Colour, light, shadow, shape……I’m not sure exactly what caught my attention here. I was sitting sipping a cold beer outside a busy little bistro and I noticed the building opposite.
Maybe it was that bright shaft of sunlight which penetrated the trees which lined the square. I’m not sure, but I picked up my camera, zoomed in on this particular part of the building, and clicked.
When I look at it again now it reminds me of a Hopper painting. Something about the colours, the shadows, and the fact that it’s a street scene.
Whatever it was, the more I look at this the more beautiful I find it.
Isn’t there something important here? Isn’t this an example of how the universe draws us towards beauty?
Beauty is one of the three great classical values – good, true and beautiful. We find beauty everywhere, in the petals of a flower, a butterfly’s wing, the flight of a bird, a child’s laugh, a stranger’s smile, in music, paintings, poetry, sculptures, dance……
Beauty is an end in itself. The experience of beauty is the gift. In fact when we use beauty to achieve some other end….as advertisers do, then we lose something. It’s degraded by turning it towards utility.
Beauty attracts us. It captures our attention and stirs the soul. In fact, one of the greatest examples of beauty is the loving human heart.
What beauty did you encounter today? Or, better, why not set off today with the intention to encounter beauty? “There’s so much beauty in this world”, you can only miss it if you’re not paying attention.
Heroes Not Zombies 
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