Beauty is Fundamental

Does beauty exist in itself, or does it depend on the beholder? Should we concern ourselves with beauty, or is that futile? Is there a reason why beauty exists? How can we cultivate beauty? 

The concept of beauty 
The classic concept of beauty defines beauty as that which possesses harmony, proportion and grandeur. In this concept, beauty is objective: it exists in itself and does not depend on who is observing it.  

Beauty derives from the good, the true. It has a moral connotation: in order for us to say that something is beautiful, it must also be good and true. For example, when we scold a child who is hitting a friend, we usually say: "don't do that, it's ugly." Or when we praise someone, we say: "Wow, that's a beautiful attitude." 

Beauty also has the meaning of completeness, of fullness. What is beautiful is complete, nothing is missing. A horse without a leg or a car without a wheel are not beautiful, because they lack something. A person, on the other hand, may have a beautiful body, but if they have serious character flaws, they are not considered beautiful, because they are missing something.  

Harmony and proportion
Another characteristic of beauty is that it has the appearance of coming out of itself, of communicating its essence. What is beautiful draws attention to itself, because it is communicating what it is. Beauty should not go unnoticed. It exists to be contemplated. 

 The raison d'être of beauty 
Everything that is beautiful, when contemplated, must refer to something greater, to a higher and eternal beauty. God, the Creator, is eternal Beauty and has communicated something of Himself to His creatures. For this reason, the beauty we perceive with our senses is like an arrow pointing to the Creator, and the joy and satisfaction we feel should remind us that it is only a small taste of what we will feel when we contemplate pure Beauty in eternity. 

Beautiful things exist to be a balm on our journey; to bring us joy and a sense of gratitude. Beauty also reminds us of how we must seek this harmony, proportion and self-giving, in order to better participate in reflecting eternal Beauty and become a channel of joy for others. 

Attack on beauty 
The modern age, mainly through art, began a process of attack against beauty. In an attitude of rebellion, they began to portray disorder, confusion, abstraction, showing how they were feeling and that feeling was bad. From then on, the attempt to remove the objectivity of beauty began, moving into a totally subjective area by stating that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder." 

This attack on beauty is intended to take away the possibility of contemplating the Creator and thus lead us away from the path that leads to Him. Unfortunately, this mentality is already deeply ingrained in our society and is reflected not only in art, but even in the way we dress, with torn, faded, and stained clothes being commonplace. People no longer worry about dressing well and many still want to attract attention by wearing outlandish clothes. 

 The pursuit of beauty 
The search for beauty must be approached in the right way and is related to the virtue of order. It is possible to perceive beauty in things because our brain seeks order and harmony. The way we think best is when our environment is organized. Not just the external environment, but especially our internal one. Disorder causes stress, nervousness and frustration.  

Seeking beauty means seeking to harmonize our lives, our relationships and also the environment in which we live. Putting things in order, knowing that there is a hierarchy of values that we need to follow if we want to have a fuller, healthier, more beautiful life. To know that it is important to have beauty in our daily lives to help us contemplate the Creator and remember what we were created for: to one day enjoy eternal joy in Heaven. 

 Some precautions 
We need to be careful not to overdo it in our search for beauty. Often this longing for beauty is confused with a need to appear eternally young, where the marks of age are disregarded. Countless aesthetic procedures are carried out to try to achieve a supposed external beauty, but the results are often bizarre.  

We must remember that beauty is harmony, proportion, and order. A 60-year-old who wants to look 30 isn't harmonious, she's in disarray. So, no matter how many cosmetic procedures they undergo, they won't be beautiful. 

Outer beauty should reflect inner beauty. Thus, the greatest concern should be to have a beautiful soul, with orderly feelings and emotions, controlled instincts and an abundant supernatural life. The closer we are to God, the better we can reflect his Beauty. That's the real secret.