Look Around, and There's Beauty

By Srinath R

Beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder. 

First, beauty is not something that can be assessed objectively. Second, one can find beauty in anything or anybody. The essence of life is in aesthetics and in enjoying the beauty around us and in the world. Sometimes, people get dragged into day-to-day chores, their self, and hedonistic interests that they forget to appreciate the good things in life. As many hardships that exist in life, and for some, these hardships may even define their lives, there are also some genuinely good things in the world that we can be thankful for. 

Viktor Frankl described his past as a Holocaust survivor in his book 'Man's Search for Meaning' and he explained the importance of having a greater meaning. When he was pushed to the utmost limits in terms of physical torture and mental pressure during his everyday struggle for survival during the Holocaust, he looked for every single thing that could make his existence better. When he was given his daily meal (a few pieces of bread for the whole day), he hid some pieces so that he could have them over equal intervals. He was thankful that he could at least do that. After multiple days of being forced to work (cutting wood) in terrible cold conditions, seeing fully bright sunshine on one fine day made him mesmerized by its beauty. 

He started appreciating every single thing he had. He was a neurologist, and he lost the work of his entire lifetime during the Holocaust. But what he could appreciate was that he still could recreate his work, maybe in the future, maybe if he could survive. That, and the possibility of meeting his wife was a major motivation for him to survive. Eventually, he was able to survive, and he recreated his work, he also went on to do more, as he became a psychiatrist and was able to help abuse victims recover from trauma through the experience he had. He also got back his wife and his life was restored.

I think it is important for us to look back and find the beautiful moments in our lives and cherish them. It is also important to enjoy the beauty around us in the moment, at present. And it is also good for us to be motivated to look forward to the future, regardless of how bleak the circumstances are in the present.

For every difficult moment I had in my childhood, every moment when I was bullied in school or was misunderstood at home and had nobody to share what I was going through at that time, I could always go home to my books and dwell in them. I could read about all those marvelous creatures, small and big, from simple planktons to gigantic sharks under the oceans, from small insects to large dinosaurs of the past on land, they all drew me into getting to know all about them, as much as I could. Every individual of every species that has ever been born is unique in its way, through circumstances, experiences, thoughts, and stimuli. 

And then, I could read about all those mountains, volcanoes, plains, the different locations, rains, clouds, seasons, countries, their people and their histories, their lives, the great scientists, poets, writers, artists, leaders, the innovators, the sportspersons and so on. And then, the vast space of nothingness interspersed with celestial objects, particles, and energy, is a whole different thing. The universe is there to be marveled at. And then there were those personal and imaginary stories that make you feel different emotions by just turning the pages. I could be sad, I could be happy, I could be scared, I could be excited, I could be curious, just by relating to things happening to people I do not even know. 

Post childhood and going into adulthood, I could see the beauty in different people around me. I could feel thankful to the genuine friends and well-wishers who have been supportive of me. This is a period where I was beginning to be inspired by real-life heroes - great scientists, great thinkers, great artists, great leaders, great sportspersons, not only by their achievements, some of them I adore due to their body of work, but there are a few of them I adore due to both their body of work and their personality. With time, I'm also into those people who genuinely work to improve the standards of living of all life, be it addressing environmental issues, rescuing animals and providing for them, rescuing people from difficult conditions, difficult domestic situations, difficult financial situations, etc. 

When it comes to appreciating the beauty of how one looks, this is extremely subjective. Different people are beautiful in different ways, and we could do away with the conventional form of thought about certain features that are considered beautiful.   

There's beauty in books, films, music, art, nature, life, plants, and animals and their co-existence and people. The dew on a flower. The passing clouds. A mother dog parenting kittens. The act of sleep during days when you do not want to get up. The act of someone saying supportive words to a tragedy. The act of genuine encouragement. We can find beauty where we are willing to look for it.

By Srinath R