Is beauty found in the trees? Is it in the flowers? The grass? The mountains? Is it in the way the ocean rolls or tumbles? In the unsearched depths of the seas? Is it in the clouds or a double rainbow? Is it in the rain or snow? Is it in a sunrise or sunset? Is it in a cityscape or the architecture of a building? In rubble and ruins? Is it in the intricacies of machinery or technology? Do you find it in thoughts of the mind? Science? Mathematics? Theater? Is it in music? Is it found in museums filled with books, paintings, pictures, and sculptures? Do you find it in a magazine or in a novel? Do you find it in fashion, beauty products, or in diction and literature? Do you find it in cultures? Languages? History? Photography? Food? Do you find it in the stars? In the galaxies? In the infinite possibilities of the universe? In the scorching sun or the gleaming moon? Do you find a particular season more beautiful than another? Is beauty in the unknown? Is it in an experience? A moment of exhilaration? Comfort? Relationships? Community?
To these questions, the most likely broadened answer would be that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. According to the Google definition, the phrase originated from a proverb with the intention being that “beauty cannot be judged objectively, for what one person finds beautiful or admirable may not appeal to another.” However, there have been several variations and likely origins of the phrase as the good people have answered on the altogether reliable Yahoo Answers. Here are five speculative responses:
1) Plato: “Remember how in that communion only, beholding beauty with the eye of the mind, he will be enabled to bring forth, not images of beauty, but realities (for he has hold not of an image but of a reality), and bringing forth and nourishing true virtue to become the friend of God and be immortal, if mortal man may.”
2) Margaret Wolfe Hungerford in Molly Bawn (1878) the line appears as is.
3) Shakespeare in Love's Labours Lost: “Beauty is bought by judgement of the eye."
4) Major General Lew Wallace: “Beauty is altogether in the eye of the beholder.”
5) Miss Piggy: “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it may be necessary from time to time to give a stupid or misinformed beholder a black eye.”
The purpose in bothering to mention the above versions are not to provide a history of the phrase or even attempt to pinpoint the origins, but to provide background because of the vagueness as to who first stated this common cliché off-hand remark that society so loves to use.
To answer the numerous questions I began this article with: for me, there exists the potential for beauty to be in all things, and even the things I am sure to have missed stating above. It may take a bit of determination or simply a different perspective, mindset, or vantage point, but if beauty is being searched for, then it can be found. The reason being that all things have something in common: a creator or artist. I believe that God created the universe and everything in it, including humanity.
Colossians 1:16, "For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him."
Romans 1: 20, 25, "For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse….because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen."
Psalm 19:1, "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork."
Genesis 1:27, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."
(Also see, Job 38:4-41).
Creation and art reveal something about the character of the creator or artist. To this end, the universe and all within it reveal something of God and anything humans create reveals something of humanity, and humanity is in resemblance of God. I do not seek to answer each individual posed question above as I am sure it would be lengthy and a bore, but I will say that what I am looking for in my existence is more of an appreciation for the things that I am privileged to experience while in this world – natural and unnatural, abstract and concrete. The aim ought to be making us more aware, more appreciative, and more grateful for the beauty we've been blessed with surrounding and within us. So, where do you find beauty? What is beautiful to you?
"BibleGateway." .com: A Searchable Online Bible in over 100 Versions and 50 Languages. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 July 2015.
"Who Said "Beauty Is in the Eye of the Beholder"?" Yahoo! Answers. Yahoo!, n.d. Web. 26 July 2015.
