Because of her truth and beauty, I was inspired to put up this blog. I want to canvas for beautiful people, places, and things and reference them here.
I started investigating how I could write about beauty because it is kind of an abstract concept. This first post is where my research lead me.
From here, I will post all things beautiful, at least to me.
Stay tuned.
(most of the info below is from "the commons". Another beautiful thing that we still have...a place to share our wisdom, knowledge and research. I hope we can keep it.)
America is a wealthy country in that we have great commons that belong to us all. For them to stay beautiful, we must participate in activating our choices over plunderers.
America the Beautiful
Golden mean (philosophy)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(In philosophy, especially that of Aristotle, the golden mean is the desirable middle between two extremes, one of excess and the other of deficiency. For example courage, a virtue, if taken to excess would manifest as recklessness and if deficient as cowardice.
To the Greek mentality, it was an attribute of beauty. Both ancients and moderns realized that there is a close association in mathematics between beauty and truth. The poet John Keats, in his Ode on a Grecian Urn, put it this way:
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty," -- that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.
The Greeks believed there to be three 'ingredients' to beauty: symmetry, proportion, and harmony. This triad of principles infused their life. They were very much attuned to beauty as an object of love and something that was to be imitated and reproduced in their lives, architecture, education (Paideia) and politics. They judged life by this mentality.)
Ugliness..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beauty
(Ugliness is a property of a person or thing that is unpleasant to look upon and results in a highly unfavorable evaluation. To be ugly is to be aesthetically unattractive, repulsive, or offensive.[27] Like its opposite, beauty, ugliness involves a subjective judgment and is at least partly in the "eye of the beholder." Thus, the perception of ugliness can be mistaken or short-sighted, as in the story of The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen.
Although ugliness is normally viewed as a visible characteristic, it can also be an internal attribute. For example, an individual could be outwardly attractive but inwardly thoughtless and cruel. It is also possible to be in an "ugly mood," which is a temporary, internal state of unpleasantness, or may refer to the way one views themselves at the moment.
For some people, ugliness is a central aspect of their persona. Jean-Paul Sartre had a lazy eye and a bloated, asymmetrical face, and he attributed many of his philosophical ideas to his life-long struggle to come to terms with his self-described ugliness.[28] Socrates also used his ugliness as a philosophical touch point, concluding that philosophy can save us from our outward ugliness.[28] Famous in his own time for his perceived ugliness, Abraham Lincoln was described by a contemporary: "to say that he is ugly is nothing; to add that his figure is grotesque, is to convey no adequate impression." However, his looks proved to be an asset in his personal and political relationships, as his law partner William Herndon wrote, "He was not a pretty man by any means, nor was he an ugly one; he was a homely man, careless of his looks, plain-looking and plain-acting. He had no pomp, display, or dignity, so-called. He appeared simple in his carriage and bearing. He was a sad-looking man; his melancholy dripped from him as he walked. His apparent gloom impressed his friends, and created sympathy for him - one means of his great success."[29])
(The early 19th century philosopher Søren Kierkegaard is regarded as the father of existentialism.[5][6] He maintained that the individual is solely responsible for giving his or her own life meaning and for living that life passionately and sincerely,[7][8] in spite of many existential obstacles and distractions including despair, angst, absurdity, alienation, and boredom.[9])
on Angst (a not so beautiful thing)
The Mean Reds (not the blues)":
Breakfast at Tiffany's written by George Axelrod, novel by Truman Capote
Paul: I'm....sorry. Is he all right?
Holly: Sure. Sure. He's okay. Aren't you, Cat? Poor old Cat. Poor slob. Poor slob without a name. I don't have the right to give him one. We don't belong to each other. We just took up one day. I don't want to own anything until I find a place where me and things go together. I'm not sure where that is, but I know what it's like. It's like Tiffany's.
Paul: Tiffany's? You mean the jewelry store?
Holly: That's right. I'm crazy about Tiffany's. Listen. You know those days when you get the mean reds?
Paul: The "mean reds?" You mean, like the blues?
Holly: No. The blues are because you're getting fat or it's been raining too long. You're just sad, that's all. The mean reds are horrible. Suddenly you're afraid, and you don't know what you're afraid of. Don't you ever get that feeling?
Paul: Sure. Some people call it angst.
Holly: When I get it, what does any good is to jump into a cab and go to Tiffany's. Calms me down right away. The quietness, the proud look. Nothing very bad could happen to you there. If I could find a real-life place that made me feel like Tiffany's, then... then I'd buy some furniture and give the cat a name...I'm sorry. You wanted something. Oh, the telephone.
Umberto Eco on The History of Ugliness
(click on picture to watch video)
"A ripe fruit (of its time) was considered beautiful, whereas a young woman trying to appear older or an older woman trying to appear younger would not be considered beautiful."
Carmen Dell'Orefice then and now
Beauty presents a standard of comparison, and it can cause resentment and dissatisfaction when not achieved.
6 Of The World's Most Beautiful Older Women (PHOTOS)
Holly Golightly Audrey Hepburn
"Wrinkles and bones, white hair and diamonds: I can't wait."
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