We all adhere to divergent notions of what
constitutes beauty and a beautiful life is bound to reflect that diversity, but
what is beauty?
Definitions abound, but for provisional purposes
let’s start with this:
Beauty
is presence.
We recognize this presence through the sense of
pleasure it induces in us, a quality of being and becoming found pleasing and
attractive not only to our physical senses, but also the senses of mind and
spirit. Paradox, as it will with all things, expands and deepens this notion.
Beauty’s more nuanced presence, for example, can
often be detected in that which is conventionally thought to be ugly. Think
wabi sabi or merely the wrinkles and creases that grace our face as we age. Confused?
No worries.
The salient point here is that beauty, not
unlike a beautiful life, is as rich, diverse and complex as the cosmos itself—a
particular comingling of both the light and the dark in life—by which I mean to
say, it’s not all blowsy roses on a lovely sunlit afternoon in June, but the substantial
amount of mud and compost they are rooted in, and the driving rain providing
their nourishment as well.
A guest contributor for On Being with Krista Tippett offers this complementary insight regarding the subject
at hand:
“Moments
of beauty — be it music, art, nature, or an act of kindness — can take you out
of a space of weary familiarity. Beauty, in whatever form it takes, can
interrupt a pattern of behavior or a way of thinking and cause us to stop in
our tracks and take notice of it. There are people holding out on the toughest
frontiers of existence, surrounded by misery, but yet somehow sustained by a
moment of beauty.”
This observation leading to another bit of
enlightenment—that beauty is subversive.
Beauty is subversive because it is a source of
power—power to renew faith, instill hope … the power to inspire—an argument
wonderfully made by the late Irish authour John O’Donohue in his book, Divine Beauty: The Invisible Embrace. A
worthy read.
All of which is to say, beauty far from being irrelevant,
trivial or a luxury we simply can’t afford, is actually quite purposeful and
necessary.
Why put up with banality in the design and
architecture of our life, when possibilities for something much more rich, real
and life giving abound?
What
would it take to make your life more beautiful?
