As we continue to March On, rediscovering the power and purpose of who we really are, let’s begin by looking at this thing called Beauty.

If you want to get into a deep debate (even with just yourself), try defining the word “Beauty”. Let’s start with what Merriam-Webster settled on.

“Beauty is the quality or group of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or the mind.”

(In this essay, I am focusing on the senses of Seeing and Hearing. The beauty of language – writing, poetry, etc. – will be explored next week when we look at the Power of Story.)

First, what’s YOUR sense of Beauty?

Visual Beauty and the Gift of Eyesight: Do you have a favorite painter? Sculptor? Architect? Plant? Flower? Tree? Mountain?

If you were to make a small scrapbook of your favorite images, what would they be? How many pages would you need?

Audible Beauty and the Gift of Hearing: Do you have a favorite composer? Vocalist? Instrument? Melody? Birdsong? Forest sound? Ocean sound? Animal sound?

If you were to make a playlist of favorites, what tunes would be on it? What nature sounds?

Does it make you smile to think of these two specific-to-you collections? If so, you now have something to cherish, something to help you R.W.YA. : Remember Who You Are.

Of course, there’s a big difference between “beauty” and “pretty”. True Beauty can be challenging, disarming, confusing but most of all it gets us thinking with our soul’s heart.

Here are some other folks’ thoughts about Beauty.

• Confucius: Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.
• Plato: The contemplation of beauty causes the soul to grow wings.
• John Keats: A thing of beauty is a joy forever: its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness.
• Ralph Waldo Emerson: Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is God’s handwriting.
• Anne Frank: I don’t think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains.
• Bobbie Herron: “Look at that!”

Art and the Gift of Eyesight

I recently paid a visit to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston with a group of friends. We explored the Museum together for a while, then split up, agreeing to meet again about an hour later. I headed off by myself, straight for the Impressionists Collection.

 I ended up in a room that was primarily works by Vincent van Gogh. As I was strolling around, I came before one of them and was taken aback.

Although this painting is part of a famous collection, I had never seen it before, or so I thought initially. I immediately welled up with tears.

I was trembling because I could feel Vincent van Gogh standing next to me, looking at the same houses that we had looked at when we were there together.

I looked closely at his brushwork, seeing how textured it was, recalling how juicy it was when he applied it to the canvas. I felt him saying, “So what do you think?” My gut knew that I had been there with him when he painted this. Not my intellect, my gut, no words. Perhaps I had been a neighbor in Auvers or perhaps a fellow artist working right next to him as he grumbled and painted.

I could have been anyone, but I knew I was there when he painted it, and I choked up (as I am now) for it felt so good to be back with him again.

This is the bone marrow experience of Beauty — you know it when it takes your breath away and you smile and shake your head at the same time.

In your heart, you know where your most predictable heart throbs come from. It can be a specific sequence of notes in music that swell your eager anticipation, when you hear 4 notes on that favorite instrument and you grin automatically.  

Or if your preference is more toward the visual, you can stroll through an Art Museum being as appreciative as anyone else, but when you come across your absolute favorite artist or favorite medium, you quietly gasp in delight.

This has nothing to do with good taste and everything to do with a deep attraction that is multi-faceted and utterly unique to you. Swooning is a healthy thing to do when it comes to art and music.

As you all know I’m a big fan of eyesight. More importantly, I am far more interested in seeing beauty than in having the skills to reproduce that beauty on paper. Seeing motivates me—drawing and painting just extend my time gazing, noticing, smiling.

Music and the Gift of Hearing

I grew up in a house that had classical music playing in the background. It was the soup I was swimming in. On one of my pre-teen birthdays, my wonderful dad gave me a package that was obviously an LP. I ripped it open assuming it was The Beatles and sure enough, it was Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops. I was crestfallen (and hid that fact as best I could) but now that memory makes me smile. Music has filled my entire life as beautifully as artwork has.

When I reached adulthood, I was deep in the folk music world, including that aspect of it that was protesting the Vietnam War, standing for equality, justice, and peace. I soon fell in love with one brilliant singer-songwriter after another, magicians who wove together lyrics, melodies, and harmonies to capture hearts and imaginations. Yes, Beauty comes in many forms.

So why again do you need your own uniquely designed scrapbooks and playlists of Beauty?

Because playing that song or looking at that image collection will help lift your spirits on a day when the world has gone crazy, when you’ve gotten a diagnosis you didn’t expect, or when the love of your life suddenly is no longer there.

Here are a few pieces from my personal survival playlist.

Beethoven “Sonata No. 8 in C minor Op. 13 “Pathetique” 2nd movement” (I need tissues for this…)

Paul Winter Consort “Common Ground”

Eugene Friesen and Paul Halley “First Ride” – cello and piano

Scott Alarik  “May They Be Blessed”

A final note:

That painting or music or landscape that makes you swoon will make another person yawn.

Embrace your own sense of beauty and guard it with your life.

It may save your life one day. Carry on.

~~~~~

I hope you enjoyed this essay. Click on the “Word Cloud” at the right if you’d like to read more about a specific topic. Feel free to forward any of them to friends and family members who might enjoy them.

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The newest book, Look at That! – Second Edition, is also available as a beautiful hardcover.

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As always, thanks for spending some time with me “aloft.” Happy sketching!