Definitions: (1) the quality or combination of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses, exalts the mind, and/or elevates the spirit by their harmony, pattern, excellence, or truth; loveliness; (2) any particularly attractive, graceful, ornamental, or excellent characteristic; (3) a special grace or charm; delightful; (4) generally pleasing; very fine
Synonyms: adornment, embellishment, exquisite, fair, picturesque, seemly
Saying: Beaux yeux (French): “beautiful eyes” [beauty of face]
Poetry:
To gild refined gold, to paint the lily,
To throw a perfume on the violet,
To smooth the ice, or add another hue
Unto the rainbow, or with taper light
To seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish,
Is wasteful and ridiculous excess.
— William Shakespeare (1564–1616) King John {1623}
Quotes:
• Beauty, like music, lives inside you, and you impress its qualities on whatever you choose. — Victor L. Wooten (1964-) American Bassist & author, The Music Lesson: A Spiritual Search for Growth Through Music {2008}
• Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not. — Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American philosopher
• Beauty is built into every jot and tittle of creation – into every atomic brick! Beauty soaks reality like water fills a rag. — Chet Raymo (1936 -) American naturalist
• Beauty is a living reality that must be practiced to be fully realized. And the receiving and giving rhythm of appreciation and expression is how beauty is acted out and embodied. Steve McIntosh (1960 -) American author
• The world in which we live needs beauty if it is not to fall into despair. Beauty, like truth … is a precious fruit which withstands the ravages of time, which unites generations and which prompts them to communicate. — Second Vatican Council (1962) Message to Artists
Comments:
• Even if the physics of optics could explain a rainbow to the mind, the beauty of the experience must also be appreciated, and is even more important to the spirit.
• Is it necessary to experience ugliness in order to appreciate beauty? Do you think of the beautiful when you’re watching a movie about the holocaust? Do you think about the grotesque when you’re standing in awe over the Grand Canyon? Beauty stands in awe of itself. It is complete unto itself.
• Nature is the ultimate example of beauty on the material level. With nature, beauty is delicate and powerful, and easy to identify. The human being is the ultimate example of beauty on the personal level. Our first experience of another person is their physical manifestation, but that skin-deep attractiveness must soon be backed up with the qualities of real inner beauty, or the outer beauty soon becomes a sham. And if a person’s outer manifestation is not so handsome or pretty, then one must be open to experiencing their inner qualities to see their true nature.
Experience: My experience while hiking in the Grand Canyon combines varying aspects of beauty: the life-giving element of water, the juxtaposition of rough and sculpted rock, the play of light, the overcoming of the obstacles, being able to share it all with friends, and the deep appreciation of it all. It is truly a divine gift.
Colors: white [within which all color is contained], yellow
Symbols: 1) the eagle; 2) the rose
Legendary Figure: Helen of Troy, whose beauty was said to be able to launch a thousand ships
Mythological Figures: 1) Frigga, wife of Odin, is the supreme Scandinavian goddess; 2) Venus is the Roman goddess of love and beauty, who was also the goddess of spring and blossoms; 3) Blouwedd, the Scottish goddess of youth, spring, and beauty, was a maiden who was formed of flowers and miraculously came to life.