Beautiful
When something is beautiful most people can agree that it is beautiful. How is that? One of the Saints wrote of the five ways to prove the existence of God and one of the ways was this seemingly universal appreciation of what constitutes beauty. An interesting idea. I think they meant that at some fundamental level, we can agree on what is beautiful and as I ponder that, yeah, seems to be true
What about a beautiful thought, how will I know if I have one? Since it is just me in here with my thoughts, I guess I have to notice how I feel when I have a thought. A good feeling might be an indicator. Yet, I can think I feel good when I think about getting back at you know who. But that kind of good feeling has a tinge to it, if I just feel it a bit more deeply. Interesting for sure. I’ll think more on it
Is it just me, or is it that there really isn’t ‘the beauty’ just one, but always many? When I look at a beautiful leaf I don’t think this is ‘the beautiful leaf’, I think, this is ‘a beautiful leaf’, one of many, an infinite number actually. Hmmmmm? Have you ever picked up a rock and thought how beautiful it is? I’m starting to notice that it is more like there is beauty in everything, if I choose to look for it
I’m thinking that a discovery, an aha, is a beautiful thought about something heretofore not fully appreciated or maybe not known at all. That aha feeling is full of dopamine, that hugely joy filling drug that our bodies produce when our world lines up around ‘yes!’. This suggests to me that I can find more beauty, generate more joyous dopamine, if I go looking. Oh, so, look for beauty, find it, get reward. That can work
I find beauty if I look. Only then? Well no, I can get smacked upside the head by surprise sometimes. I guess we are not taught to expect beauty at every glance. Yet, if I take the time to really look at a rock, there is always beauty there. The tricky place to look is in the mirror. It can be a huge challenge to see beautiful there. What about this… be-you-to-full? Try looking as if at a rock and let the beauty shine