What is beauty? And why does it affect us?
Dictionary.com: "the quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind, whether arising from sensory manifestations (as shape, colour, sound, etc.), a meaningful design or pattern, or something else (as a personality in which high spiritual qualities are manifest)".
Interestingly, and perhaps also importantly, the definition leaves it up to the beholder to decide what "beauty" is for him/her, so no templates, no wrong or right, rather just as experienced by the beholder.
Why does beauty affect us? as suggested, because we experience "intense pleasure or deep satisfaction in the mind".
"Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it", wrote Confucius.
"Beauty awakens the soul to act", writes Dante Alighieri.
When we experience something we deem beautiful, (whatever that may be) something, it seems, happens to us.
For some of us, it may stir our souls and our bodies into action; some of us may reach for a paint brush, or a musical instrument, or we may feel the urge to write, or to dance, or to cook, or to go for a walk, a swim, watch a movie, find a quite place for contemplation, and ....(insert here what beauty stirs in you)..........
(If you are a mathematician/scientist, you may have mathematical equations/formulas you find beautiful.)
I recently watched a documentary on how a Japanese girl who had experienced a devastating tsunami found her way back from emotional despair to being able to experience hope and beauty again, through Ballade number 1 for piano by Chopin.
The beauty she experienced in the music stirred her soul into action, and she started to play the piano again. She immersed herself in the music, and through doing so, she was able to overcome her feelings of hopelessness and sorrow. At times, perhaps we get so caught up in bad experiences/memories, unfortunate events, worries about problems we need to solve, that we find ourselves oblivious to or ignoring the beauty around us. (The sun goes up, the sun goes down,...so what? it happens every day. I have far more important things to do than to watch the sun set.)
Rather than being present in the here and now, we may find ourselves ruminating over things in the past pondering what we did wrong, what they did wrong, and how to "fix" this that and everything.
Taking time out, on the other hand, to appreciate something of beauty, (something beautiful), according to some, can be healing, because it draws our attention to the present moment and rather than being in a "fixing" mode, we will be "living-in-the-moment" mode.
(There are studies that has shown that by focusing our attention on things in nature that we find beautiful can relive stress, offer us a sense of peace of mind, and help restore our mental and physical well being.)
Beauty, may I suggest, has no gender and no age or time restrictions. We can all experience beauty and the benefits that comes with doing so. Beauty takes hold of us from deep within; deeper than our egos, deeper than our analytical and rational minds, and deeper than our memories. But perhaps best of all: when we want to get in touch with the experience of beauty, all we have to do is to is to open our hearts and let it in.
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