Fri 21 Sep 2007
Everywhere I go I see beautiful things. Nature delivers amazing beautiful moments. Artists create beautiful moments that enliven and enrich our daily experiences. Craftsmen deliver beautiful handmade objects for our homes or offices. But how do we define the larger concept?
The definition has dodged great thinkers and, I’m sorry to say, will continue to elude minds long after you have read these words. I have little to add to the definitive conversation on this concept except to say that I know it when I see it.
This position may be the sign of a weak or lazy mind; one not willing to dig, research and unearth the truth. Be that as it may, I respond to beauty. I know the mental, physical and emotional signs that indicate (to me) when I’m experiencing something “beautiful.”
That’s what I want to ask you about today. Are you aware when you see beauty? With whatever parameters you have established during your time on this earth which help you delineate this special element; do you take the time to acknowledge the moment and, by extension, the beauty?
Life seems to fly past us at an ever increasing velocity. The days become weeks that become months then years and suddenly entire chunks of our life have evaporated. Fine, if that is the way it must be, but that shouldn’t prevent us from noticing and relishing beauty when and where we find it.
My job is to challenge those around me to fill their lives with beauty. My challenge to you is simple. Notice and then gather, around you, things of beauty.
Write me and tell me your experience in gathering beautiful objects into your home.
September 21st, 2007 at 6:42 pm
Carefully crafted inspirational words, like these, are most certainly things of beauty in themselves. My old copy of Rilke poetry — with it frayed edges and threadbare spine, sits near my desk at the ready, waiting to be cracked open (yet, again) and trumpet its most famous last line — a line that echoes in your call to us today.
Archaic Torso of Apollo
We cannot know his legendary head
with eyes like ripening fruit. And yet his torso
is still suffused with brilliance from inside,
like a lamp, in which his gaze, now turned to low,
gleams in all its power. Otherwise
the curved breast could not dazzle you so, nor could
a smile run through the placid hips and thighs
to that dark center where procreation flared.
Otherwise this stone would seem defaced
beneath the translucent cascade of the shoulders
and would not glisten like a wild beast’s fur:
would not, from all the borders of itself,
burst like a star: for here there is no place
that does not see you. You must change your life.
Rainer Maria Rilke
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:11 am
loved your site the articles are right on. We are one of the countries top manufacturers of artistic hand made furniture, doors lighting and hardware. All hand made to heirloom investment quality. We can make any decorating of any environment a reality. We offer custom made to your specifications. We work with some of the worlds top designers and have for over nine decades. How could we link to your site as well as you link to ours. Please let us know how we could work together. see our web site at http://www.artfactory.com
October 15th, 2007 at 7:37 pm
David,
Very sorry for the long delay in responding. We’ve had a technical glitch which has prevented me from seeing ANY responses to the blog. I’m playing catchup today with responses to many new frieds who have taken the time to send notes.
I love your quote. It is simply breathtaking.
Thank you.
October 15th, 2007 at 7:39 pm
Dear Jerry,
Much like David above I hope you forgive the silence from me in response to your note. We are very interested in linking with friends around the world….and will very soon have the technical challenges resolved which have prevented this. I or someone from my office will check in with you to make this happen.
Thanks, Jim