Modern culture often confuses glamor for Beauty. Glamor targets appearance, fancy cars and homes, jewelry, exotic vacations, in short, the “glitz” and money. Once one grabs for glamor, one is on a path with no end of grasping.
Beauty is something very different, and it can be found in our everyday lives, the blue sky (the most under-appreciated example of Beauty?), the shape or texture of a tree or rock, a bird’s graceful glide, a child’s pure joy at the smallest thing, a drink of water. It can also be found in Art, music, literature, or in simple acts of kindness. When we experience Beauty, we feel it in the heart, and our response is “yes” and “more.” As John O’Donohue points out, “when we experience the Beautiful, there is a sense of a homecoming.” This homecoming is in returning to ourselves, our true nature and what we recognize as being truly important and meaningful. This yoga (connection) of Beauty aligns our hearts with Truth. Having read John Keats’ “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” one couldn’t forget these lines:
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."
Beauty is what the universe offers us, every day, all of the time. The yoga of Beauty is the practice of paying attention and opening one’s heart to as many moments of connection with Beauty as your band width allows. As you practice, your capacity to connect will expand. Start by making sure you connect with nature or Art once a day, even if it is only for a brief moment.
— Richard Parker