200 beautiful things
Is beauty universal? What does sharing #200beautifulthings do?
I’ve become obsessed with beauty lately. #200beautifulthings started as an idle thought, then a social experiment, what does sharing 200 beautiful things do?
I encounter so many stunning experiences in my travels and rarely attempt to share them. Then I offhandedly shared a poem with someone I met at work and when I revisited it, I saw again what a work of staggering genius and beauty it was.
Even more interestingly, so did my new friend who came from a life, social circle, and job role very ostensibly different from my own. I began to wonder if beauty was universal.
In Western life beauty is so often co-opted as a marketing vector. We become inured to the idea that someone is trying to sell us something when they make works of art. We become cynical that our perception of beauty would ever be shared.
So I’m going to try something new. I’m going to share 200 beautiful things and see what happens. I’m really just curious.
Perceptions of beauty change the people who have them, curating beauty implies a responsibility to properly represent neurodiversity, and the focus on beauty can lead us to create more intentionally, and with greater effect.
This list is a an out-breath of genius. And a curious question into the world, what does beauty do?
200 BEAUTIFUL THINGS LIST
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#1. Colors song by the Black Pumas
We start the list with a song by the Black Pumas. Their song is stunning in its simplicity, craft, and performance. The content resonates with anyone who has lived through the political divisiveness shaping our world.
But more deeply, beauty and the emotions it evokes can be seen as many colors with different intensity and hue, covering the gamut of human experience. The experience of shared beauty comes from all aspects of consciousness; history, art, literature, music, science, from many voices and from all cultures.
Please let this song soften you into the experience I am hoping to share with you. Many voices, joined in one purpose.
#2. Charles Dabrowski’s Theory of Positive Disintegration
Okay, 200 beautiful things. Forgive me if I draw from multiple disciplines. #2 Dabrowski’s theory of positive disintegration.
Bear with me here, it’s worth appreciating.
Charles (Kazimierz) Dabrowski is often referred to as one of the founding fathers of positive psychology. In short, he researched giftedness before anyone cared. But he did so in an unusual context. A Polish citizen he survived WW1 and WW2 as a psychiatrist in charge of a sanitarium .
A gifted scientist he used his scientific credentials to support some 200 gifted students under his care at a “secret institute” disguised as an Institute for Tuberculosis. From 1942 to 1945 the institute sheltered and saved many war orphans, priests, Polish soldiers, members of the resistance, and Jewish children. Dabrowski was one of 38/400 polish psychiatrists to survive the war and this exposure shaped his theories. As he stated: “The juxtaposition of inhuman forces and inhuman humans with those who were sensitive, capable of sacrifice, courageous, gave a vivid panorama of a scale of values from the lowest to the highest”.
Dabrowski argued that neurodiversity held value to humanity, that falling apart was not always falling down, and he did so in and out of Stalinist and Nazi prisons.
The theory of positive disintegration is simple: some breakdowns are breakthroughs. Dabrowski believed that humans evolved by falling apart. Like the mythical phoenix. Read the theory, and appreciate the life that created it.
It’s truly beautiful.
#3. If poem by Rudyard Kipling
A poem Rudyard Kipling wrote for his son titled ‘If’ resonates through time.
I always think of this poem as a series of life tasks. Can base inclinations be transmuted to higher-order actions? What kind of energy does that take? Can it become a habit?
This poem is gendered, English, many -isms but think of when you have seen the crucible activities in it enacted in your own life and in the people you have known closely.
Like the classic series of yoga poses ritualized in Bikram yoga, or the barre techniques that comprise the core of ballet, perhaps there is a core of universal human strengths which can be developed to enhance the expression of our individual lives.
Read and enjoy.
#4. Free Solo climb by Alex Honnold
The film is kind of the lens for the performance. The whole movie used to be on YouTube as a short but now it’s won awards and been expanded to feature length. This clip is a teaser trailer.
This film is beautifully shot and there is clearly a great team behind its execution, but the true beauty is Alex and his stunning peacefulness.
Many people know I’m a climber and have been for many years. I don’t recommend free-soloing but I do recommend this movie and I’m okay with that discrepancy.
I think a lot of people have gotten caught up in the execution of this feat, but what I find truly beautiful is that is is an expression for something else, something beyond fear that Alex seems to have found.
