Can We Talk? R.I.P. Joan Rivers

From the movie "Joan Rivers; Piece of Work"

Something is very wrong with the world. We are losing our ability to know truth, goodness, and beauty when we see it. It seems that we live in a culture of subjectivity and that subjective truth is wounding us deeply.

For example, many believe that what is true for you may not be true for them. What is good for me may be at your expense. The pursuit of beauty has created an ever widening divorce between the physical and spiritual. Is beauty truly only in the eye of the beholder is something beautiful regardless of our opinion?

Truth, goodness, and beauty are referred to as transcendental because they transcend the limits of the places or times in which we live. Each of these are rooted in "being" and are not contingent upon what religious beliefs you have or what culture you come from or what ideology you adhere to.

In fact, truth, goodness, and beauty are objective properties that that can be found in all creation. So how can a person be so blind to the truth that they do harm and not good to themselves all for the sake of trying to become what they already are which is beautiful? I believe it is because of the divorce that has taken place between the spiritual and physical realm.

The body makes visible the invisible reality of the person we see before us. We are not just a material substance that can be nipped and tucked and implanted so as to "become" beautiful but rather we are a union of spirit and matter. We are "embodied spirits" and our beauty exists whether we acknowledge it or not.

If the body makes visible the invisible than we understand that someone who modifies their bodies with piercings and tattoos has a spirit screaming to be seen and heard or is in fact could be so shattered that the modifications become a shield or costume to hide behind so that others will not truly "see" them.

What was Joan Rivers' soul making visible to the world? We know that she has had hundreds of plastic surgery procedures and suffered with bulimia as well. This is a serious identity issue that many women are struggling with and it starts with truth.

Our truth is being warped and manipulated into something very ugly. It leads people to mutilate and abuse themselves until goodness is out of reach and beauty is unattainable. For Joan, I would postulate that her truth was skewed. I would also postulate that she was deeply dissatisfied with herself and was a woman that desperately needed to hear that she was a unique and unrepeatable person made in the image and likeness of God and that her personhood was good.

Let's us pray for the world to rediscover the true, the good and beautiful because ultimately that will lead us all to what we have been destined for.

Eternal Rest Grant Unto Her Oh Lord and Let Perpetual Light Shine Upon Her and May She Rest In Peace.