Seeing the Beautiful

On one hand, they say “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”.

On the other hand, maybe beauty is not as subjective as it seems. Maybe beauty is more about the ability to see it as such or not. In other words, beauty is everywhere and in everything. My ability to recognize this is in my life is somehow connected to joy.

This makes me think then, what helps me to see?

Switzerland is beautiful beyond words. The landscapes and mountains are indescribable. So much so, pictures do not do them any justice.

One of the results of witnessing this kind of beauty is that it captives you, draws you in, and then sends you out to share it with others. (As you can tell with the pictures I post on my social media outlets).

Yet beyond the natural beauty here in Switzerland, it made me think about my ability to see the beautiful in less obvious places.

How can I see the beautiful in those who bother me? How can I see the beautiful in the mistakes that I have made? How can I see the beautiful in the times when I want to strangle my kids? How can I see the beautiful in tragedy?

These are the things that I can’t just will to happen. Seeing the beautiful in these things seem to be more of a process. The process of coming to see. And a process that involves something, or Someone, bigger than myself.

Men go abroad to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motions of the stars, and they pass by themselves without wondering.

-St. Augustine