“Beauty is the experience that gives us a sense of joy and a sense of peace simultaneously. Other happenings give us joy and afterwards a peace, but in beauty these are the same experience. Beauty is serene and at the same time exhilarating; it increases one’s sense of being alive…Beauty is the mystery which enchants us. Like all higher experiences of being human, beauty is dynamic; its sense of repose, paradoxically, is never dead, and it it seems to be dead, it is no longer beauty.” (excerpted from My Quest for Beauty by Rollo May)
I have the sense that beauty is the direction of “True North.” In other words, whatever it is that our culture is searching for in this time of chaos and change, the place we need to be looking, is toward beauty. It’s easy to feel this when you spend time in nature–the cares of the world dissolve and peace settles over us. But beauty can be found in other arenas as well, such as meaningful connections with people and the arts. In my view, Beauty is the direction of True North.