Defining beauty

It is difficult to define beauty . . .

When a person declares what is beautiful forhim or her, they reveal whom they love and how they love, and what they love todo.

Beauty reveals itself over time inrelationship. The people you love are beautiful to you. Their beauty comes fromtheir liveliness and authentic sweetness, their intention to live lives thatmake some sense the spirited coherence of being who they are.

When we are most alive, we are beautiful.When we are in love, we are reminded that we are beautiful. In addition,sometimes when we know we are beautiful, we find ourselves in love. "Inlove" usually means the romantic sense of being with one other person whoin that moment we feel reflects us perfectly. In love, living in the field oflove.

"Love is blind," we say, butperhaps it is more accurate to say love sees with different eyes. Love seesbeyond the surface. Love opens the door for beauty. When we see with the eye,we develop the ability to refine, to judge, to discriminate. When we see withthe heart, we expand the view of what it is to be human, see the common dream,see the wisdom of friends and neighbours, and see there is no separation betweenthat which is most beautiful and the everyday world. The eye of the heart seeswith a wholeness that allows imperfections and idiosyncrasies to coexist withbeauty. The eye of the heart knows surface and depth are not opposites.

Beauty is a process, a revelation, not afinished state.

The bond between humans and their pets