Your explorations of what is "beautiful" are, to me, beautiful. There is something both mind-expanding and deeply personal in contemplating the wonderful interconnectedness of it all--ourselves included. Are we, as humans, not also beautiful notwithstanding our personal faults and shortcomings? If we are to expand our view of cosmic beauty to include exploding stars and metors that blow planets apart, can we not also extend to ourselves and each other the vision and grace to see the beauty in ourselves and our neighbors notwithstanding the rougher, more calloused, parts? I think we can. I think we should at least try.
Thank you, John! I love the way you put it--"notwithstanding the rougher, more calloused parts". Yes, we have to take the whole package, for better and for worse! If you're interested in this topic you might check out Kathryn Koromilas' Substack called Metanoia Road. She has been doing a major research project on beauty and has beautiful (!) insights about this.
If it's not presumptuous I wrote a poem a decade of that echoes some of these elements. An ode to blow flies.
"Lucilia Cuprina — an Ode (SB Wright) - Verity La La" https://verityla.com/2017/04/13/lucilia-cuprina-an-ode-sb-wright/
Yes, that fits really well--there's nothing like poetry to help us shift perspectives. Thank you for sharing your beautiful work!
And as a bonus you get to see my mug before my illness 🤣
Your explorations of what is "beautiful" are, to me, beautiful. There is something both mind-expanding and deeply personal in contemplating the wonderful interconnectedness of it all--ourselves included. Are we, as humans, not also beautiful notwithstanding our personal faults and shortcomings? If we are to expand our view of cosmic beauty to include exploding stars and metors that blow planets apart, can we not also extend to ourselves and each other the vision and grace to see the beauty in ourselves and our neighbors notwithstanding the rougher, more calloused, parts? I think we can. I think we should at least try.
Thank you, John! I love the way you put it--"notwithstanding the rougher, more calloused parts". Yes, we have to take the whole package, for better and for worse! If you're interested in this topic you might check out Kathryn Koromilas' Substack called Metanoia Road. She has been doing a major research project on beauty and has beautiful (!) insights about this.
Love love love this