Where is the modern cathedral?
Everything that’s beautiful is old. New things are merely impressive. Past societies could create something that modernity simply can’t. Which begs the question. Why?
Churches and city skylines
This idea struck me shortly before I visited the Aachen Cathedral last Christmas. I’d been there years before. A decade perhaps. I’m getting older.
The cathedral really is otherworldly. Yet it was made in this world. A mind and/or culture different from the modern one must’ve built it.
I am writing this piece in a building called The Forum. It’s a great feat of modern architecture. Impressive. Not beautiful. Because irony wills such things, the Forum is built next to a church, and its beauty pales in comparison to this church.
The Forum was finished in 2012. The church was built between 1225 and the 1500s. One has fancy elevators, a cinema and escalators everywhere. The other touches the soul.
Churches vibe with the soul
Walking into the Forum causes a rational process of being in awe. It’s superficial. It needs to be argued for. The building is cool because it has a fancy design and because they used these new techniques and because etc. etc.
The church causes a deeper, effortless awe. It’s not beautiful because. It just is.
There’s something deeper at work here. The gut. The soul. God. Whatever it is, it’s attracted to the church, and feels little in the Forum.
Beautiful vs. impressive
The distinction between Christianity and modernity is partly found in the difference between beautiful and impressive.
The iPhone is impressive. So is the Forum. The Empire State Building. VR-glasses. Wind-turbines. Modern architecture. The list goes on..
None of these things are beautiful. Which begs the question why a more advanced society fails to produce anything equal in beauty.
It’s because modernity is built on vices while Christianity strives for virtue. Both acknowledge the vices, yet modernity monetizes them while Christianity seeks to transcend them.
There is a lot of money in vices. Greed, lust and jealousy are weaponized to make sure people pay. But all this trickles down into our culture, politics and souls. Ugly ideas build ugly worlds, however impressive they are. Destruction can be sophisticated too.
Conclusion
I was wrong. Not only old things are beautiful. Things inspired by old ideas are. These ideas are still out there. You can connect to them and create based upon them.
That is the goal of Bunkerized Christianity. To live according to what is Good, True and Beautiful.
So I humbly invite you to reflect. Just a little. Why do the ideas of modernity produce such little beauty? And what is possible for us if we invite into our lives the old ideas that did?