What is beauty?

[Barbas]

I noticed some of you tend to feel down on Mondays, so I thought I'd ask everyone to share examples of what they think beauty is. What makes something beautiful to you? I was going to post the scene at the end of The Great Dictator, but watching the film in its entirety makes it more moving, so I recommend that instead. I also won't recommend typing "beauty" into Google, since it brings up pages of results about nail salons and weight-loss pills.

Do you think beauty is something that can be sufficiently defined in a handful of words? Is there anything you've come across that bucked the trend?

This is something that's been in my list of favourites for a while. I can't really explain what drew me to it other than the contrasting warm and cool colours, so maybe some of the more artistically inclined can help me out with my limited vocabulary:

Spoiler: Autumn.

By TomPrante [http://tomprante.deviantart.com/].

 

[JoJo]

I think beauty really is in the eye of the beholder, though there are many things we admire in common. Aesthetic form, function, emotion... I can see all the ingredients but it comes down to the individual if it'll stir the right pattern in their brain, so to speak. I find some of the most stirring beauty for me personally is in music, there's so many I could link to but I'll just put one here that is on my mind right now:

Spoiler: Elgar - Nimrod

Ahhh...

 

[Casual Shinji]

In the eye of the beholder?

Did I win?

Anyway, it's a pretty darn broad question, and I'm sure most of us don't even know what we find beautiful until we actually see, hear, or read it. I sure as hell couldn't describe it. I can post things that I find beautiful, but I couldn't really explain why I find it beautiful apart from that it resonates with me more than other things.

Like this...


I can't really say why I find it beautiful, I just do. There is ofcourse the story that goes along with it and that gives it its breath, but even with that I feel like I've only covered a small part as to why.

 

[Scarim Coral]

To me beaty is usually something that make me go awe struck and keep desiring it whenever I read, listen, looking at it etc.

Spoiler: my example of beaty

Just everything about the music used in this trailer is just beatiful as in how it is composed, the melody, beat, the tempo and how it corrispond to what is happening in the trailer!

 

[GrumbleGrump]

Me. I am the beauty.

 

[09philj]

What we find to be compelling, fascinating, etc. It's easier to give examples than explain.

Spoiler: I find this rather beautiful.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Beauty is when a HellDrake swoops in on your 20man Legion Tactical squad and unleashes its AP3 dragon breath and you tank 20 hits on a Artificer Armored Sargent and when you actually fail a saving throw, a 5++ FNP from your Apothecary saves your bacon!

That's beauty!

 

[Neverhoodian]

That would fall within the purview of your conundrums of philosophy.

I consider myself a Christian. I'll try not to wax too religious here, but to me beauty is a reflection, however pale, of our Creator. As flawed beings we cannot hope to reach God's perfection, but that doesn't stop us from trying our hand at it or appreciating His work. When we witness something beautiful it provides a fleeting glimpse into that perfection, but we are incapable of experiencing its full majesty. It is that tantalizing experience that keeps us coming back, to continue pursuing those elements that make life worthwhile.

Spoiler

 

[Kolby Jack]

I don't know. I mean, I know there are things in this world I consider beautiful, but I can't say I've ever been awestruck by pure beauty. That is something I recently added to my bucket list, actually: to witness something so beautiful it makes me cry, at least a bit. It's unlikely to happen given my unrelenting stoicism, but hey, that's why it's on my bucket list and not my shopping list for next Thursday.

 

[Akytalusia]

beauty is the pleasant aspect of any perceived experience.
if you can appreciate the warmth of a blanket, the sound of the rain, the smell a storm, the view of a scene, or the flavor of a meal, then you know beauty.
beauty subclass examples: comforting, soothing, aromatic, %n[footnote]visual beauty is the most established form of beauty. there's plenty of words for this, take your pick.[/footnote], delicious, etc.

 

[Zhukov]

I've always perceived beauty in confident, graceful and precise movement.

Like watching a skilled dancer. Although I can't dance a single step myself.

I also see it sometimes in martial arts. A perfectly executed throw or turnover is beautiful to me. All the more so because it's being done with an uncooperative opponent.

