We feel most alive in the presence of the Beautiful...
“The human soul is hungry for beauty … When we experience the Beautiful, there is a sense of homecoming. Some of our most wonderful memories are beautiful places where we felt immediately at home. We feel most alive in the presence of the Beautiful for it meets the needs of our soul. For a while the strains of struggle and endurance are relieved and our frailty is illuminated by a different light in which we come to glimpse behind the shudder of appearances and sure form of things. In the experience of beauty, we awaken and surrender in the same act. Beauty brings a sense of completion and sureness. Without any of the usual calculation, we can slip into the Beautiful with the same ease as we slip into the seamless embrace of water; something ancient within us already trusts that this embrace will hold us.” - John O'Donohue
When you think of the word "beauty," what images come into your mind?
What do you think of O'Donohue's observation: beauty is that in the presence of which we feel more alive?
Listen to a 7’ minute interview of John O’Donohue entitled, “Beauty Is an Edge of Becoming.”
Photo Credit: OnBeing.org