What is the essence of Beauty.....

........ and how does it relate to us in a metaphysical sense?

Some forms of beauty are easy to understand. In a physical sense in relation to other humans it can be easy to understand (at least that’s what the science says). A young female with curves in the right places is perfect for bearing offspring, and a strong hunky fella can protect and hunt and no doubt has some quality taddies

But what of art, music, architecture? What is it that makes the Monet's 'waterlilies' beautiful compared to graffiti tags, Beethoven’s 9th symphony compared to Friday by Rebecca Black, or the Notre Dame cathedral versus skyscrapers built between 1960 and 1985. It is something beyond just the time and skill put into it as a ramshackle hut in the forest can in some sense be more touching to the soul than the mansion on the hill overlooking it.

Does it have anything to do with love, or energy, or enlightenment? Or is it just a bonus of possessing human consciousness, kinda like a sense of humour?

And why are sad songs often the most touching, even for a happy contented guy like myself....?

For me, beauty is that which envokes a profound positive reaction within me whenever I experience what I consider to be beautiful.

I dated an art history MA for years, and she taught me a lot about what constitutes beauty. Did you know that the Greeks painted their elegant, alabaster statues up like gaudy 2 dollar whores? The weathering stripped them of this garish make-up, and the jeweled eye covers were stolen ages ago, and thank God, because now they look very sophisticated and beautiful. But, if the ancient Greek could see them, they'd have fits over how hideous they look now. At least, compared to how kindergarten-pretty they looked back then.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. That's a cliche' because it's true.

reply to post by TheLoneArcher


Nice. But the question is why do you consider somethings beautiful. What is it about the object that makes it beautiful....?

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/d4667a0ccc8d.png[/atsimg]


Beauty is the original evil spell

The wizards of old were blacksmiths who knew the secret of smelting and metal working. Did you know that make-up (cosmetics) is a by product of smelting? I think they were called God-kings back in those days. They had stuff like advanced alloys that could cut through low temperature metals (magic weapons), knowlege of potions (acids and bases), and secret knowledge (reading & writting).

It happend like this.

The head sorcerer is really just a blacksmith.
This is advanced high technology at the time. Metal weapons,
chemistry, even make up. That's right. Decorating the face with paint
came from the science of smelting and it's by products. So here is how the evil spell was cast.

The head sorcerer
paints his wifes eye with eye liner,
darkening it so the white stands out more.
He declares that she is now 'beautiful' like the stars.
Later as these people die and are worshipped people say
'oh... they dwell among the stars now.' This is how the charactures
of earthly beings began to be drawn over the innocent stars and the science lost.

I have _NEVER_ heard the word beautiful used correctly. It is used to exclude.

Beauty only exists when everyone is included.
Not when one thing is made prettier than the others,
to exclude, shame, and embarrass them.

The beauty of youth excludes the aged and wisdom is lost.
The beauty of new excludes the experienced and stability is lost.
The beauty of color excludes the plain and belonging is lost.
The beauty of art excludes the useful and useful skill is lost.
The beauty of marketing excludes reality and the voice of everyone is lost.


David Grouchy

The essence of beauty is love.

When you love what you see, what you see is beautiful, regardless of physical appearance. Especially if you choosed to see beauty in what you love. This can make your entire environment beautiful if you are in love with life as a whole and you choose to see that beauty.

This is backed by intelligence. Beauty reveals a depth in appreciation which reveals a depth in what can be known about the object without necessarily knowing what can be known, rather, just knowing that what can be known runs deep.

Beauty doesn't really come from the object as much as it comes from you choosing to see the beauty in what is already there. So what is there arises in your mind as being beautiful. In other words, everything is beautiful and that beauty is seen when you choose to see it.

hot broads and cold beers

no, really!

okeedokee... i get to put my art degree to some use in an attempt to answer this age old question. woo-hoo!


of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and yet most of us can agree that the Grand Canyon at sunset is a beautiful thing. nature, in all its majesty and subtlety would have been our first 'teacher' in what constitutes beauty, and our first attempts at art where often an attempt to capture this profundity.

i would also put the 'mystical' experiences into this category of First Beauties... be it some sort of ecstatic experience, love, grief, awe, birth, deep wonder, etc. once again, our first arts attempted to capture these 'mystical' experiences.

so this is the overt answer as to what constitutes beauty: nature and the deeper human conditions trigger our sensibilities and aesthetic appreciations.


it gets more complex when exploring human constructs, however. and yet, even most human constructs (it can be argued) have some design element that relates back to nature and mysticism.


music, for example... in some regards it is a human construct. however, the harmonic (and therefore "pleasing") tones in music are simple mathematical ratios. 3:2 is the perfect 5th. 4:3 is the perfect 4th, etc.

it is as though these "beautiful" harmonic relationships existed in the eternal realm of physics, and it was up to we humans to discover them, and then compose them to further express our plights.

even our architecture - when the proportions and the ratios carry a certain "flow" that invokes the harmonic ratios, we, almost on an instinctual level, recognize the inherent beauty present.

these "pleasing" ratios also exist not just in the realm of abstract physics, but in the realm of living nature, as i am sure many of us are aware of the Golden Ratio.


these are all tangible qualities of beauty.

yet, what is the Intangible quality of beauty?

i suppose this is where i will get in trouble by some of the more concrete science minded folk, as it is something that cannot be proved, yet i believe can certainly be 'sensed'



i believe another primary factor in contributing to the beauty of a human construct (in addition to the aformentioned tangible qualities of balance, proportion, etc.) is the "intent" of the maker.

