What is Beauty? A contemplation part 2: beyond subjectivity

 Beauty is truth's smile. 

                                                                                                                           -Rabindranath Tagore

Let us continue our inquiry on beauty by delving into its existential nature. In the realms of philosophy and spirituality where, most often, we come across ambiguities that cloud our capacity to understand such abstract subjects. 

These subjects are also realms that pushes the boundaries of language. Especially in spirituality, where words often fall short in describing spiritual experiences brought not by religious fervor, but by heightened states of awareness. 

What can we hold on to then when language and symbols are no longer enough to describe what we are perceiving? 

The answer, as many sages like the Buddha, Lao Tzu, and Confucius, has alluded to us for centuries, is  experience itself. They spoked to us in riddles to reveal the limits of language, and how our tendency to describe things strays us away from their true comprehension. 

You need to experience life to understand life. -Buddha

Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like. -Lao Tzu 

I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I experience and I understand. -Confucius 

They spoke to us in riddles pointing out that we need to look beyond the known into the "unknown," to "that which cannot be explained," to "the mystical" but yet "the actual." 

What becomes of the subject of beauty in this context?

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But before we delve into defining beauty in such perspective, we must first traverse the last frontier of "the known:" Philosophy, or man's effort to understand reality using our intellectual faculties. In this hall of thought, we will further our curiosity by asking: is beauty really in the eye of the beholder?

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Aesthetics: The Philosophy of Beauty and Art

In Philosophy, the study of beauty is formally called Aesthetics. It is a discipline that seeks to answer questions about the nature of art and beauty. This post series falls into this same category. 

At the forefront of the study of aesthetics are inquiries like: what is art? what is the role of beauty in society? what can be considered art? Does art have moral implications? But nothing spurs partisan views and trigger debates than the dichotomy of beauty being subjective or objective.

Is beauty subjective or objective?

It has been long established in philosophical traditions that beauty depends on the person perceiving it. It is widely agreed upon that what's beautiful for one person may not be beautiful for another. 

Plato gives a definitive view about this matter:

Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.

Empiricist David Hume maintain the same sentiment:

Beauty in things exist in the mind which contemplates them. 

It is also argued that at best, the perception of beauty is a matter of "taste," leaving those inclined or trained in the arts to be the ones suited to identify what is beautiful from what is not, as exemplified by our adherence to the standards set by masters like Michelangelo or Raphael. 

On the other hand, there are those who argue that beauty-as a feature of reality-exists regardless if a perceiver has a keen eye for it. In a perspective called aesthetic realism, it is argued that beauty is mind-independent. There's also the argument from design which advances the innate ingenuity of the objective universe prior to a perceiver.

In another view, psychologist-philosopher Abraham Maslow sees beauty as a prepotent component of the human condition. Meaning, perceiving beauty is a tucked away human capability that can only be unlocked once an individual fulfilled his base needs. This states that beauty's existence does not depend on perception, instead it has always existed prior to our capacity to experience it. 

Essentially, the argument of this camp is that beauty exists as an objective entity. It exist even if we don't experience it-or even ask questions about it like what we are doing right now.

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Considering both camp's arguments, we have this situation: while it is reasonable that artists and persons of "taste" are apt judges of what is beautiful, we can observe that the recognition of beauty is not exclusive to them. Yes, they can recognize and describe beauty better but their ability to do so does not confine beauty only to their perception. 

People who are not versed in the arts can also experience the appeal of artworks or nature's beauty even though they can't define, sophisticatedly, what they are experiencing. This points out that the experience of beauty is universal and open. It can be experienced without regard to personal values or inclinations.

All the arguments we have considered reveal that beauty, in the lens of philosophy, is a face that has two sides. One depends on a perceiver's definition. The other is an existence that is irrespective of perception.

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Beauty having both subjective and objective attributes raises a concern on our efforts to arrive at a definite description. Our straight path towards an answer has split into two. Could this be the end of our inquiry?

There is still a way to proceed-and it is by recognizing that the two paths ultimately converge back into one. 

We will proceed by thinking beyond our tendency to create dichotomies.

A note on duality

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The predicament we found ourselves in when we defined beauty philosophically is called duality. It describes our mind's capacity to organize reality into dichotomies, relative to us as finite beings. It is through the perspective of duality that we recognize opposites such as: hot and cold, near and far, or light and darkness.

Just as we have two eyes and two feet, duality is a part of life. -Carlos Santana

You may wonder why does our mind makes such dichotomies. The answer is two-fold: The first is that it does it because of survival. Our mind helps us recognize what is helpful to our existence and what's not. The second, and more fundamental reason, is that when our mind does not recognize dichotomies, everything-including the separation of ourselves, as living beings, from what we label "objective reality" dissolves. Our very sense of identity disappears. 

