You Don't Truly Understand the Meaning of Beauty
It eludes you because you try to capture her without being fully present
The days I wake up feeling beautiful turn out to be the most joyous of days, much more than the others.
Although I don’t work in the beauty industry or create art for a living, the pursuit of beauty is the undertone in so many decisions I make throughout the day.
Whether it's crafting that perfect title for a poem, building a watertight argument, decorating a little corner in my house, or even choosing to add a little bouquet to my grocery basket. Beauty is central to human pursuits.
I’ve also observed that most people pursue beauty in some form, knowingly or unknowingly. It’s human nature. However, we know very little about our reasons for doing so or what beauty even is.
There is beauty that is stunning. And then there is beauty that leaves a lingering imprint on the soul without disturbing its peacefulness.
Does Beauty Equal Pretty?
Not many are able to articulate the precise effect beautiful things, people, and experiences have on them. Overall, appreciation of beauty is a sought-after but vague experience.
For ages, artists, sculptors, photographers, poets, mathematicians, and spiritual seekers have tried to capture it from their unique perspectives.
And yet, all they succeeded in depicting was just that — their perspective. The essence of beauty eludes them all.
Beautiful doesn’t necessarily mean pretty, as it is defined in the conventional sense. Instead, there is a magnetic quality about anything beautiful, that is unmistakable yet difficult to grasp or define.
There is beauty that is stunning. And then there is beauty that leaves a lingering imprint on the soul without disturbing its peacefulness.
And yet, every beautiful experience has one common theme — presence.
Beauty is nothing but a deep encounter with the present moment.
Beauty Equals Presence
I believe encounters with beauty feel sublime because beauty has the power to bring us into the present moment, instantly. They put us directly in touch with our inner experience at this moment.
Have you experienced this? You may have been walking along a trail, and all of a sudden, a breath-taking vista opens up before your eyes. Everything stops for a millisecond.
Or sometimes strolling through your busy city, you too may have come across a gorgeous sculpture which makes you stop in your tracks and compels you to take notice. There is you, full of awe, and that sculpture. Nothing else.
Beauty yanks us out of our thoughts or wherever it is that our minds have drifted. It makes us take note of the present moment and lose ourselves to it, at least in that instant.
Beauty is a tool to achieve presence. In fact, it is a presence.
Beauty eludes us because we try to capture her without being present.
