[BGmusic: Babel by Mumford and Sons]

Quote for the day:

“I somehow see what’s beautiful in things that are ephemeral
I’m my only friend of mine, and love is just a piece of time in the world.”

- I Thought I Saw Your Face Today, She and Him
[Dear Zooey, you're not that special, everyone's like that doi.]

Totally unrelated photo.
Blog, meet my new dog Noomi. Noomi, meet blog.

My brother asked me some time last month what I thought about beauty, how it exists only in the temporary (e.g. music and poetry–things that are meant to be enjoyed for only a moment). I thought about it for a moment, tried to synthesize what I had been learning in class about beauty and the sublime, and said that maybe it only looks that way because there seems to be a limit on how long humans can hold onto that feeling of captivation.

I think beauty is not something that lies within an object, but is a judgment that is given by an observer. For beauty to be seen, something needs to depart from the humdrum of the every day. Just like a husband cannot be expected to appreciate the beauty in his wife’s face for each moment of their married life, if for every minute of one’s life, one is given a beautiful sunset to look at, the sunset’s beauty will soon lose its effect. In other words, we are easily bored. We are unable to appreciate an object for long periods of time unless there is a conscious effort behind it, unless we push ourselves to see. If we try to look at the world with new eyes every day, keeping ourselves sensitive to its novelty, maybe then can we go beyond boredom and apathy, and be ever struck with beauty.