We often see things come and go and have no distinct feelings about it. We are unconscious of how much fades in and out of our daily routines, let alone whole years of our lives. In fact, unless there is a major disruption of the practical tasks in daily life, we seem to not even notice things ending. I myself had recently been trapped in this until Monday.
Notre Dame became engulfed in flames, starting in the attic and eventually burning through the roof. It would also destroy the famous spire which has resided on the great Gothic cathedral for centuries. 850 years had nearly burned to ashes.
The fire has since been contained, and enough of the building has survived to make renovations and repairs. And thank God for it.
Within Notre Dame is “the poor people’s book.” Those who could not read would come to cathedrals to see the stories of the Old and New Testament played out in sculpture and painting. The stained glass roses are a contender for the most precious use of light. Look up images of the inside if you have time today, and look at the majesty and intricacy of it all.
There are relatively few things in the world that are truly beautiful, beautiful in the sense that one’s personal background or subjective experience has no attachment to its beauty. An objectively beautiful thing. Any damage to such things, when intentional, is the height of barbarism and stupidity (see Nur al-Din), and when unintentional, is worthy of mourning.
Thankfully, we are not in that position entirely. The Lady of Paris will hopefully stand for many more generations. But the facade of permanence has been shattered. Though it has outlived all who have seen it, we are now reminded that it too can go.
The pain of seeing it go was a reminder of a certain kind of mortality, that something so indescribably beautiful, something that stands as a truly concentrated effort to make beauty possible in the world, could be burned away overnight, and for nothing.
And beautiful it is. It is famous for a reason. It is a monument to human creativity, to human ingenuity, to God and to the transcendent. It is a centuries-old testament to some of the best that civilization has to offer.
Maybe we can see this close call as a much-needed awakening. For years, the cathedral has been in disrepair and under threat of hazard, but it was ignored and taken for granted. Much like the beautiful things in our own lives, we only notice them and truly appreciate them at the moment we lose them. So rarely do we pay attention to what we actually find valuable. We have to make the effort to preserve the beauty from the natural entropy that’s coming. Focusing on these things rather than getting bogged down in the minutiae of modern life can bring an entirely new connection to the present moment. We should remember that eventually we will all say, “it was beautiful while it lasted.” But we should also remember that right now we have the chance to say “it is beautiful.”