The most beautiful things I will ever want you to see

What do you think the definition of beauty is? I am not talking about the beauty you see in magazines - you know pretty girls and boys in pretty clothes. I mean beauty as it appears in the world in all its guises, all its forms. 

I was thinking about beauty the other day. What makes someone or something beautiful? Is it simply an aesthetic measurement or is ther more to it?

What takes your breath away?

I like to think that beauty is not just about what you see but more importantly how something makes you feel. Something is truly beautiful when you look at it and the way it makes you feel surprises you. It's difficult to put into words exactly what that feeling is. Difficult to describe, as difficult I suppose as describing what beauty is. So what is beauty? I don't know.

What I do know is that over the years I have seen many things that I have thought are beautiful. Some of those have been in life and some of those have been on the internet. Some of them I have experienced and some of them I long to experience still. Some of them you might not find beautiful and some of them might be the most the beautiful things you will ever see. That's the beauty.about. beauty.

Here is my collection of some of the most beautiful things I seen recently.


Humans of New York is photoblog. Brandon takes pictures of New Yorkers and writes candid captions to accompany them. Check out the pics - they will make you believe in the goodness of people again. The stories these people tell made me fall in love with a city I have never been to.

This picture and the caption is actually what inspired this post.

He doesn't always waltz.

But when he does it's in public.

Dancing. together. in. public. Beautiful.

*****

Here's a beautiful thing about kissing. A group of strangers were asked to kiss for the first time on camera. The result is surprising, but what's more surprising is the reaction you will have to watching this video. It reminded me of kissing a girl ... just a girl.

First. kisses. Beautiful.

*****

 

 

 "I want to do to you what spring does to the cherry trees."

This is my favourite line from my favourite poem by Pablo Neruda. It's Poem #14 from 20 Poems and love songs of dispair.
I don't know the name of the woman who tortured Neruda, but she did a pretty good job of it.  Thanks to her, however, some of the most beautiful words in history were put to pen. Reading Neruda is an achingly, beautiful, almost torturus experience. Find out why I think that here (if you are brave enough): http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/tonight-i-can-write-the-saddest-lines/

Read the rest here:

http://www.poemhunter.com/pablo-neruda/poems/

Tortured. words. Beautiful.

 

*****

 

 

This is aerogel, widely regarded as the most fragile substance in the world.  According to Wikipedia, nicknames include "frozen smoke",^[2] "solid smoke", "solid air" or "blue smoke" owing to its translucent nature and the way light scatters in the material. It feels like fragile expanded polystyrene (Styrofoam) to the touch.

 



Aerogel is widely regarded as the most fragile substance in the world.

It's used to extract stardust.

 

So the most fragile substance on Earth is used to extract a substance found in meteorites which were formed four billion years ago. That's surprising.

 

 

 

This is where stardust comes from



 

Surprising. fragility. Beautiful.

 



 

*****

 

These are my friends. And these are just some of the memories we have made. Some I have known since I was 12, others just in my adult life. But they, and many others, have brought beauty and love into my life. One is my spiritual guide, one is my escape, one is my colleague, one is my sounding board, one is my strength, one is my reality check, one is my yardstick, one is my motivator, one is my intellectual test, one is my rock.

 

 

 



 

Friends. and. memories. Beautiful.

 

 

******

 

Lupita Nyongo'o won the Best Actress Oscar this year for her role in 12 Years a Slave. Her performance has been hailed for its strength and courage but it is her public speaking and in particular this speech about beauty which has gained her admiration in many circles.

 

 

 

True. beauty. Beautiful.

 

 

******

 

 

There is not very much that I can say about this.



 

 Love. Beautiful.