How to see beauty
Last summer, I found myself at a farmers market of a small town in Southern France. The air was alive with chatter and the joy of yet another sunny day ahead. I made my way through tourists, neighbourhood regulars and other early birds. To escape the buzz, I stepped into the nearby cathedral.
Suddenly everything was quiet.
Here I was, breathing the cool air of this dim sanctuary, built ages ago by craftsmen, who had devoted 300 years of hard work to this colossal testimony to faith.
I got nervous.
Because there it was again, this familiar feeling that I have when I chance upon such moments of excessive beauty. I knew that this moment was special, yet I couldn’t really take it in, let alone enjoy it. Countless mundane thoughts and worries clouded my eyes.
What’s more, I didn’t really know where to look. All the details seemed to blur into a cliché of an experience, which I could label all too easily as “yet another gothic church”.
I felt like I was missing out on something, maybe everything — even though I was right here!
So I sat down.
And I took out my drawing pad.
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