"What if the man could see Beauty Itself, pure, unalloyed, stripped of mortality and all its pollution, stains, and vanities, unchanging, divine, ... the man becoming in that communion, the friend of God, himself immortal; ... would that be a life to disregard?"
Plato
Recognising beauty brings us close to God, close to that that is untainted by decay, and gives us a taste of immortality, of what is precious and eternal, of a life worth living.
As I copied out this quote that I discovered in Annie Dillard's The Writing Life, I uncovered words that I hadn't noticed on first reading. When people (not just men!) recognise beauty they come close to God (the perfect, the eternal) too. When writers see and share something beautiful or, amazingly, write something that takes a reader's breath away with its beauty, then their lives and works are surely worth respect, honour and attention.
So read to find that beauty; pay attention to the environment; notice and perhaps communicate that rare thing or moment of beauty; come close to the eternal.
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