What is Beauty?

[rapunzel77]

Beauty: what is it exactly? It is truth as the poet Keats said. It is what inspires us to love as well. There is so much ugliness in this world that when exquisite beauty is put before our eyes, we don't know what to do with it. Some seek to analyze it, codify, and deconstruct it. This is why beautiful buildings and art are not made that much anymore.

To often we are told that beauty can't convey reality. That "reality" can only be gritty, ugly, hateful, full of angst, depressing, crass, and crude. Is this truly reality?

Surely this isn't totally reality? Surely beauty is not just real, but more real. Beauty is all around us: the sunrise, the sunset, the song that a bird sings at dawn. The ocean waves as it crashes on the shore. The mountains, the waterfalls. The smile of your loved ones. An exquisite masterpiece of art, music, a scene in a book, or a movie.

Beauty is reality. It touches all of our lives in the smallest of ways. It has much more power to touch souls than ugliness does. Just like love which is the most powerful, it can wash away hatred and fear. Choose beauty. Choose love. This will conquer all the hatred and the ugliness in the world.