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When there's no dichotomy, there is no distinction between life and non-living matter or mind and body-and for the sake of our topic, no distinction between beauty and ugliness.

This collapse of distinction is not to be labeled as chaos nor is it dangerous. These are labels that are still within the boundaries of dualistic thinking. Instead, we will move forward while the buildings of dichotomies crumble on our path. We will be to leave our dual thinking for now and consider the perspective of oneness.

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Beauty beyond subjectivity

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When there's no distinction between beauty and ugliness, what are we left with? We are left with oneness: reality existing as it is. Every dichotomies constructed by the human mind disintegrates-everything, paradoxically, becomes a single thing. It is in this state that we can touch upon the underlying structure of reality.

In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinction out of their own minds. -Buddha 

It is critical to remember that all the distinctions we make are our own projections-we create them by running our perceptions through subjective filters: "what will help me survive?" "what will be of greatest help to my happiness?" Without an interpreter, reality is left to itself, indifferent to any of our efforts of explication. 

In the hidden order of reality, there is no distinction between mind and matter. The split between inner and outer-subjective and objective-that we experience in ordinary life is unknown in deeper reality. -John Searle

In oneness, everything is the same. Therefore, everything is also beautiful. It's hard to fathom this revelation especially if one won't go beyond dualistic thinking. A common argument that would spring up would be: what about of the "really ugly" things in life? Bad artworks, misfortunes or tragedies? They are also part of reality's oneness. How is it possible that reality is beautiful alone? 

But we must remember that these arguments are a regression to where our idea of beauty now stands. These are judgments from a point of duality. Artworks, misfortunes or tragedies only seem "ugly" relative to a perceiver. We have gone past this. It is derived that everything is beautiful because in oneness, there is no distinction between the perceiver and the perceived-the perceiver and the perceived are one. 

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When one becomes aware of this, being, the state of reality as it is, unfolds. The problem with our subjective interpretations is that they are an incomplete representation of reality. They are centered, fundamentally on ourselves, not on the undeniable larger context of being.

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As indescribable as it is, we still try to put into words the nature of reality as a thing in itself. Surely, what word can encapsulate the magnificence of this reality that we are part of? The same reality that moves unfathomable sizes of galaxies and stars, the reality that allows for life to thrive, the reality that bestows us with the experience of existing. 

One of the closest word that we have come up with is the same word that we have been contemplating on these past two weeks. The five letter word we read as beauty.

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At this point, we can now derive the existential purpose of beauty by comprehending its relation to being itself. We now come to the gardens of metaphysics and spirituality.

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Beauty and existential creativity

Everything is a product of one universal creative effort. -Seneca the younger

It can be directly observe that one of reality's fundamental feature is its action to be as diverse as possible. From people, to plants, planets and galaxies, we can observe that reality is designed to brought about myriads of possible things or beings. This is the true meaning of the word creation, and seeing it in action is the very embodiment of existential creativity. 

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We are also part of this creativity, we are the conscious probes that recognizes what reality is doing to itself, by itself. 

You are one with the same force that provides the spiral arms of the galaxy. That universal creativity. It's also what you are as well. -Alex Grey

Through us, reality comes to know how it feels to create something. Our hands are part of the same metaphoric "hands" that put into motion the planets and galaxies, though ours is manifested with limited capacities.

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But, in the perspective of this existential creativity, where we see ourselves as nothing but a sliver, everything that is created-anything at all-is beautiful. There are no more dualities. The act of creation becomes beauty itself; they feed off each other, as one. 

The creation of beauty becomes the prime reason creativity itself is in motion. 

The spiritual significance of beauty

Now, in the perspective of finite beings like us, what are the implication of all that we have learned about beauty? We have traversed the caves of biology, the sanctuary of psychology, the halls of philosophy, and the yard of metaphysics but what does the knowledge we have gained imply in relation to our existence? 

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Beauty is manifested by reality to be perceived by finite beings to serve as a reminder of truth, of reality as it is. It balances out perceived chaos, and serves as flashes or trails of truth that leads us to the realization that reality is a single thing. 

Not only a "thing" but the most beautiful, most magnificent, most inspiring subject that we can ever perceive with our senses, and comprehend with our minds. The source of everything beautiful, the source of all life, the source of existence itself. 

Beauty is the manifestation of reality's delight in itself, for what's itself.

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Afterthoughts

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At the end of our inquiry, if there's a thing I want to remain with us firmly, it is the knowledge that it takes a developed soul to acknowledge beauty. A soul with an open mind and a grateful heart for existence. A soul that can see beauty in ugly things and wise enough to know that there's no difference. 

Informed with everything we have discussed, I hope that your definition of beauty, and relationship to life, has deepened, in ways that will allow you to live more creatively. 

May you turn life into an artform and bask yourself in the appreciation and seeing of beauty in this long pilgrimage towards truth we call, living.