The necessity for beauty and happiness

You turn on the TV to watch the evening news and most of the times you’re left with a sentiment ranging between disappointment and depression. People turning on people, war, mayhem, crime, natural and ecological disasters, and the list just goes on and on. And then the coin flips on its other side, and you see documentaries on the most beautiful parts of the planet, picture perfect fashion models on the catwalk, idealized relationships on happy-end movies.

To some, the every day soap-opera, that with the beautiful people leading perfect lives which are occasionally threatened for a brief moment by a stereotypical villain, may seem vain and pointless. Yet apparently there is a purpose to vanity as there is in most things in this world. The little every day things that keep your mind away from the pain and ugliness that otherwise surrounds the existence of everyone who is consciously aware of the world they live in.

So what if spending an hour looking and shorting out your stamp collection serves no greater purpose. The personal satisfaction and gratification you gain from doing what others may consider trivial, makes you a stronger, better person. At the very least it gives you balance. So dress up nice if you can, and buy that pretty useless thing that makes you brake a smile or make a happy thought. Because the happier you are, the happier those around you will be. And if that could happen for everyone, the world in its entirety would become a better place. There is beauty in almost everything if you look carefully enough. It can be the sound of a stranger’s voice saying good morning to you as you walk to work. A dry leaf leaving its mark on a freshly painted bench at the park. Your best friend’s smile, your lover’s touch, a jingle on TV or a candy bar. Pause and look at an ant carrying a grain three times its size, look closely at how determined the ant is to complete the chore and listen closely to how it never complains. Because heavy as the grain may be – to the ant it is beautiful. It is so beautiful it is the only thing that exists in the world at that point in time.

And when you achieve the necessary balance that keeps you from loathing humanity, you are more likely to do something for your fellow man as well. You can spot a misanthropist walking down a road. Most of the time they look down or avoid eye contact. They never smile and have a profoundly dissatisfied grin on their face. If they see you take a wrong step and fall flat on your behind, they don’t laugh at you and they don’t help you up. They just increase their pace and walk faster away from you. These people are fed up with ugliness and they are not to blame for who they have become. They hate other people because they have them associated with everything that’s wrong with the world as a whole and their own lives in particular. Too caught up in the rat race to notice anything else.

A good step for them to change would be taking the time to watch a sunset. Preferably with a person they care about. Taking a moment. And then you may wonder. Will appreciating the beauty around us, and becoming happier people make any difference? Will our fate be any different? Shall we rule our destiny? I am not making any promises here. I am not saying beauty is a panacaea for all the woes in the world. Or that it will bring hidden meaning to your life. Incorporating beauty in one’s life is something we all do consciously or not. We buy things that are aesthetically pleasing to us, and we likewise surround ourselves with such people. Of course what is beautiful to one person may not be so appealing to someone else. This is OK, since we’re talking about personal gratification. And beauty may even be too trivial to grant any extra meaning to life. But it is a happy pill and it really comes down to answering one question. Would you rather live your life happy or miserable? The choice is mostly left up to you.