Dean Koontz on Beauty and Faith

Faith & Family magazine had an interview with the novelist Dean Koontz, and I loved what he said at the end of the article:

I can walk in the rose garden, watch the joyful capering of my dog, and see the indisputable work of God. The key is beauty. If the world is merely a complex and efficient machine, beauty is not required. Beauty is, in fact, superfluous. Therefore beauty is a gift to us. If we were soulless machines of meat, the survival instinct would be all we needed to motivate us. The pleasures of the senses -- such as taste and smell -- are superfluous to machines in a godless world. Therefore, they are gifts to us, and evidence of divine grace. The older I've gotten, the more beauty, wonder, and mystery I see in the world, which is why there are ever more of those three things in my books.

The last issue of Faith & Family (which my office receives) started this new series of interviews with celebrities, and I think it is very interesting. They haven't made the "obvious" selections of people who wear their faith on their sleeve. Last month was Cary Elwes. I didn't know either of them was Catholic! The series asks the celebrities to talk about their families (of origin, so far) and how they have influenced their faith, and how their faith influences their work.