What Matters/Beauty, awe

Beauty, awe

Enjoy the beauty of this field of wild flowers.

We find beauty in something done well. Works of art provide some of the most profound, emotionally moving experience available to human beings. When we address difficulty in terms of the call to beauty, new invitations come alive. Beauty is a gentle but urgent call to awaken. Enjoy Denis Dutton's February 2010 TED talk on a Darwinian theory of beauty ̶ that art, music and other beautiful things, far from being simply "in the eye of the beholder," are a core part of human nature with deep evolutionary origins.

Assignment:

Part 1: Notice everyday beauty as follows:

1. Watch the sunrise
2. Take a walk somewhere nearby. Notice each beautiful thing you see or hear. Make a list of this everyday beauty.
3. Savor the beauty in your life.

Part 2: Practice miksang—good eye—as follows:

1. Read the article “What is Miksang?”
2. Read the article “Turn a Lens Toward Your Life”.
3. Follow the guidance given in the section “Capture the Moment” Note, no camera is necessary. The essence of the technique is in noticing the beauty.
4. Practice miksang aurally. Notice pleasant sounds such as song birds, running water, or children playing.  

Part 3: Browse beautiful photos, for example:

1. Photos in the flickr "Beautiful Earth" group.
2. Photos in the flickr "So simple, so beautiful" group.

Suggestions for further reading:

• Dutton, Denis (2010). The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure, and Human Evolution. Bloomsbury Press. pp. 288. ISBN 978-1608190553. http://www.theartinstinct.com/. 
• What Is Beauty?, TED Radio Hour, December 31, 2015.
• [Evaluate the book: Beauty: A Very Short Introduction ]
• [Evaluate the book: Senses of Mystery: Engaging with Nature and the Meaning of Life, by David E. Cooper ]