Can I tell you how beautiful my yard smells? The air carries lilac on it from our five bushes. This is my dwarf lilac bush, about 12 inches high and wide by our back door.
Last night I had a great conversation with friends on philosophy and social power. One of the main themes was how transient beauty is - that it is often noticed as the moment passes. That by the time beauty is noticed, the moment is on the way out. There's something tragic about that impermanence, but that is what makes the moment striking.
While the Tao talks more of defining something in how it's not, this for some reason speaks to my understanding of beauty, which resonates at a more core level with me:
What cannot be seen is called evanescent
What cannot be heard is called rarefied
What cannot be touched is called minute
These three cannot be fathomed
And so they are confused and looked upon as one.
Its upper part is not dazzling
Its lower part is not obscure.
Dimly visible, it cannot be named
And returns to that which is without substance.
This is called the shape that has no shape
The image that is without substance.
This is called indistinct and shadowy.
The ability to know the beginning of antiquity
Is called the thread running through the way.
4 comments:
That is beautiful!
I'm so jealous of your garden. I want to come visit.
Your description of beauty reminds me of a line from Memoirs of a Geisha that I just finished for my book group.
I'm not sure I'll get it exactly right, but at one point Sayuri says, "It feels like I'm drowning in beauty."
Love your photos and imagery of the beauty of your garden.
Enjoy it, you deserve it!
I love your thoughts. I just bought a book at a booksale about the Tao.
I see you're reading The Book Thief. This is one of the best books I have read (for young adults) in a long time. It's genius. I have a great research on facts from it, etc, that one of my students wrote if you ever want to read it!
the smell of fresh flowers is divine
I love it...
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