Aesthetics is the philosophical discipline that deals with spiritual beauty, the beauties of the physical creation, the arts, and artistic living. See Living in Truth, Beauty, and Goodness, Part II, and my class on aesthetics.
117:1.1 (1278.5) The Supreme is the beauty of physical harmony, the truth of intellectual meaning, and the goodness of spiritual value.
Let’s realize the Supreme as the beauty of physical harmony in the way possible to a mortal on an evolutionary world at this stage where none of us can truly discover the Supreme.
Go outside and find an example of physical harmony.
There needs to be a contrast in order for harmony to manifest. Not every contrast is harmonious. Find a contrast that is harmonious. I suggest that you write down your understanding of that contrast like John Muir does in this example.
Muir’s evocations of harmony typically bring contrasting phenomena together, as in this description of Yosemite Valley with its granite walls and waterfalls: “rocky strength and permanence combined with beauty of plants frail and fine and evanescent; water descending in thunder, and the same water gliding through meadows and groves in gentlest beauty.” These descriptions provide a model for those who wish to develop their aesthetic appreciation of the environment. (Living in Truth, Beauty, and Goodness, 105 (part of an important section on varieties of harmony)
On the basis of your intellectual understanding of this harmony, pause and contemplate its beauty. When your appreciation of beauty rises to a new level (I’m being intentionally vague so as not to get in the way of your experience), then realize that you have attained that part of the realization of the Supreme. (The full sentence is this: “The Supreme is the beauty of physical harmony, the truth of intellectual meanings and the goodness of spirit values.”) The experience becomes increasingly rich as you discover different types of harmony.
