Why Beauty?    by Janet Rempel

I am speaking of Art,

Creative Endeavors,

and

 or 

the Art of Life.

Why is there Beauty when function will do?

Is it necessary?

Is it relevant and essential to Life?

It has been said that “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, 

which speaks to perspective,

the eyes in my head,

the eyes of the imagination,

the angle or grid through which my mind views the world of form, the physical world, informed through my five senses: taste, touch, sight, smell and sound,

as well as informed through the unseen sphere, the intangible, the spiritual.

So I think we can agree that Beauty is present, does exist for us as human beings.

Yet to what degree do we see beauty as an intrinsic building material? 

Is beauty as valuable as tools themselves, or as the foundation on which we create,

or the steel girders giving strength?

I believe beauty is both tangible and intangible,

undergirding strength as surely as strength undergirds beauty.

For Beauty adds something potent to Life,

both seen and unseen making it essential.

So what is that something?

Is it definable?

Well, yes , the dictionary and Wikipedia will give you a litany of meanings for the word, a description of beauty.

And this is quite comprehensive in it’s way,

and yet not sufficient in another.

I believe, only as much as my eye is aware of,

 or as my mind chooses,

 will I see it!

Whether the Beauty is present in a masterful work of Art, 

or in a human being

or in an intangible virtue such as forgiveness.

Beauty begins not with,

but in me.

And I have found the more I seek it,

the greater the influence it has upon my inner eye,

my imagination, 

my senses, 

my understanding,

the multiplying consequence cannot be measured, cannot be quantified.

Beauty becomes intangible within me as it changes what I think and what I sense, and then becomes tangible once more through my actions or the designs made with my hands.

I am speaking of Art,

Creative Endeavors,

and

or 

the Art of Life.

Epiphanies are mind things.  Perception and understanding culminate in the labyrinth of thought and awareness. And it is Beauty or the want of it, bringing these glorious moments into focus like a baptism,

A transition,

a shift of view,

a glimpse of something impossible made possible.

And while in that insightful ah-hah timelessness,

Beauty changes me, 

twirls me around 

and dances with me.

And then, having been changed by it,

it becomes a part of me, from my eyelashes to my fingertips to the paint brush in my hand.

The result is like the color of my sunglass lens turning from gray to rose,

Or as if my once clad feet are now bare, feeling the salt wash of the open sea.

The melody of my whole being shifts into a new musical key.

I remember the last time I rode on a ferris-wheel. Do you?

I remember as the great wheel began lifting me up, my view gradually changed, 

and upon reaching the highest point,

eager, curious, vulnerable, and delighted,

the scene before me, in a kind of slow motion, 

became both intimate and untouchable.

And my world-view changed.

Then I realized, I was, for an instant, in free fall!

Truly a moment of loveliness unlooked for!!!

As gravity seemed to shift beneath me, a remarkable Beauty washed over me,

enriching the essence of who I was.

Something unforgettable had been embossed upon my spirit.

Something unforgettable and beautiful had touched my soul.

And that is exactly “Why Beauty?”!

I am changed and you are changed by Beauty.

The enigma of the day to day is lifted up,

and something transcendent speaks louder than the weight of the world.

Without it, where would we be?

Life without beauty is hardly breathing.

Beauty is fundamental to the fulness of Life, and fills it up with pensive wonder, enriching laughter and unlooked-for joy.

It uplifts us and helps us see beyond our circumstances, our shadows…

And shows us more…

For Beauty magnifies the holy.

Through every individual’s capacity for greatness and excellence,

Beauty indwells the intrinsic spirit of each human

and cries out with a mighty voice to be heard

to be seen, 

to be received, 

to be verified,

to balance the pragmatic and the logical and be seamless with it,

to wrap the universe in an ethereal air of thunderous wonder!

And so, to create 

or receive

something of Beauty, 

is to magnify a moment that you have been magnified by, 

and your efforts

enrich the lives of those,

who find the Beauty in what you have made,

or find the Beauty in who you are.