Painting a cave wall

A hand painting prehistoric figures on a cave wall, symbolizing the human need to create beauty.

This reflection complements my explanation of what a statue is—before beginning a series of activities on stillness—and what purpose it serves: art and beauty.

Before beginning a series of activities on stillness, I explain to the children what a statue is and invite them to consider an even more important question: what is it for?

That question leads to a brief reflection on art and beauty.

Imagine people living in prehistoric times.

Imagine the toil, fear, and hardship of their lives. Survival demanded time, energy, and attention.

And yet some of them painted the walls of caves.

We do not know for certain what those images meant or why they were made. We do know, however, that creating them required time, materials, skill, and intention.

Survival was not enough.

Human beings need more than what keeps them alive. We also need beauty: we need to give form to our thoughts and emotions and leave a trace of our presence.

If you do not believe it, try to imagine a world in which you lack none of the things we consider essential, but everyone wears the same clothes, lives in the same kind of house, and eats the same food every day—perhaps just a pill.

And imagine that everything is gray.

Nature surrounds us with extraordinary forms. Human beings can recognize that beauty, recreate it, transform it, and share it with others. We can create something that did not exist before and leave it behind for people we will never meet.

This is what I try to explain to children before we work on statues.

When I ask them to create a statue, I am not simply asking them to stand still. I am asking them to choose a form, give it meaning, make that meaning clear, and offer it to others.

That too is a small act of creating beauty.

Whenever you have a creative thought—or, better still, whenever you actually create something—do not let anyone convince you that you are wasting time and that other things matter more.

Making the world more beautiful is not a luxury, and it is not only for the benefit of those who create. What we make can become a gift to everyone.

Art triumphs even over the death of the artists who created it.