If you’re a Gen-X’er, I hope you enjoy the play on words I used for my title!
Let me introduce you to the Blobfish. The following photo is of a blobfish specimen that was dredged up off the coast of New Zealand and is now preserved in a bath of ethyl alcohol in the Australia Museum’s Ichthyology Collection, in Sydney. In 2013, the blobfish was voted the “most hideous animal on earth.”
Yeah, it’s pretty ugly. This specimen, anyway. I think most people would take one look at this fish and step back, avert their eyes, distort their face in discomfort, or even turn away in disgust.
But our perception of the blobfish is distorted, as distorted as the fish’s body in the photo.
The blobfish lives deep in the ocean, up to 3,900 feet below the surface. It does not have an air sac like other fish; the water pressure would crush it. Instead, that same water pressure gives structure to the blobfish’s jelly-like body. In its natural environment, the blobfish looks like…. a fish, familiar and un-repulsive.
I titled this post “Beauty and the Blobfish.” So, what does the blobfish have to do with beauty?
So often, our judgment of beautiful and ugly is based on an initial reaction, a visceral response.
I believe it is this visceral response that earned the blobfish the title of being the most hideous creature on earth.
We can have the same reactions to art.
Often, when we see a painting or hear a piece of music we don’t understand or don’t like, we immediately dismiss it saying, “That’s not art!” or “That’s not music!” At that moment, we are declaring it ugly and not worth our attention.
But what if the problem is our perception – biases based on our cultural understandings, experiences, or personal preferences?
Many situations exist in which the ugly can obscure the beautiful, if we let it.
EMTs and ER doctors and surgeons (and the nurses, too!) must get past a lot of the ick factor in order to treat the individuals they care for. These professionals look beyond the ugly and see the beautiful. They see the beautiful humanity of the person who needs their help. They see the beauty in the workings of the human body which help them know what to do. They see the beauty in restored health. This is what spurs them on to do whatever they can to treat the people they see, no matter how drastic the situation is.
The Good Samaritan in Jesus’ parable (Luke 10:25-37) looked beyond ugly to see the beautiful when he helped the beaten man.
Jesus himself looked upon ugly and found beauty when he healed the man with leprosy (Luke 8:1-3.) The leprous man said to Jesus, “If you are willing, you can make me clean” (italics mine.) Jesus was willing and touched the man and healed him.
Not all of us can handle such gross things as blood and guts. I know some people even faint when they see it. Most of us who are not faced with it every day probably initially turn away from a graphic scene during a TV show or movie.
But what if no one could look upon ugly and see the beautiful? Think about those consequences.
The world flashes images and sound at us all day long. Our eyes are pummeled with videos and photos; our ears are constantly filled with music floating in from every direction. Some might argue that the visceral response to all of this is necessary as a protective barrier, in order to filter all the sensory material we are bombarded with.
Unfortunately, our culture trains us to have knee-jerk reactions all the time, and not just in situations that are truly potentially dangerous.
But a knee-jerk reaction is not a thoughtful response; it is not based on review and consideration.
Art, though, asks us to stop and pay attention – to examine a painting for several minutes, to read a poem slowly, to watch how dancers move their bodies, to listen to a monologue without checking our phones, to listen to a piece of music in its entirety – the opposite of making a quick judgment.
Essentially, it is asking us, “Are you willing?”
Are we willing to look, to listen, to view? Even when it is initially uncomfortable, or gross, or disturbing, or confusing, or even offensive. Are willing to consider it and see beyond what we initially find ugly to search for the beautiful?
Growing up as an Evangelical, I heard the words of Philippians 4:8 countless times: the apostle Paul admonishes us to think on what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or worthy of praise. In the circles I was in, this was taught in a way that meant that we should think only about things that were already judged to have these qualities. So, exposure to what I will call “challenging material” was limited.
I do not agree with this interpretation of Paul’s words. Instead, I believe we are called to find these qualities and zero in on them, like the doctors who ignore the ugliness of the blood and guts to focus on the beauty of health to get a body working properly again.
It does no good for the world to ignore ugly, to avoid the beaten man in the street (referencing the story of the Good Samaritan), and surround ourselves only with what is immediately recognizable as beautiful.
As a professional musician, I believe it is part of my job to consider all artistic approaches, even what initially appears ugly. I must consider it and find that nugget of truth, beauty, goodness, nobility, or excellence – and praise it. It is there where I have a point of contact and a conversation.
That doesn’t mean I like all art. That doesn’t mean I agree with it all. But if I simply declare a piece of art as “ugly” or “not art” and turn away, there is nothing more to be said. I have become the judge, and the relationship between me, the art, and the artist is broken.
The organization running the poll for the earth’s ugliest creature was the British-based Ugly Animal Preservation Society. This organization exists to “raise awareness of Mother Nature’s endangered but ‘aesthetically challenged children.'” In other words, they are helping to grow empathy for ugly animals in order to help preserve them.
I have written elsewhere that part of art’s purpose is to build empathy. It does this by helping us to view the world from another’s perspective. In order to achieve this, however, we must give our attention to some things that are outside our experience and may challenge – or even horrify – us. We must get beyond the initial shock and do the work to find what is praiseworthy about it – to find the beauty in the blobfish.
Hey Heather, once again you have written a challenging and thought-provoking blog. How quick we are to make judgments and not give some thought and real consideration to something outside our comfort zone. Keep up the good work!
Thank you so much, Jerry!
Nice to see how you compose with words as well as music. May God use you and the gifts He has given to you for His glory and praise!
Thank you so much, Holly!