#5. Happy Feet performance by Jim Carey on Sesame Street
There is something truly endearing about Jim Carey. I’ve always been impressed at the authenticity of the emotions he shares and the insight he displays when speaking.
This short clip from Sesame Street shows the versatility of Carey’s performance and the innocence he has always been able to evoke.
Shout out to his recent work as well on Kidding which is a more adult version of the same deconstructions.
#6. A historical photograph of Werfel, and his shoes
I’ve always thought gratitude was a Christmas emotion.
Werfel, a 6-year old Austrian orphan, beams with unbounded joy as he clasps a new pair of shoes presented to him by the American Red Cross.
— LIFE magazine, Original caption December 30, 1946
Something about this image is so strikingly lovely. I think its been overused a lot as a guilt-bludgeon (starving orphans in [insert-country here]).
But for me the image holds this transcendent gratitude. It’s something needed… and found. This child is so honest in how he savors that moment.
Does the need or its method of resolution really matter? This embrace, and its loveliness is something we all have access to the next time we find our car keys.
Christmas topics often revolve around injustice and lack, but they could just as easily be about finding what we have when it arrives.
#7. You Can Play ad campaign by the Edmonton Oilers
I watched the Edmonton Oilers launch a You Can Play campaign on Valentines Day 2017.
I think I still have some rainbow colored hockey tape:) It remains one of the most startling and inclusive experiences of my life.
The thing about diversity is, the many must be willing to honor the few. This is an example of what that looks like and how beautiful it can be.
#8. Dancing in the Moonlight scene from The Umbrella Academy
The backstory of these two makes this dance even more surprising and delightful but I think the dance stands on its own. These two move so happily, and their micro-expressions are so genuine.
Anyone who has ever been in love knows how it feels and this clip captures it perfectly.
#9. The Wellerman sea-shanty TikTok
This simple message of hope came in the spring of COVID, when vaccines crept across the earth, shortages reached their zenith and we emerged in a daze from hibernation.
There is a reason people sang this song in this time. I think it might make more sense to people who live in Northern latitudes who understand the cyclical nature of deep winter, and early spring.
We ought not forget our species strengths when we fight to overcome its weaknesses.
#10. Chief Joseph’s 1879 speech in Washington DC
Chief Joseph was a powerful advocate for his people the Nez Percé tribe and his words on equality and justice still resonate with power today.
Nez Percé traditional lands covered northeastern Oregon, southeastern Washington, and central Idaho but any perusal of history will show Chief Joseph was a great leader, facing a terrible future for his people with dignity, candor, and courage. Anyone living on these traditional lands needs to read his words as they speak of a custodianship that must be honored.
“I am tired of talk that comes to nothing. It makes my heart sick when I remember all the good words and all the broken promises. There has been too much talking by men who had no right to talk. Too many misinterpretations have been made; too many misunderstandings have come up between the white men and the Indians.
If the white man wants to live in peace with the Indian he can live in peace. There need be no trouble. Treat all men alike. Give them the same laws. Give them all an even chance to live and grow. All men were made by the same Great Spirit Chief. They are all brothers. The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it.”
#11. Pondering Pool greeting cards by Susan Mrosek
Susan Mrosek built a line of whimsical, wise, and idiosyncratic cards based on her experience as a caregiver. You can see her work at ponderingpool.com.
In our society we tend to prize youth, performance, and beauty. Susan speaks for the wisdom of age, the elegance of small contributions, and the infinite variety in the human form.
I find her work deeply soothing. I also want to give a shout out to all the adult caregivers out there. Susan is someone who really gets it.
#12. Hawaiian practice of Hoʻoponopono.
An island nation’s method of conflict resolution. The modern mantra for reconciliation and forgiveness is: “I love you. I’m sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you.
As we face global environmental crisis, increasingly global economic and health systems, the need to reevaluate the US justice system, and politicized strife in many countries, we can all benefit from how an island nation solves their problems. What do you do when you don’t have space for a feud? What do you do when there is nowhere to run and you don’t want to fight?
Hawaiians worked this out 5,000 years ago and we can learn from them.
Hoʻoponopono is defined in the Hawaiian Dictionary as:
(a) “To put to rights; to put in order or shape, correct, revise, adjust, amend, regulate, arrange, rectify, tidy up make orderly or neat, administer, superintend, supervise, manage, edit, work carefully or neatly; to make ready, as canoemen preparing to catch a wave.”
