Emergence

A while back, I took my kids to see a 3-D IMAX movie titled “Deep Sea.” It was very mesmerizing to see how beautiful and interesting things are in the deep ocean. When we left the theater, I had to remind myself that what I experienced was only a visual representation (in film) of the beauty in the sea, it wasn’t the real ocean. It was like a photograph that captures a subject matter for us to observe.

This is how I think beauty functions… we see an amazing scenic view, or listen to a wonderful arrangement of music, or we are captivated by great architecture, or paintings, or visual effects, etc… When we are in this moment, we call it beautiful. But in some way, all of this points to something beyond itself, to something greater than the thing we are observing.

In many ways, the thing we are observing as beautiful seems incomplete. Paintings eventually deteriorate and need repairing; Sunsets fade; architecture collapses. The paradox of a troubling world engulfs our moments of delight and remind us that the world is not only beautiful, but also sick. Yet, there is something about ‘beauty’ that seems eternal to us. The yearning for beauty is not something measurable by scientific methods, there is no ‘proof’ for the existence of beauty. It just is.

Beauty is indeed a feeling, each of us may sense beauty in different things, yes… beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But, beauty is a pointer to something “real” beyond our feelings. A something that ignites our senses and creates an emotional response.

“Beauty is something so powerful that it evokes our very deepest feelings of awe, wonder, gratitude, and reverance.” — unknown