“What is beauty?” What a beautiful question it is- deep and vast. When I read the question for the following week by #Ecotrain, I thought it is quite simple, but when I came to write I realized it isn’t that simple but it leads our minds to innumerable ideas.

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Beauty is one of the various mysteries on earth. Though we live in a world where there are many stereotypical standards for beauty are created and promoted, yet it still lies in the eyes of the beholder. Beauty is not a materialistic existence; it is a feeling. How this feeling evokes? Anything that induces positive emotions and prompts delight in our hearts appears to be beautiful.

Not everyone is equally fascinated by a particular thing. I think it is about our focus of attention. What part of the thing we focus on makes it more or less beautiful for us. For instance, a butterfly seems beautiful because our focus of attention is its colourful wings. If the attention is shifted to the rest of its body, it may not appear that much beautiful.

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What interpretation we attach to something also drives our perception of beauty. I told my son to colour an alphabet. He coloured it in multiple colours. For me, he had messed it up but for him, he had made it beautiful because it was filled with many colours.

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We have got five senses to experience and perceive the world around us. When something fascinates any of these five senses, the thing appears beautiful. The more senses it fascinates, the more beautiful it looks. For instance, the beauty of a person increases if s/he wears perfume along with a nice dress up because along with the sense of sight, sense of smell is also fascinated. However, which kind of thing fascinates our senses varies from person to person. Perhaps our aura, electromagnetic field of hearts or any other chemistry add to our selection and preferences of beauty.

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Beauty is not a rare thing. If we want to see it, we can find it anywhere. Beauty is the smile of our kids and loved ones.

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Beauty is the cuts of a crystal. Beauty is the light passing through prism.

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Beauty is the reflection made on water. Beauty is the silver lining of clouds. Beauty is the colours of the sky at the time of dawn and dusk.

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Beauty is the dew fallen on flowers. Beauty is various curves, shapes and colours in the nature.

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Often a distinction is made between inner and outer beauty. Inner beauty refers to positive personality characteristics and traits such as intelligence, optimism, helpfulness, trustworthiness, etc. However, I think inner and outer beauties are only the two flips of the same coin. When we are impressed with someone’s inner beauty, the person appears beautiful outwardly as well. On the other hand, if we are impressed by outer beauty we are more likely to focus on only the positive aspects of one’s personality. Nevertheless, outward beauty may fade with time while inner beauty persists forever.

What do you think what is beauty?

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This is my entry for Ecotrain Question of the week. If you want to participate, click here for the details.