(b) “Mental cleansing: family conferences in which relationships were set right (hoʻoponopono) through prayer, discussion, confession, repentance, and mutual restitution and forgiveness.
Perhaps most telling is where the process starts, instead of “conflict” or “dispute”, Hawaiians see the problem as “stubborn dispute”, “having difference” or “entanglement”.
Can this mantra help us find resolution?
#13. On the Radio song by Regina Spektor.
A Russian-American singer songwriter, Spector never writes down her songs. This one is notable for its lyrics, melody, and heart.
I think something about the originality of the song, the way it rewrites itself each verse, the compassion, and the awe she expresses toward life sticks with me.
Kalil Gibran says:
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the make upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness.
For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He also loves the bow that is stable.
Regina seems to sing this gladness with a round, and stable voice. This one is for all my friends who are bending their beautiful bows and their arrows flying into the future.
#14. Break-up episode from This American Life
I’ve been a fan of Ira Glass since 1997 when I had to tune into his show with a coat hanger wired to the radio from the Rocky Mountains of central Idaho.
I might be Ira’s oldest fan. But I didn’t really appreciate his show until I heard long-time contributor Starlee Kine interview Phil Collins on the Breakup episode shortly after a tough divorce.
Over the years I’ve listened to this episode again and again, and each time I’m in a different place. Each time I hear something different. Creativity, heartbreak, renewal, and always… compassion.
I think this might be the most authentic and healing radio piece I’ve ever listened to and I’ll probably be a fan of radio until I die and they hold my funeral in VR :)
If your heart is broken, try giving it to Ira and Starlee for a bit, I promise you they will make it a better.
#15. The Science of Slap performance art
performance art. This slow-motion video is stunning and evokes higher emotions Watch all the way to the end, then watch again.
It takes tremendous energy to change patterns. Sometimes we don’t give people enough credit for the small incremental motions, minute hesitations, and faltering that precede major reversals.
We are all at the mercy of childhood conditioning and subconscious wiring in so much of our lives. It also takes tremendous strength to absorb traumas and not perpetuate them. To give better than we get.
Who do we want to be in this chain?
#16. Love and Hate song by Michael Kiwanuka
There is a reason I’ve chosen two transcendental songs about unity and love performed by black men for this list.
Sometimes the contemplation of great injustices, and inhuman behavior can spark a response from deep in the soul of intense beauty, a shout into the void.
We see this from other people on our list. Charles Dabrowski, Viktor Frankl, and Chief Joseph. Some of the worlds greatest art has originated from oppressed peoples in response to that oppression.
As Joy DeGruy explains in her work on Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome, multigenerational trauma is the lived history of many black people the world over.
This song, if you really listen to it, is the opposite of that pain. “I need something, give me something wonderful” sings Michael, and the many voices who people this performance. Play particular attention to the unobtrusive soloist who emerges at the end.
Sometimes we see only wounds, please lend an ear instead to the sound of healing.
#17. Indigenous leaders calling for Rights of Nature
Okay this one is a little biased because I was involved in producing this video and circulating it publically. But the messages in it, and the art that composes it isn’t mine. Every time I watch it, I’m impressed again by the beauty of the message, the unity of the leaders, and their deep love and understanding of Nature.
In 2024, the leaders that we were friends with from Savimbo said that the atrocities of WWII had led to the release and adoption of the Human Rights Code. They felt that the energy behind climate change, and the threats to Mother Earth had opened an opportunity for a new era in human relationship to Nature.
See for yourself if their words resonate with you. I think this video is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen.
#18. Jesse Owen’s performance at the 1936 Olympic Games
Anyone who has ever had a talent, and looked for a meritocratic environment to develop it in, would be cheering for Jesse Owens.
The grandchild of slaves, and the tenth child of sharecroppers he won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The games were intended to be a showcase of Aryan superiority by the Germans who were hosting.
Jesse’s phenomenal performance, and the other German athletes who supported him in friendship, remain a testament to the beauty of inclusion and friendship in athletic performance that echo through time.
Sometimes the best among us, and our best performances, are withheld through fear or bigotry. Jesse showed the world that this is not always the case. I love the photos of his smiles during this performance.
They are truly genuine and speak to real joy.
#19. Coming soon…
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Originally published at https://www.todreamalife.com on December 17, 2021.
