When we awaken to the call of Beauty, we become aware of new ways of being in the world.
—John O’Donohue
As I walk along a path to a waterfall in Big Sur, a sense of expectancy arises in me. Pausing, I look down over my left shoulder at a pristine beach, a turquoise ocean, and a stream of glistening white water falling from the rocky heights above, a vista from Paradise. People with cameras attempt to capture the beauty of this place, which has placed us all in a mood of reverie and joy. How is it that the beauty of place plays such a significant role in determining mood? I continue to walk the path, looking out onto more wondrous scenery, the falls, the vast, open ocean, the expansive blue sky, and the large palm trees rising from the mountainside. Beauty lies in every direction. The being of this place seizes me. Nature unfolds its unique beauty, and in its presence I am transformed.
Such offerings of beauty are not limited to the natural world. Upon entering Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, the first thing I notice is the silence, which is unlike that of a library, hospital, or even a small chapel. This is an expansive silence that pulls me into its vaulted, voidlike, sacred space. Glowing, diffuse, multihued light, originating from stained-glass windows high above, flows into this immense interior. In a state of obeisance, my eyes follow the soft light to the floor; embedded in stone rests an engraved, circumambulatory spiral labyrinth. In this moment I am immersed in the numinous nature of this space. Clearly, beauty resides here in this human-hewn creation.
Beauty dwells in the realm of the senses, opening us to numinous experiences. It transforms us and elevates our spirits. To experience beauty fully we must gaze deeply into the world and look beneath the surface. Gazing into the interiority of the world brings a sense of aesthetic wonderment and interconnectedness. In beauty we see beyond the visible into the invisible nature of the world and connect to the things that most matter to us. I call this seeing deeply.
We all have the potential for seeing our world this way, but we often forget that we do. We can, however, reawaken to this deeper way of connecting with our world. To accomplish this, we must remove the filters clouding our awareness. In this process, we can see how our psychological and social environments refract our experience of the world. What we learn from parents, teachers, and peers affects our ability to see the world anew. These social norms and belief systems create filters for perceiving and making sense of the worlds we inhabit. They help us live safe and organized lives, but this comes with a price. Norms skew our perception of the world: they place another’s understanding between us and the world’s beauty.
There are many ways to experience beauty in the world. Our senses provide unique and nuanced approaches to beauty, but our senses are not the only ways to know the world. Science provides a way to see beauty in the world as well. The elegance of the theory of gravitation, how theory unifies observations of the world, or the mathematical succinctness in explaining the evolving universe are all forms of beauty. For centuries we have looked at the world, seeking to understand it. Our curiosity about the ways of the world begins with the senses, but we seem to yearn for more than a collection of observations. We want to “make sense” of the facts; we seek to order and understand.
Using our intellect, we unveil the multiple facets of the natural world, and through this process we perceive order and predictability. This process of “looking” at nature also opens us to its beauty. The fact that we can write mathematical expressions that provide an accurate description of nature is astounding. Newton gazed upon nature and arrived at the universal law of gravitation; applying his mathematical understanding to the solar system, he was able to derive the motion of planets about the Sun. A single, compact, elegant mathematical expression unveiled nature’s means of keeping the heavenly bodies eternally bound to one another. My love for science rests in a feeling of appreciation for the beauty of how our mind sees order in the cosmos.
My colleagues and I are gazing at a computer screen, across which are flowing multiple colorful threads. The filaments of each color form tight patterns, like one sees in a stream. I am amazed at the beautiful dance of many-colored threads and equally amazed that this moving image has been produced by a computer model of Earth’s atmosphere. By solving equations heirs to the ones created by Isaac Newton and other scientists of the past four hundred years, we are able to produce a replica of how the atmosphere circles the planet. The wavelike flow meanders around the globe. We see how these flowing wind patterns carry vapor from the warm tropics to the colder regions of the poles. My colleagues and I share in a feeling of accomplishment: this was a climate model built from our hard labor. I am moved by the fact that the human mind can employ the language of physics and the ingenious technology of computers to model the Earth’s atmosphere realistically. Science is a beautiful thing.
Of course, the shadow side of science is its propensity to view the world in a purely dualistic, mechanistic framework, and this contributes to the view that if we can understand and predict nature, we can control it. Science as a means to control carries power, and the presence of power always places us in a moral dilemma. How do we use this power? Who controls it? Great temptation arises with power. Beauty retreats in the presence of power. The challenge for science is how to hold on to its unique way of opening us to beauty without sacrificing beauty to the seduction of power.
. . .
Why is seeing deeply important for our transformation? If we continue to see through the old story of separateness, then our thoughts and actions do not recognize the inherent value and beauty in the world. To create a flourishing world that respects life on this planet, we need to see the value of the material world surrounding us. Our actions must arise from this sense of valuing, not from disconnection. If we open up to the beauty around us, we are more likely to act from a place of felt valuing.
Seeing deeply attunes us to our world. It involves more than just accounting for what is recognized. I watch a couple walking together hand in hand, how they carry themselves, the way they look at the other, all of their gestures revealing deep commitment. In watching the couple, I become attuned to them and am pulled into their world.
This level of connectivity extends beyond a relationship between two people. Consider craftsmen working carefully to build a piece of furniture: they hold compassion as an integral aspect of being attentive and attuned to their work. In their choice of wood, the care for their tools, and the tidiness of their workshop, they stay attuned to creating beautiful, functional furniture. When this furniture leaves the workshop and moves to someone’s home, the mood of the craftsman travels with it. The mood of the craftsman dwells in the work, and the work unveils the hidden care of the craftsman. Beauty becomes enfolded in this process, providing us with more meaning.
Beauty and imagination open doorways to possibilities. Imagine a world where the quality and value of life is an integral part of how we measure a successful economy. One country manifesting this vision is Bhutan, which uses a measure of gross national happiness (GNH) to plan its economic future. Unlike gross domestic product (GDP), GNH accounts for quality of life and well-being. Imagine if more countries adopted this measure for economic planning. We cannot create such a world without first imagining it; a failure to imagine our future forces us to repeat the past.
As I walk that path in Big Sur, I think of the many people traveling it. They are here with me to experience this place of beauty, the rich flora’s brilliant colors. The air feels warm, and I am attuned to earth, sun, and the sound of the waterfall ahead of me. The beauty of this moment makes me whole. I am conscious of how mind and body allow me this experience: my mind intently informing me of what I am seeing and leading me along the path, my body opening me to the sounds, sights, and tactile sensations of the surroundings. I experience this world as valuable to all sentient beings, human and nonhuman, like the lizard sunning on the wooden rail nearby. My imagination reaches out to others here, informing me of how they are feeling in this special place.
I am reminded of the Navaho blessing way:
I walk with beauty before me. I walk with beauty behind me.
I walk with beauty below me. I walk with beauty above me.
I walk with beauty around me. My words will be beautiful.
We need to weave this blessing way into a world of flourishing sustainability. When we live the blessings of beauty, we see deeply into our world. I recognize why this path needs to remain whole and present for all. I recognize that my actions must ensure that this path and place be preserved for generations to come.