What is beauty?

Beauty is said to be subjective: it’s in the eye of the beholder (or in the eye of the beer-holder as we used to say). Aristotle said beauty is order and symmetry. David Bowie said beauty is strange. Picasso thought of it as dangerous.

Another way to understand beauty is to think of it as something that elicits a bit of a surprise, mystery, a delight, an appreciation, maybe even wonder. “Wow!” we say when we see it or hear it or perform it. We inhale deeply, pull back for a moment, pause. It’s visceral. It’s deliciously pleasing, sometimes intoxicating, other times it’s a quieting balm.

Grief and loss

Lately, I’ve been interested in beauty as an antidote to grief and loss. Post-pandemic, many of us found ourselves at the end of 2022 with fewer friends and family members, without a job, a relationship, some of our dreams. It has been a season of loss and resignation.

Can you trade pain for beauty?

I think so, in small amounts—but don’t take my word for it. Test it yourself. Beauty is all around you. A scent, a bite, a scene, a song. Pause. Notice. Inhale and receive it. Notice its effect in your body, on your heart rate. A little wonder to ease the wounding.

Ignore the temptation to take out your phone and capture beauty. This is not a cognitive or social exercise. Ignore the temptation to move on to the next thing, to stop wasting your time. This is not an efficiency and productivity exercise.

Let beauty have its way with you. You enter into it and it enters into you. Exhale long and slow and let beauty relax the hard cramp of your grief-ache. The poet Keats says, “A thing of beauty is a joy forever… good for sleep, health and quiet breathing.”

Sleep. Health. Quiet breathing. Ahhh, that sounds beautiful, doesn’t it?