When we encounter true beauty externally, something of our inner nobility becomes perceptible. A longing awakens in us that grows towards this beauty and perfection.
A blade of grass covered with sparkling ice crystals, a night sky studded with stars, a blossoming apple tree against the light blue spring sky, a blood-red sunset – what is it that fills our hearts with wonder and awe in the face of such magnificent beauty?
It seems to be something intrinsic to being human, so deep and existential, for no animal would be capable of such a feeling. While the animal’s happiness seems to depend mostly on self-preservation and procreation, there seems to be something in man that needs to feed on beauty as well.
This has very little to do with the ability of thinking that elevates man above the animal. Rather, it is something that goes far beyond that, something direct, almost bewildering, that suddenly seizes us in our inner being and connects us with a sphere, high and true, that is not part of our mortal nature.
All great works of art in painting, sculpture, literature and music are created from this principle. When we immerse ourselves in such a work, we gain a sense of what perfection and eternity mean. It stirs a memory in us that recognises this perfection. Something sacred then strikes us, leaving us speechless.
What is this something? Perhaps it is that of which Plotinus says:
There is something in man that knows itself in the true sense. It is the spiritual part of the soul that realises that it exists and who it is. By beholding the existing, the spiritual part of the soul beholds itself in its full abundance.
When we encounter true beauty on the outside, we suddenly realise who we are at our core: a god in rags, a precious gem hidden in the grey rough stone that wants to be dug up and polished. Something of our inner nobility becomes visible. A longing awakens in us to grow towards this beauty and perfection, like a flower that was smothered by undergrowth, but now experiences the power of the light for the first time, which draws it up and allows it to unfold.
Beauty is very closely connected to love. Everything I regard through the eyes of love, becomes beautiful. The person I love is the most beautiful person in the whole world for me. The more I am filled with love, the more beautiful the world around me becomes.
The more I release the jewel from the cloak of coarse matter and polish it, the more the beauty of its radiant inner life shines outwards. The more I can free the god in me from his rags, so that his love can become conscious in me, the more I recognise the glory of life.
So, beauty is not objective, but arises in the mind of the beholder. That which one person perceives as beautiful leaves the other completely untouched. What is crucial however, is what the observer does with that which he perceives. What resonance does the external image resound within him? Has he already developed an awareness of the spiritual world?
Beauty is the perfect harmony of the sensual with the spiritual,
says the poet Franz Grillparzer.
But to perceive this correspondence, we need both an organ that can recognise the spiritual dimension, and natural sense organs that are sensitive to impulses from the outside world. A person who is only caught up in their daily struggle for survival will have little interest in, or awareness of the wonderful things that surround him. The more we discover of the spiritual world, the more beauty we will find in the outward world.
Much that is earthly can be expressed in parables, and when we recognise the reality behind this symbolism, the beauty of its meaning also reveals itself to us. Something like this can only happen in the here and now. It requires alertness in the present moment in order not to miss the rays of light from the spiritual world in the confusion of everyday life. The beauty that we have experienced in the past fades with each recalled memory. The wonder that we expect from the future is only an idea and does not move beyond what we already know. But life is in the here and now, and it has scattered its magic everywhere, we just have to see it.
Such timeless beauty cannot be described in words either. We cannot convey this to others. Every word only constricts it, takes away its uniqueness and robs it of its splendour. If we try regardless, we will realise that we can only convey a vague image of what has revealed itself as a miracle within us. What remains is a feeling of disappointment and loss.
This is the case with all things that we want to manifest from the spiritual world in the world of matter. They can only be recognised and are only effective in the present moment. Any attempt to hold on to this happiness must fail.
Rainer Maria Rilke describes this wonderfully in one of his poems:
Don’t try to understand life
then it will be like a celebration.
Let every day happen to you,
like a child in the passing
has many blossoms given to him
in every blowing of the wind.
The kind of beauty we are talking about here overwhelms us, leaves us speechless and dumbfounded. We cannot grasp it, nor do we have any desire to explain it. It is enough to simply experience this mystery. We fall into its wonder and disappear into it.
It is a taste of the spiritual world, where we merge with beauty, where our ego becomes insignificant, where we are part of this miracle – timeless, spaceless and boundless.
Such moments take our breath away and fill us with a joy beyond words. They are gifts from eternity, just for us and just for this moment.
