signs of stendhal

I first thought of all the wonderful thinkers that have already addressed this question, but my instinct to cite others might not be a great one. So do definitely read Emerson and Hume and Plotinus and Gibran and Burke and approximately a jillion other writers for brilliant, in-depth musings on all the varieties and experiences of beauty, but here I’ll keep it as simple as possible:

To me beauty is a quality we attribute to something when we feel uplifted just from having perceived it. What’s important about that is it doesn’t have anything to do with a rational process or a useful end product. Nothing gets ‘accomplished’ through beauty alone, but much is inspired. In general our collective attitude would benefit from better appreciating things (and moments, and lifestyles, and play) that don’t necessarily produce anything, but are uplifting in and of themselves. At the same time, if our actions and productions were motivated by uplifted feelings, we can really optimize that inhale-exhale exchange of perceiving and embodying beauty.