Music in the soul can be heard by the universe~Lao Tzu

Questions

What is beauty of mind? What is beauty of heart? What is beauty of soul? What is beauty of emotion? How are these the same? How are they different? Are they enacted, or expressed similarly, or differently? How does one discern the nuances of difference between beauty of mind-heart-soul-emotion? Is there a difference, or does all unite in Beauty, as it does in Love or Oneness?

Reflection

Yesterday I caught a bit of hell for saying, basically, that beauty is impossible to perceive.

I was only saying that imperceptible beauty is impossible to perceive. Yes, I know that’s a tautology. Yes, I know that beauty can be perceived.

I was really just trying to get at the distinction between perceptible and imperceptible beauty. Because there is  a difference.

Let me approach it this way: What is Love? This can be answered with: it’s how I feel about my spouse/partner; it’s how I feel about my child; it’s how I remember feeling when I had my first crush; it’s what I felt when I watched baby bunnies being born.

These things are all Love. Yet Love is also much more, or can be, just as I can look at a Gauguin and say it is beautiful, I know that beauty is not limited to or in Gauguin.

In the after-publishing discussion at home (where I caught hell…), what became a point for recognizing beauty was inner movement. When a someone (let’s say an “artist”) creates something, there is an energy or inner movement that is an impetus or generative-force behind the creation. This force can be mental, emotional, or from a deeper place of the heart or the soul.

 We decided, Tam and I, that even this generative-force does not define beauty, though. People can also feel a movement that is not part of a creation process, and that can be associated with something like an experience, like simply being with the person you love.

It seems to me the questions for today are perfectly suited for this line of inquiry.

It seems to me (and please feel free to disagree with me), that beauty of the mind encompasses what I would call “perceptible beauty”. This is beauty that can be intellectually recognized–who is going to argue that David is not beautiful? This is the beauty of Hollywood, the razzle-dazzle, “let’s thrill the senses” kind of beauty.

Then there is the beauty of the heart, soul, or emotions, which is characterized by inner movement, a feeling that is brought about in response to something (like a painting, a symphony, or love for another), but goes beyond the mind to grasp the fullness of the experience (if the fullness can even be grasped).