignorant of the reality of what we are. The Chinese philosopher Chuang Tsu once said: “Once upon a time I dreamed I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. Suddenly I awakened. There I lay, myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming that I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man.” Now, consider. If a man has no true knowledge of his own being, then what distinction between good and evil, virtue and vice, will he be able to make?
Confucius has a strange idea about righteousness and morality. One of the feudal princes was boasting to Confucius of the high level of morality which prevailed in his own state. “Among us here”, he said, “you will find upright men. If a father has stolen a sheep, his son will give evidence against him.” “In my part of the country”, replied Confucius, “there is a different standard from this. A father will shield his son, and a son will shield his father. It is thus that uprightness will be found.” And Confucius has said again, “A man who should be without reproach in regard to the main principles of human conduct, might fairly be excused lapses in regard to smaller issues.” Compare with this the purer teaching of Christ, Who said, “He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least, is unjust also in much” (Luke 16:10). The teaching that Confucius gave in a negative form, “Do not unto others what you would not that they should do unto you”, Christ gave in a positive form: “Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12). There are many things of which the doing is sin; but there are also many things of which the not doing is sin, as, for example, to love the Lord God with heart and soul, and to love one’s neighbour as oneself.
Real spiritual beauty is the unbounded love, and glory, and goodness of God. But as He is always present in His creation, His active participation in His world manifests itself in various forms of physical beauty. In other words, we might say that in the world, or Creation, physical beauty is a reflection, or picture of an inner and hidden spiritual beauty. Emerson has said: “Every appearance of nature corresponds to some state of mind, and that state of mind can only be described by presenting that natural appearance as its picture.” Carritt says: “It (Beauty) is a salt without which life would be savourless.” And this beauty is a manifestation of truth and goodness, whether in flower or fruit, mountain or lake, poetry or prose, art or music, or in good works. When this beauty touches our dormant and repressed emotions we can enjoy it, but only to the extent that we have the capacity in us for its appreciation. As, for example, the prophets going up to prophesy (1 Samuel 10:5; 1 Samuel 16:23; 2 Kings 3:15) felt the inspiration of music as an aid to the revelation of truth, and we feel that the beauty of music directs our hearts back to the Truth, and aids in His worship those who have the capacity for feeling its uplift.
The connection between Morality and Beauty is fundamental, for truth is the source of both, and both will be found in those in whom the truth dwells. Beauty exists in other animate and inanimate things as well. Now, if these attributes are not found in man, who is superior to other creatures, then he must be inferior to the lower creatures, and even to lifeless things, sin in him having worked out in a nature debased and unsightly.
Consciously or unconsciously, the effect of the good and beautiful lives of those in whose hearts the Truth (God) dwells will be felt.
Once on my way to Tibet, I stopped at a mountain village. The people in it were very dirty and unwashed. I noticed a boy examining me intently. Then I saw him hold out his hands to compare them with mine. He said nothing, but in a little time he went out, and I saw him washing his hands at a stream. Then he came back and again compared his washed hands with mine. Without any word from me he had been impressed by the cleanness of my hands, and the desire was born in him to have his hands equally clean. In the same way our lives, influenced by our contact with our Heavenly Father, are silently having their effect on the lives of those around. How necessary it is, therefore, that in our lives we should show forth the virtues and glory of our Heavenly Father (Matthew 5:16; 1 Peter 2:9).