What is beauty?
TLDR: It's an attitude and approach that we take toward the world, ourselves, and each other.
When I ask myself questions, I'll often look at other lines of thinking to find truths. Certain patterns repeat themselves throughout nature and experience. The branching pattern of trees also exists in river deltas and our lungs. We recognize these as systems that distribute or gather resources. So in answering the question, "What is beauty?" I thought of Viktor Frankl's thoughts on meaning and purpose. Is there something in the way that Frankl understood the need for purpose that I can use to understand beauty?
What I got from reading Man's Search for Meaning is that finding meaning in life is necessary for our survival. We find meaning through purpose. We often end up running around trying to find purpose, needing it to be some grand thing. That's what our ego wants.
For me, this is where the idea of surrender comes in and dovetails into many religious and philosophical texts. If we surrender to the idea that it's all beyond our comprehension, then "lifting water and chopping wood" can be the purpose in our life that gives it a deeper meaning. We need purpose to have a meaningful life, but purpose isn't some abstract thing we need to find outside of ourselves. It's an attitude or a way of viewing the world that gives it meaning. It's what we bring to each moment, not what life hands out to us. Does this logic then apply to beauty?
We're constantly looking for things to fascinate us, to make us feel something, to make us engage, to trigger that almighty mix of chemicals in our skulls. If the above is true, then this is the wrong approach. Beauty doesn't exist out there for us to find. It's an attitude and approach that we take toward the world, ourselves, and each other. The same is true when we dismiss something as ugly or unworthy of attention. That judgment is an attitude we bring with us, not a quality that we discover. So maybe the question isn't 'What is beauty?' but 'Will I choose to see it?'
