Beauty is absolute.

Beauty is always absolute. There is no such thing as something that is more or less beautiful. When we attribute the quality of beauty to anything, be it a person, an event, a landscape or a thought, we are expressing in the realm of words that which we feel in our presence: a sense of harmony. When you think about it, finding something beautiful is saying that everything about it is harmonious. Something which we qualify as being beautiful seems to fit together perfectly to form a consistent and pleasing whole. We do not wish to change it and are inspired by the witnessing of it.

There are few things in life we do not wish to change in our striving for peace of mind. And when we don't want to change anything, usually that feeling only lasts for a few hours, a few days or a few weeks. The problem of our human condition is in essence our fundamental belief that there certain things we need from the outside world to be complete - which is just another way of saying in harmony. The day I will have this or that, such as a good job, a wonderful partner or a beautiful house, is the day in which everything will be fine. But things change and these feelings never last.

However, remembering the beauty of things is such a wonderful and easy way to witness our capacity for feeling harmony within, no matter the circumstances of our lives. Witnessing beauty speaks to us in a way few other things can. Feeling beauty is feeling how our walls subside. Our walls we think are of concrete are actually made of sand and effortlessly wash away as the feeling of harmony floods our being.

When we see things as being beautiful, which is a word that expresses the harmony we feel in the field of mind-body-spirit, we ought to question what is it within us that does not consider things as being harmonious. The answer is the ego, or the small sense of self. It is the part within us that needs to put a hierarchy in all our experiences and qualify things as being good or bad, desirable or undesirable, and in the case of beauty as more or less beautiful. As Alan watts put it so simply:

"If I am my foot, I am the sun."

What this means is that we are the universe. We are the unfolding of existence. Everything is in harmony because everything is fundamentally connected. The ego within us makes us think that we are a separate entity, but we're not. That is an illusion. In moments where we witness awe-striking beauty, we all recognize that our sense of separation from things is lifted. In these moments, even if they last just for a few seconds, there is a force that pulls us together with whatever is around us. For a few seconds, even if we might not be aware of it, our dissatisfied mind - or ego - is silenced. It no longer requires to protect us. We dissolve into the experience so to speak, and feel that we are embraced by it.

So let us practice seeing things the way they are. By doing so, we recognize that the true nature of things is harmony. It is only the conflict in our minds that wishes to rearrange reality in such a way so that our perception of things may still our sense of inadequacy and pain. The day we stop living through the lens of our ego is the day we won't need to superimpose meaning, judgment or order onto things. We simply accept things the way they are. Accepting is embracing. Embracing is not fighting. Not fighting is being free. Being free is being in love. Being in love is being at peace with everything the way it is. You walk through life and say, of course.

Beauty is always absolute.