Fishing for Love

There is a video I just saw on Facebook of a puffer fish trying to attract a mate. He does this in a very entertaining way. Well, its entertaining for me anyways, maybe Mr. Fish wouldn't appreciate me looking down at his efforts. But what he does is, he swims around the bottom of the ocean and makes these designs in the sand, and it's really quite impressive. It's large, generally symmetrical, and actually really beautiful. If Cathedrals could be drawn in the ocean sand, the puffer fish would make the best rounded stained windows. 

It just sort of reminds me of the role of beauty in sexual desire. Beauty can be contemplated, as we contemplate Mozart or Renoir, but that kind of beauty cannot be had or desired. A postcard  might do if we wanted to be reminded of the finer details. Beauty in another person, however, can also be contemplated, but it is also vigorously desired. How can one desire a portrait or a movement in a symphony the way a man desires a woman? When we recognize beauty in a person, particularly a mate, what emerges is desire. And when we have no one in particular we wish to attract, we demonstrate our beauty, as a peacock showcases his beautiful feathers to attract a peahen (and sometimes, we anthropomorphize this in humans and say Bill is peacocking to attract Jane). And these puffer fish designs, these marvelous patterns in the sand are all in order to attract a mate. They are using beauty to induce desire. 

Of course, this isn't quite right. It doesn't seem like animals can actually grasp the concept of beauty, only rational animals can. There may be an evolutionary benefit to the "beauty" of the animals or their activities, but it doesn't explain the realm of beauty as humans experience it, as an end in of itself. We preserve beauty, and are willing to defend it, as someone will most assuredly tackle you to the ground if you tried to take a hammer to Michaelangelo's Pieta. We contemplate beauty, and we are satisfied with that, sometimes now content with death after seeing such beauty, as some will be content with passing through death as we see the magnificent beauty of our Lord. 

I am not beautiful. Maybe that explains why I am single. Haha. Well, plenty of fish in the sea I suppose.