the "intent" is our emotional signature we imprint into our works of art. it is, if you will, the animating force of the art. the soul within the construct. and i believe this intent can be perceived, on some level. "artists" and certainly others have developed this sense, but it is something that is available to all. ("trust your feelings, Luke")

this is why the McMansion (despite it's architectural soundness) reeks... whereas the simple Native hogan is a work of deep beauty. the intent when constructing the McMansion is profit based. the workers where not deeply emotionally invested in the creation of this house, and therefore the house was not imbued with that extra something. whereas the hogan was constructed with care and respect and whatever other pure emotional bond the crafter poured into their home.

it is the same reason why Grandma's cooking tastes so much better than most restaurants. it's the extra ingredient... the intent of the maker. (in gramma's case, it's the love)

once again, i believe we as humans have the ability to perceive such intent - we have a "6th sense" (or maybe it's our 7th or 8th sense) that can detect emotional resonance, and that is what attracts us (or repels us) from a work just as much as the purely aesthetic tangible representation of the piece.


and that's that. despite the kneejerk reaction to anything remotely hippy or new age, it's the vibes, man. all about the vibes.


anyhow... thanks for the question. the muses of my mind enjoyed the exploration.

cheers.

Beauty is what brings a spark to your soul.

I understand your question though, in general why are some things considered more beautiful than others when it is really in the eye of the beholder. I guess one answer would be that in whatever "class" of art, music, architecture, or thing that it is...it has met the top qualifying marks for that class. It is the closest to perfection that the object can be in it's subject or class. Other times maybe it's a popularity contest...as in that artist or architect or whatever is really hot right now...so whatever they create is "Golden"....

On the personal level...it would go back to my beginning statement.

reply to post by mythos


LOL...you are funny...kneejerk reaction to hippie or new age. Your post however is very much in tune or in sync and although sometimes how we feel is labeled as hippie or new age...it is not... and it is the right way to feel!

So follow your instincts and your "6th" sense and feel the vibes!

reply to post by 1littlewolf


I think that would be how it makes us feel when we look at it. At least it is with me. If I look at something and I am struck with a sence of awe and I feel it in my chest, and it takes my breath away. Then I would describe it as beautiful.

There is no "essence" of beauty, but, yes there IS an essence of beauty.
Paradox.

There is a universal essence of beauty...true or untrue?
Can there be anything that is beautiful that we all agree is beautiful? Well, if a universal essence of beauty can be defined, practically everyone would have to agree that, yes THAT is beautiful.

The essence of beauty would have to be...
1. Natural
2. Perceptually appealing.
3. Satisfying.

Beauty is Order, Symmetry, Justice.

Ugliness is the opposite.

reply to post by SirClem


Whenever we talk about qualities of beauty, we enter the realm of morality.

A healthy minded persons beauty could be a sick persons ugliness, and vice verca.

Sick people, emotionally damaged people overrun by negative emotions, in my opinion, represent an abberation from the objective truth. Their experience is a corruption; and yet if they feel and percieve a beauty in damage, a beauty in evil, then i would then have to postulate some mimickry on the part of the delusion, to take from the good and true, and graft it onto the ugly and evil.

Emotions can be very strange things.

reply to post by dontreally


I guess you could then say that beauty is a vibratory resonance in each of us. If you resonate with evil, you will find beauty in some of the darker works and vice versa.

Terence McKenna once said, and I'm paraphrasing... that the health of our culture can be seen in the art of our society. I believe that is so true.

Originally posted by blazenresearcher
reply to post by mythos

 

So follow your instincts and your "6th" sense and feel the vibes!

amen and can-do!!!!

Originally posted by smithjustinb
The essence of beauty is love.

When you love what you see, what you see is beautiful, regardless of physical appearance. Especially if you choosed to see beauty in what you love. This can make your entire environment beautiful if you are in love with life as a whole and you choose to see that beauty.

This is backed by intelligence. Beauty reveals a depth in appreciation which reveals a depth in what can be known about the object without necessarily knowing what can be known, rather, just knowing that what can be known runs deep.

Beauty doesn't really come from the object as much as it comes from you choosing to see the beauty in what is already there. So what is there arises in your mind as being beautiful. In other words, everything is beautiful and that beauty is seen when you choose to see it.

Blessed be.
This the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth!!

Namasté

now you have your answer.

reply to post by Bob Sholtz


Beautiful! I love it! LOL!

reply to post by blazenresearcher

I guess you could then say that beauty is a vibratory resonance in each of us. If you resonate with evil, you will find beauty in some of the darker works and vice versa.

And yet if you put the two side by side, which is truer? Are they relative? Or does a true beauty radiate from the former - beauty percieved as order, symmetry, grace - or from the latter; beauty percieved in disorder, asymmetry, sufferring?

I personally believe that the former is true beauty, whereas the latter is the obfuscation of the perception of beauty. Im some cases, there can beauty percieved in sufferring, knowing that it will eventually reach a state of order, eventually (that is, it is correlated with a state of order) ie; the redemptive quality of sufferring. But beauty, in the sufferring itself, or in asymmetry, is practically mental illness. Such people are not only dangerous - to others and possibly even themselves( if they appreciate "the beauty of evil") but they make the world an infinitely worse place for everyone else.

Such people - egotists - dominate our political structures.