Culture And Anarchy: A Passion For Sweetness And Light
Having a “passion for sweetness and light” has blessed my life in countless ways.
In his essay “Culture and Anarchy”, Matthew Arnold defines culture as “a study of perfection…which consists in becoming something rather than in having something, in an inward condition of the mind and spirit, not in an outward set of circumstances”.
Sweetness and Light
Arnold continues:
“The pursuit of perfection, then, is the pursuit of sweetness and light. He who works for sweetness works in the end for light also; he who works for light works in the end for sweetness also. But he who works for sweetness and light united, works to make reason and the will of God prevail….culture has but one great passion, the passion for sweetness and light. Yes, it has one yet greater!— the passion for making them prevail.
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“It is not satisfied till we all come to a perfect man; it knows that the sweetness and light of the few must be imperfect until the raw and unkindled masses of humanity are touched with sweetness and light. If I have not shrunk from saying that we must work for sweetness and light, so neither have I shrunk from saying that we must have a broad basis, must have sweetness and light for as many as possible.
“Again and again I have insisted how those are the happy moments of humanity, how those are the marking epochs of a people’s life, how those are the flowering times for literature and art and all the creative power of genius, when there is a national glow of life and thought, when the whole of society is in the fullest measure permeated by thought, sensible to beauty, intelligent and alive. Only it must be real thought and real beauty; real sweetness and real light.”
Consider: In what ways to you seek real thought and real beauty in the forms of real sweetness and real light?
Sweetness and Light Inspiration
Following are personal examples of how one can develop a “passion for sweetness and light”:
A Hint of Fall in Summertime (video)
In the kitchen, I prepared something nourishing for dinner, then slid homemade banana muffins in the oven. Within minutes, the decadent aroma of cinnamon and vanilla coming from the oven made our house smell like fall. Stepping outside for a moment to enjoy the smell of the rain, I had to remind myself that it was still June—not October.
Photo Credit: Author
Poetry: Poet Anne Bradstreet
Opt for selections of poetry that refine the character. Dive into the lives of poets to learn from their fascinating lives. A recent poet study introduced me to poet Anne Bradstreet. The details of her life are intriguing, her poetry refreshingly poignant:
Photo Credit: Courtesy of the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts
Truth, Beauty, and Goodness
Enjoy sixteen quotes about the love of learning by individuals like Charles Spurgeon, Orison Swett Marden, Pestalozzi, and more.
Photo Credit: Canva
Good, Better, Best
Always a fan of the “Good, Better, Best” philosophy, I decided that I wanted to reap the consequences of the “Best” category. It was at this time that my decisions became easier, and false traditions started making their presence known in every area of my life: television, music, books, movies, recreational time, food, friends, holidays, and more.
Photo Credit: Original engraving from The Teachers’ and Pupils” Cyclopaedia, 1905, via Old Design Shop
Intellectual Food
Arnold caps his thoughts on sweetness and light with the following words:
“Plenty of people will try to give the masses, as they call them, an intellectual food prepared and adapted in the way they think proper for the actual condition of the masses. The ordinary popular literature is an example of this way of working on the masses. Plenty of people will try to indoctrinate the masses with the set of ideas and judgments constituting the creed of their own profession or party. Our religious and political organisations give an example of this way of working on the masses. I condemn neither way; but culture works differently. It does not try to teach down to the level of inferior classes; it does not try to win them for this or that sect of its own, with ready-made judgments and watchwords. It seeks to do away with classes; to make all live in an atmosphere of sweetness and light, and use ideas, as it uses them itself, freely,—to be nourished and not bound by them.“
Consider: Are our homes filled with popular literature or with sweetness and light?
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Conclusion
As we “draw ever nearer to a sense of what is indeed beautiful, graceful, and becoming” (Arnold), we will witness within our culture a state of increasing perfection, sweetness and light⎯”in an inward condition of the mind and spirit“.
Consider: What can you do today to develop a passion for sweetness and light?
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