Heroes Not Zombies

This is the entrance to my garden. The first time we came to view this house we walked through this archway and thought “This is it”. Everything we saw after that just confirmed the initial feeling. We bought it. I know many people view lots of places before finding the one where they really want to live, but we were lucky. The first place we viewed was horrid, and the second was the one we bought.

What made the choice so clear?

I’m pretty sure it all began with beauty. Of course there was a lot more to consider…the location, the house itself, the condition of the house, the price etc but I’m sure it was the initial impression of beauty which enabled us to see solutions where there problems and potential which could be realised.

Iain McGilchrist argues in his latest book, The Matter with Things, that values are foundational to our conscious universe. Those values are Good, True, Beauty and Meaning. Further, he makes a good case for how beauty opens us up to the discovery of what’s true and what’s good. And I’m so doing we discover meaning in life, purpose in the universe.

So here’s my challenge for you today. Notice beauty. Find beauty in your life today…in your surroundings, in others, in music, in creations, in the flowers, trees and birds….just decide today you are going to notice beauty.