This past week I went down a rabbit hole of sorts. I was reading a chapter on mimetic desire and rivalry (don’t ask) which was developed by philosopher and all around towering intellect, René Girard. So naturally I started reading about him which led me to a student of mimetic theory, Andre Rabe, who runs a ministry called “Always Loved” which then led me to his YouTube Channel, in which I watched a video entitled Icons of Beauty in which he tells a simple story about a girl and a waterfall and this story has sat with me all week. (I know I’m not alone when I say this is what Interneting looks like in 2024 for many of us. Sigh.)

This week I wanted to just share the story he tells of this girl and the waterfall. It has almost nothing to do with what we’ve been talking about on Sundays but it’s the kind of stuff that’s been replaying in my head all week and I thought it was kind of neat. I know we are a community who values ideas and ever-learning and so I figured maybe a few of you would appreciate this as much as I did. I was going to just recite the story in my own words but I think I’ll just paste the video here and you can take 3 minutes to watch it. It’s timestamped so it SHOULD start right at the story but in case it doesn’t, the story begins at 3:40:

I am still mulling over the short and almost silly metaphor as it relates to how we seek to understand God and the parallels with beauty and our inability to capture it, forcing us only to behold it and to love it. Here’s the quote from the end of the story:

God and beauty have a lot in common. God is less like statements that have to be believed and more like beauty we fall in love with. And just like beauty, God can never be captured with any one definition, one statement, one text, or one language. God has never subjected himself to our understanding of him. For he is not subject to any form of control. Yet, he unreservedly gives of himself to anyone who is simply prepared to be astonished. 

So a few questions. What are the “attempts” at bottling God that we default to? Is he suggesting it’s wrong to find ways of describing God to begin with? Do you believe we can love God through statements about him or do you think that we need to encounter him in order to love him? What has your story been like in this regard?

Just a few thoughts for us to consider. If you have the time (and the mental fortitude – no judgment if not, it is a bit heady to be sure and I know I’m still trying to wrap my head around all of his ideas), I encourage you to watch the full video and contemplate some of the other ideas and the larger context of what Rabe is saying here. Feel free to share in the comments any thoughts or reflections you may have! Let’s explore together!