 

[Parasondox]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder blah blah blah. Generic answer.

To me, beauty is loads of things from a people to material things.

This may be strange to say but one of the thing I find beautiful is ruins. Old buildings that were once used for something but has ages and trying to stand the test of time. Looking at an old temple, wondering about its history and the amount of people who stand there and witness this structure. It's why I like the UK alot because their are buildings that have been round for hundreds of years and you look back in history and see the stress they went through. Yeah I like new builds. I enjoy modern infrastructure but there is something about old and ruined builds that is amazing and has a hidden beauty to them.

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

muh dick bb AHAHAHA

Music pretty much gets me in "that" zone. That, and nature photos that use the sun well.


Just listen to the first 6 minutes or so. It's a fantastic tune of a really good album, but that part specifically always makes me stop and take it in.


And the entirety of this track too. Once you get to the end, it's pretty soothing.

There are probably more examples I can think up, but these are the first I go to.

 

[BoogieManFL]

See what I did there? ....

It varies from person to person, but I bet there are some shared opinions. But for me the pinnacle of beauty is nature, the female form, and music.

 

[chikusho]

As previous posters have pointed out, Beauty is a mythical essence which can only be acquired from inside the eye of The Beholder, the ancient watcher who sees all and knows all. During the dawn of man, The Beholder bore witness to humanity's ill-intentioned ways and judged us to be undeserving of the magic of which true beauty contains.
Many brave warriors and daring seekers have embarked on perilous quests to retrieving the essence for the benefit of mankind. Yet, all attempts have failed. As ages have passed, as Empires have risen and fallen, the knowledge of Beauty has been lost to us. Alas, all that remains are myths and legends, and man has begun to worship a false beauty in its place.

 

[FPLOON]

Beauty is the genitalia that you dare not stare at and yet you cannot look away when you do... It's the sound that gives your ears the orgasm that it deserves and yet it's also what it needed this whole time... It's the taste that makes the word "nostalgic" more cliché than stereotypes... It's like touching a magic ball filled with the essence of some of the greatest players in the game...

Okay, so maybe that last one's more of a movie reference than anything else, but what I'm trying to say is that it's so much of a case-by-case basis that only history, itself, chooses to dictate that while everyone else can subjectively reject it and pick their own sets because we are fucking humans, glob dammit! We would fucking stab the beholder in the eyes just to show the beauty in metaphorically seeing the beauty that is beauty, which not even a single word like "beauty" and the like could accurately describe subjectively speaking...

Wait... The fuck was I talking about again? Something about a fucking "beauty stick" or some shit?

 

[thesilentman]

Beauty! It's in the eye of the beholder, that's cliche for sure. Some people look at it one way... others look at it in a different way. Everyone's different in this regard, no matter if we're talking about that girl we want to date and have a happy relationship with or an enthralling nature shot capable of making sure our breath freezes on sight. You can apply notions of beauty to almost anything!

As for me? Beauty is a quality that grabs my undivided attention. It can be a color. It can be clothing. It can be pictures. Music. Art. Entertainment. Mathematics. Sciences. Literature. Animu grills if you're into that sort of thing. Cars. Bikes. Website css and code. Culture. It can be anything! It doesn't have to be the best of it's type or sophisticated in any way. All it has to do is grab my attention and turn it into a hypnotic obsession of sorts.

At least, that's how I look at it.

 

[1981]

It's anything that makes me happy.

Spoiler

See what I did there?

Slap a bow on it and... MEOWWW!

 

[Pseudonym]

The Alps.

More in the abstract. A certain combination of coincidence, order, emotion and understanding. That is still rather vague. I'll stick with the Alps.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Somebody is trying to entice a clichéd poem from a poor, unsuspecting soul, aren't they?
I believe beauty is found on the way up from the darkest depths of feeling, the height of a mountain cannot be measured without the depth of the canyon alongside it. The worse you experience in life, the greater the joy it brings upon the smallest of pleasures. A balance hardly found or noticed. But for those that do, their perception is transformed. Wait, this is sounding similar to Tyler Durden. Oops!

Me. I am the beauty.

It was only a matter of time. 4 posts in is impressive for this site though.