THE MYSTERY OF BEAUTY

Another example of Proverbial Garbage.

If “beauty is only skin deep” is meant to remind us that there may be some things in life more valuable than beauty, then perhaps that saying has an element of truth to it. But if it is meant to suggest that beauty is of little importance since human skin is not very substantial, less than two thousandths of an inch thick in places, then that popularly accepted bromide is as far from the truth as imaginable.

We humans are captivated by beauty. We search for it constantly. We yearn for it to be an integral part of every facet of our lives…the people we love, the home we live in, the clothes we wear…everything.

And beauty is not limited to the physical. The feelings expressed in a poem or painting or piece of music may be as strikingly beautiful and exquisite as that of a mountainside or sunset. As may be the goodness expressed in a human personality. As may be the lesson to be learned from an abstract saying or proverb.

It has been said that beauty is the harmonious blending of the elements comprising what we are contemplating. Ask almost anyone to describe the very best of anything in his or her life, and the word “beautiful” will almost surely be prominent in the description.

The lingering mystery is, “Why?” Why are we so fascinated by beauty? Why is such a level of importance accorded to it universally? Why do we love it so, want it so, seem to need it so?

A definitive answer eludes us. We know that beauty touches something very basic in us, that it lifts our spirit, that it inspires us, that it seems to raise life itself to a higher plane. Is it visible evidence of the potential for perfection that we hope is in each of us? Does it reflect the supreme and sublime mastery inherent in a god’s creation? Does it suggest a new and transcendent way of seeing the world we live in? Of seeing ourselves? Does the grandeur of beauty suggest the grandeur of humanity?

John Keats, in Endymion, wrote:

A thing of beauty is a joy forever;

its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness.

Is the solution to the mystery of beauty’s exquisite charm and power to be found in its eternal nature? Does its enduring nature quietly give hope to our secret longing for eternal life? While the mystery remains, one thing is clear: Beauty beckons and enthralls us even as we wonder about it.