“Beauty invites us to build bridges and make connections between the senses and the soul... between ourselves and the world.”
J. Ruth Gendler elaborates on ideas of beauty in her book, Notes on the Need for Beauty: An Intimate Look at an Essential Quality. The phrase “essential quality” implies that it is something that can be found in everyone and everything.
And, essential it is.
In such a complex world, it is easy to focus on all the negative things in the world. In fact, this seems to be many people’s default setting. It takes a lot of vigor and inclination to look for the beauty in life. As we grow older, we get used to the blue sky, the bloom of spring, the chatter of the morning birds, the feeling of grass on our bare feet, the sound of the ocean.
We routinize everything, and can even allow the presence of such beauty annoy us. We may learn to despise the sound of crickets in the evening or birds in the morning, because to us, everything should run on our schedule.
But, that’s just it: the world does not revolve around us, as individuals, or even around the human race. Something does not cease to exist once it leaves our line of sight or our immediate space, and that is beautiful!
It is so freeing to realize that we are all just tiny creatures coexisting in the grand universe. Our existence is amazing, no matter how you think we came to be. We are here and that, in itself, is reason enough to live in the moment and to allow yourself to see the beauty in everyday experiences.
The feeling of warmth on your bare skin that we get to directly experience, by cause of a giant ball of gas 92.96 million miles away from the earth is magnificent! The intense warm orange glow of sunshine, which can only be seen when closed eyelids reach for the sun, is extremely validating. The fact that these light particles interact with us and touch our own bodies, made up of tiny particles of stardust themselves, validates our existence and our place in the universe.
One of my favorite things to think about is the idea that when you are standing at the edge of the sand at the beach, waves gently washing over your feet, you are standing on the edge of a continent. At that very moment, you are gripping the edge of a land mass, legitimated by national claims and governing institutions. You almost seem free and untouchable.
The smell of laundry as you walk past an apartment complex, the feeling of a loved one’s hand in your own, the feeling of butterflies when you unexpectedly drive over a small hill, being graced with a butterfly’s touch in the spring time, the rhythm of a river, hearing one of your favorite songs for the first time, the giraffe-like pattern on the branches of a tree, the remarkable royal blue color of the sky that spans the time between the last rays of light and the blackening of the night sky.
The quick glance of a white owl swooping above you on a dark night, unexpectedly making friends with a ladybug, perfectly fluffy Simpson’s clouds, a soft Summer breeze rustling the curtains of an open window as the sun sets, driving with the windows rolled down on a perfectly warm day, Julian Casablancas’ falsetto- okay maybe that one is just me.
Indulge in these little things that you love! Savor the moment!
Gendler believes that “our willingness to see and honor beauty makes more beauty possible,” and I agree. The more you search for beauty, the more likely these little things will make themselves visible to you.
The world will never cease to be beautiful, even if we cease to recognize the beauty within it.
