–– Lennox Kalifungwa
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Postmodern ideologies—socialism, feminism, environmentalism, transgenderism, and post-colonialism—harbour a pernicious hostility toward beauty. Such ideologies have increasingly become a mainstay across the African continent.
This is the legacy of egalitarianism: in its attempt to neutralise, equalise, and androgynize all things, beauty is often the first casualty. Within an egalitarian framework, distinction and excellence are perceived as threats because both are hallmarks of beauty. Under this ideological dogma, standing out is treated as an offence, and excelling as an injustice.
This assault on beauty is no mere coincidence. The death of beauty is necessary for the erosion of civility. Its demise inevitably gives rise to the decay of morality, justice, ownership, freedom, duty, generosity, delight, hierarchy, festivity, and fruitfulness; all the distinctives that godless men despise. When man’s eyes can no longer perceive beauty, corruption follows, and he gradually ceases to function as fully human.
In the beginning, God established beauty. Beauty may be defined as an order that evokes awe, wonder, and reverence in those who behold it. In creating distinction—heavens and earth, light and darkness, day and night, land and sea, trees and plants, beast and man, man and woman, man and God, creature and Creator—He was defining beauty itself. This beauty was recognisable in the way it embedded order, hierarchy, and detail into all things. Contrast was not created to undermine aspects of creation, but as a point of emphasis, enabling man to recognise and delight in harmony, distinction, and design.
In Eden, standing before the serpent with forbidden fruit in hand, man lost sight of the beauty of the garden, the excellence of bearing the image of God, and the majestic splendour of the Creator Himself. What was sold to man was an egalitarian lie: that he could be just like God. In embracing this lie, man sought to redefine and rearrange the foundations of order. He attempted to redesign the aesthetic of creation itself, placing himself at the centre of the cosmos. Yet man would soon discover that lies can neither produce order nor sustain beauty. The death of beauty was quickly accompanied by relational fracture: man no longer delighted in God, in one another, or in the blessings of the garden.
Several thousand years removed from Eden, man’s proclivity to shut his eyes to beauty still persists. Yet through the redemptive work of Christ, he may be freed from bondage and blindness, and once again behold, delight in, cultivate, and propagate enduring beauty. This redemption has enabled man to create masterpieces of excellence in music, architecture, painting, poetry, literature, and fashion. Humanity has only ever reformed and produced such excellence when its posture has been one of humility before God, living in submission to the principles and laws embedded in His Word and in the created order. Whenever man instead pursues self-actualisation and enthrones himself at the centre, the bland, temporary, and despairing inevitably become enshrined in the aesthetic of a people.
Consider the modern art of the last two centuries, with its obsessive fixation on the self. In this theatre, meaning and purpose are no longer understood as transcendent, but purely subjective. Man’s emotions, desires, and image become the sole offering upon the canvas, incapable of perceiving a world beyond himself and inviting others into the same captivity.
Or consider modern architecture, which reveals its anthropology by treating human beings as cogs in a corporate machine who require little more than a bunker in which to sleep, consume entertainment, and park their cars. Buildings are no longer constructed to inspire delight or endure through generations, but merely to facilitate cold efficiency and sterile pragmatism. The modern home glorifies minimalism: barren spaces, neutral colours, and an aesthetic allergic to anything suggesting detail, craftsmanship, or intricate artistry. Such structures will not be worth beholding in the centuries to come.
Consider also the assault on feminine beauty and masculine strength through the propagation of feminism, sodomy, and transgender ideology. This effort to pervert and neutralise social and relational order functions as a form of cultural warfare potent enough to implode civilisations. It is nothing less than an attempt to demoralise, weaken, sterilise, and ultimately destroy those whom evildoers despise.
Without a transcendent beauty to behold, individuals and communities lose their sense of meaning and direction, descending instead into the dark recesses of personal will and futile tradition in search of answers, rather than looking upward for light. Sin turns man’s gaze downward and erodes his capacity for reverence. Men live and die having never beheld true majesty or bowed before it. Those who remain ignorant of genuine beauty become incapable of cultivating or propagating it. And when beauty dies, the human will often collapses alongside it.
Few things stir masculine virtue more powerfully than beauty. The inverse is equally true: the death of beauty grants license to vice and normalises the vile. When beauty dies, so too does the masculine virtue that seeks to delight in, protect, provide for, nurture, build, and multiply what is good. The death of beauty gives way to sexual licentiousness and pornography. It erodes stewardship, gratitude, responsibility, trust, and patriotism. Ultimately, the death of beauty ushers in the decline of culture and civilisation itself.
Many African communities have developed reputations for uncleanliness and aesthetic decay. Places filled with litter tend to attract even more of it. Rather than recognising chaos as a condition to be ordered, many resign themselves to ugliness and, in doing so, contribute to its institutionalisation. At best, some complain and demand that their civic governments clean up the mess, yet few assume personal responsibility to restore, redeem, and cultivate beauty in the midst of disorder. A culture shaped by victimhood and consumerism is incapable of producing enduring beauty.
Christians, however, have an opportunity to disrupt the destructive efforts of the godless by delighting in and propagating beauty and aesthetic excellence in all things. They must invest in excellent art, construct marvellous and awe-inspiring church buildings (cathedrals are not a bad idea), compose high-quality music, erect beautiful public spaces, and make interior design intricate again. They must strive for mastery in their crafts, pursuing not mere utility but artistry.
They should cultivate beautiful gardens and intentionally labour to make their communities remarkable. They should give thoughtful attention to their attire, not out of vanity, but as an expression of compelling order. They should encourage and delight in feminine grace: women growing their hair long, wearing dresses, cultivating poise, and possessing a cheerful spirit. They must delight in distinction and learn once again to sing and live in harmony. They should pursue eloquence, wielding words that are beautiful and life-giving to hear.
Above all, they must love their neighbours as themselves: humanising others, acting thoughtfully and generously, and bringing light and order to bear upon a world that has forgotten how to delight in and cultivate excellent things.