The Magnificence of Understanding

When questioned in class about the most beautiful thing or idea I could think of, I can not deny that I had trouble coming up with my ideal notion of beauty. When given the entirety of a complete thirty seconds to come up with my one perfect description of beauty, I was not as eloquent in my retort as I would have preferred. In the last several days I have been pondering my off-the-cuff answer as well as other’s views on the most beautiful thing they can imagine, in my attempt to fully dissect beauty.

I found that a majority of people typically tend to define beauty in the physical natures of the world. As mentioned by Dr. Bowery, people tend to say things such as the sun, the stars, mountains, and rainbows. No doubt all of these things must be viewed for their natural and minimalistic beauty, yet I can not bring my self to put full stock in notion that aesthetics are the most beautiful thing known to man. It honestly feels quite superficial.

Moreover, I fear that many people have retreated to their fortress of the divine when stating that god is the single, most beautiful thing they can imagine. The perception of a single transcendent, allegedly loving god obviously sets people up to believe that god is the essence of beauty. Since I am completely ignorant of the real god (if he/she/it exist) and so is everyone else, I am compelled to deem god irrelevant. It is unfortunately not in my power to rule god as beautiful or not, considering I do not have the power to truly understand god (if there is one).

In class I responded “understanding” because I needed a word that was rather ambiguous, but could encompass all of my ideas of beauty. I knew that by using “understating” as my definition I would be able to give multiple interpretations for this one word. In retrospect there can be two different definitions to “understanding” that I find to be vital components of my idea of beauty.

Firstly, one can have an insightful understanding on the interworking of the world, allowing them to essentially be masters of philosophy. Socrates, I am sure would be relatively happy with this train of thought. The understanding of a healthy union between virtue and intellect enamors humans to procure the highest beauty.

Furthermore, I said “understanding” when thinking about the understanding that is necessary for a deep emotional relationship that one partakes in with another human being. The most intimate relationships are between people with a profound level of comfort emotionally and mentally. In a relationship, one must understand the other person’s perceptions and decisions, so that when that person makes a mistake the other person can put their partner’s mind at ease. All humans are judgmental no matter how hard they try not to be, but by having understanding for someone, you make them realize that they will not be ostracized for the faults they make, but loved for the person they are.

I may be rather self-involved when defining beauty as a solely human experience, but vanity is fundamental to all humans and I believe it really must be for people to survive. Everybody’s egotism levels of at a different plateau, but to some extent it must be undoubtedly necessary. Although my explanation may be biased, after thinking more into my idea that “understanding” is the most beautiful thing in the universe, I am rather pleased with my answer that I gave in class.