Multiple layers of beauty
“The best part of beauty is that which no picture can express.” — Francis Bacon
Beauty has lots of different forms. The beauty that I want to talk about today is the pure appreciation of a subject or activity. It is the feeling of awe you feel when you experience something new, either by seeing, hearing or simply reflecting. I argue that beauty has multiple layers and that increasing your familiarity with a subject will move you through the layers towards a different understanding of beauty.
First of all, the kind of beauty I am talking about is very specific and almost entirely subjective. It doesn’t affect everyone the same but holds true for everyone. My basic premise is that the same subject looks different for people of varying skill levels. It looks very different through the eyes of a novice than the eyes of a master. One fool-proof way of experiencing beauty is progressing through the levels from novice to master.
On your way from a novice to master, you accumulate an increasing amount of knowledge. Each time you expand your knowledge about the field, your perspective shifts a little until you have a sudden epiphany and new pieces start to align. You see it in a completely different light and you are often incapable of seeing it as you have seen it before.
Take chess, for example. When you are a novice and don’t know the rules, the beauty of chess is to see all these different figures, learn what they can do and dive into a new, fun game to play. You are amazed by the complexity of learning all the possible moves and what the figures can do. Once you have understood and internalized what the figures do, it is impossible to go back to the same kind of awe you had in the beginning. You have reached a new level of understanding and might be in awe of novel aspects. You start noticing patterns of when to move a particular piece to steal a piece from your opponent. Over time, you learn openings, different positions and strategic counters to specific strategies. You understand the game on a completely different level and start appreciating its complexity even more. Once you have become extremely proficient at the game you start seeing things less skilled players don’t: you can see multiple steps ahead and plan maneuvers you could not even fathom before. The way you see the game is different. While it is still possible for you to rationally see through the eyes of someone who does not know what the pieces do, you cannot do the same emotionally. You have left the awe of the novice behind and will never get it back. Sometimes it flickers through, maybe when you have not played in a long time, maybe when you think back of fond memories of younger days. But you never experience it again in the same way, you have ascended. This journey does not only apply to games like chess, but also to business, sports, relationships, and many other areas.
All of this does not mean that becoming a master at something should be avoided because you could hit a ceiling at which there is no appreciation anymore. Most meaningful things in life are complex enough to not be fully understood by anyone within their lifetimes. It rather shows how learning new things opens enormous possibilities for your enjoyment. Maybe this was a long way of saying: try to learn something new every now and then, it may enrich your life.
Don’t forget that not all things in life convey the same appreciation to all people. Think of your one friend who can talk about video games the whole day while someone else is fascinated by different architecture styles. We have different tastes and have experts in different subject areas. Find the one you enjoy learning about or power through the discomfort if it is a subject you have to learn for school or your career. You may still get something out of it.
Learning something new does not imply that you have to become a master at it. Sometimes people lose interest at a certain stage and lose the appreciation. They lose the old awe and cannot find the new one. There are people who specifically like very distinct stages (Generalists vs. specialists). Generalists like to dive into the higher levels of many different topics and seek their joy in the novelty of many different areas. They do not enjoy going deep into specific topics as much as diving into a new one. Specialists on the other hand really enjoy the deep understanding of their chosen fields and thrive in the intimacy of the levels of understanding they have reached.
Whatever you want to learn, cherish the epiphanies that arise when you get to a new level of understanding, they are amongst our purest joys and you can actively work towards them. For many of you, now is a time to cherish this feeling by diving into something new or going deeper into one of your favorite topics.
