Patrick Quinn, What is Beauty?

1) Beauty is the inherent good within something. It is a natural, recognizable right that can be expressed or viewed in many different ways.

2) A Lake Vermilion Sunset

3) When I see a sunset on Lake Vermillion, it instills a sense of awe in me. While visually pleasant, there seems to exist a deeper, more profound acknowledgement occurring in my being. The physical, quantifiable phenomena of a sunset seems to point to a greater, higher standard or desire within me. I recognize the ‘good’ or ‘right’ in the sunset.

More thoughts...

After writing several pages of reflection, I whittled down my thoughts to one brief paragraph. Beauty seems to be some sort of recognizable inherent good man perceives either through his senses or his mind. We recognize and label something as beautiful because deep within our own spirits, we long for beauty. Our longing, however, cannot be satisfied in the simple beauties we perceive in this life. Rather, each encounter with beauty seems to strengthen our longing and certainty in something ultimate and eternal, something wholly outside of our own experience. The things we perceive to be beautiful, then, are not meant to meet our desire, but instead act as pointers to something that will. That ultimate “Beauty” is, in fact, God.