January 21, 2015

Beauty Everywhere

There is beauty all around us, all the time, often when we least expect it, if we’re paying attention.  A previous post here, ‘Necessary Beauty’, speaks to why beauty, the creation and appreciation of which, was so important to the Greeks—as a value equal to Truth and Goodness. I’d like to propose another reason to ponder beauty as a value—the appreciation of beauty can be a mindfulness practice—a way of enriching and embedding our moments, heightening our awareness and training our attention: an antidote to the hyper-distractedness of our time. What is essential though is a broader understanding and embrace of what constitutes beauty….as a way of integrating attentive discernment, as a form of meditation in action.

©Elizabeth Watt

Howard Gardner proposes three criteria for a new understanding of beauty for modern times. First, the object, or subject is INTERESTING.  And since as they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, it simply has to be interesting to you. Second, it’s FORM is memorable…sufficiently powerful or evocative. This raises the bar a bit. …but still is subjective. Lastly, there is a desire to encounter the EXPERIENCE again, due to liking, curiosity or a feeling of awe. Again-suited to your personal taste. What’s missing here for me is some sense of universality–some criteria not based on personal taste or cultural differences. Is it possible to create some standard that we can all aspire to and integrate into our daily experience, as a way of centering ourselves, as a spiritual practice…as a way out of the perpetual visual clutter…as an antidote to all the distracting documentation of our every moment?

It’s about shifting the focus (pun intended). It’s about changing the way we use our devices. It’s about learning how to tune in rather than tune out. It’s about learning how to pay attention in different ways. It’s about learning how to have a ‘Good Eye’. Stay tuned….

 

 

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[…] I recently came across a tagline for an interior design business which captures an idea I’ve been pondering for some time now. It read, simply, Creating beauty, Changing lives. Of course the reference to the very commercial enterprise of marketing home furnishings is blatant, but it also speaks to the idea that the presence of Beauty, in it’s purest sense, can add deep and immeasurable value in our lives—beyond the surface appearance of things. The Creation of Beauty in one sense has been a central theme in my professional life as a commercial photographer charged with beautifying everything from sanitary napkins to pet food. Then of course there was all the more obvious beauty when I had a choice of subject matter. Did I feel I was changing lives? Hardly. But the pursuit and creation of beauty as an ongoing theme in my life has been hugely enriching, something I’ve often taken for granted. Now with a little distance from the commercial aspect of it, and as I dive deeper into the study of the nature of it, I see the call to Beauty as an essential core value in all of our lives moving forward—as a way of being, as a philosophy, as a grounding principle. I’ve touched on this in previous posts here. […]

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[…] I recently came across a tagline for an interior design business which captures an idea I’ve been pondering for some time now. It read, simply, Creating beauty, Changing lives. Of course the reference to the very commercial enterprise of marketing home furnishings is blatant, but it also speaks to the idea that the presence of Beauty, in it’s purest sense, can add deep and immeasurable value in our lives—beyond the surface appearance of things. The Creation of Beauty in one sense has been a central theme in my professional life as a commercial photographer charged with beautifying everything from sanitary napkins to pet food. Then of course there was all the more obvious beauty when I had a choice of subject matter. Did I feel I was changing lives? Hardly. But the pursuit and creation of beauty as an ongoing theme in my life has been hugely enriching, something I’ve often taken for granted. Now with a little distance from the commercial aspect of it, and as I dive deeper into the study of the nature of it, I see the call to Beauty as an essential core value in all of our lives moving forward—as a way of being, as a philosophy, as a grounding principle. I’ve touched on this in previous posts here. […]

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