"Beauty" (Thesis Prep post)

The result of 10 minutes of free-writing surrounding the word "beauty":

Awe-inspiring, theological, personal and varied, highly subjective but with some usual, common themes.  The people I love, my friends, laughter, the sound of someone you love saying your name.  Emotion, sincerity, truth.  Simplicity, understanding, clarity.  Anything which connects to people in a deep and fundamental way.  Music, silence, a smile, a genuine moment between people.  The best of humanity; mercy, love, joy, forgiveness.  The way ink moves on a page, when someone gets wrinkles at the corners of their eyes when they smile, people who snort when they laugh.  The little details, instant connections, breaking the touch barrier, nostalgia, endearment, opening up.  Color, light, shape, motion.


Next I was prompted to write on my own sense of visual beauty, whether beauty is merely a veil or means to enchant, whether it is associated with decadence or class values (or something else), and finally, what would be the nature of my own commitment to beauty.

To start, if beauty is to be associated with class values or indulgence and decadence, I would posit that this is only because of the socially constructed systems of commerce.  With the existence of currency, those with more of it are naturally going to be able to acquire more of what is desirable, and because of how beautiful things naturally attract people to them, they will be what is sought after by those with money.  This breeds the association of beauty with decadence or "upper class" living, but it certainly isn't innate to the concept of beauty.  As far as the idea that beauty may only be a veil, a decorative gloss or means of enchantment, I would argue that, while it certainly can be used in this way, given the broad and subjective definition of beauty, it seems silly to limit it to only this.  In addition, to relegate the concept of beauty to only a "gloss to decorate" seems wholly inappropriate for something which connects so profoundly to so many people.  Beauty has a way of affecting people and hitting at their core, inspiring and motivating them to feel or even act and speak a certain way.  My belief is that it takes something more substantial than a veil to have this effect.

I see visual beauty on its own as a fairly straight-forward and natural response to any visual cue which attracts people.  Endless psychological studies have looked into what human beings find beautiful or attractive, and some distinct norms are present; symmetry is beautiful, typically the natural world is more beautiful (or at least in some way visually preferable) than the man-made, etc.  When it comes to people, those traits which are considered "beautiful" are those which would imply good genes or a promising mate.  So in some ways, it could be argued that beauty is a natural human response to certain cues which appeal to our basic instincts.  Personally (and quite subjectively), I would say that beauty is anything which truly touches us in some way, be it emotionally, spiritually, or otherwise (I believe it could even be argued that this holds true whether the response is negative or positive).  I feel there is a certain kind of beauty in anything which rouses the subject from apathy.

If I have any particular commitment to beauty, as of right now I feel that it is only insofar as beauty can attract people to the story that I want to tell.  If they then see some kind of beauty in the story and images that I've shown them, so much the better.  The most beautiful things to me are those which teach us about ourselves and others.  I want to make characters and tell stories, and if anyone sees the beauty in it that I do, then I'll consider my work a success.