The Beast Moved by Wind: Radical Joy Revealed

Radical Joy Revealed is a weekly message of inspiration about finding and making beauty in wounded places. We hope you'll enjoy these doorways into places that are both familiar and surprising, and we welcome your suggestions, stories, and photos. Click here to subscribe.

The Beast Moved by Wind

In times of darkness, sometimes what we really need is a burst of pure, luminous delight.

This morning, at 5:44 Eastern time, the North Pole tilted again toward the sun, and the Winter Solstice passed. Now the days start getting lighter in the northern hemisphere and darker in the southern hemisphere.

To mark the occasion and to bring some light into any darkness you may be undergoing in your personal life, we present the Strandbeests of Dutch artist Theo Jansen. These fanciful creatures remain dormant until they receive the wind. Then they come to life. Their wings flap. Their knobby knees rise. Their funny padded feet hit the sand. And they're off and running down the beach.

The Strandbeests are animated only by wind. They have no technological parts. Jansen has been creating them for more than twenty-five years, and they are as personable and idiosyncratic to him as they are to those who watch them.

"Reality is very creative," Jansen has said. "Maybe that is why the Strandbeests appear to be alive, and charm us. The Strandbeests themselves have let me make them."

May the darkness in your life be illumed often with beauty and light.

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Radical Joy Revealed.

Radical Joy for Hard Times is a global community of people dedicated to finding and making beauty in wounded places. Reconnecting with these places, sharing our stories of loss, and making acts of beauty there, we transform the land, reconnect people and the places that nourish them, and empower ourselves to make a difference in the way we live on Earth.

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Each week Radical Joy Revealed comes to you free of charge with inspiring stories and suggestions for living with endangered places in creative, life-affirming ways. It takes thought, imagination, and a sense of timing to uncover and write the stories, choose just the right images to accompany them, and prepare them for distribution, and we could use your financial help. Please show your support of Radical Joy Revealed by making a tax-deductible donation to our non-profit organization.

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