Some thoughts on ‘beauty’…

There’s this idea that words tell us what they mean. Words like beauty. But they don’t. We use them to express what »we mean by using them. In this sense, the entire field is open to play, experiment, discovery, learning… creativity.

In terms of my thoughts about this topic, the meaning we ascribe to beauty is important — but it is native to specific contexts. The idea that we can speak both meaningfully »and generally about beauty is relatively incoherent, because, without context, we just have a word. And the word has no real context in which to acquire actual meaning… other than those associated with it in, say, a dictionary.

Which is entirely abstract.

That said, if I speak of beauty generally anyway, ignoring my concerns about this kind of speaking, I see that there are many forms, and at least two domains of it. The superficial, which quickly cliches itself, and the subtle, which is the real stuff. The superficial is everywhere on sale, the subtle is everywhere hidden, awaiting those who might invite it into expression. Not in image… but in relation. Ship.