Good Morning, Digital Neighbors! Happy Monday to all you fine souls who have found your way to these communities I so greatly appreciate. May today be a day of blessing for all of you WSN Curators and ADD Irregulars at Padre’s, you Friends and Refugees on the Report, the first haven of common sense on Locals and finally all you migratory Misfits and Phamily sub-stacking it with my favorite drum majorette at Phetasy. Make her rich!!!

Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. - Rachel Carson

As we waltz into the second week of Autumn, I thought it would be a good week to share some quotes about beauty. Of the three transcendentals, beauty is the one that has suffered the least distortion in our culture over the last 50 years. Truth was assaulted first, then goodness and in these most recent years beauty. Beauty is more inherently resistant than truth or goodness, because it can exist independent of our creation or judgment. Recognition of beauty long existed before we could grasp the truth or question what goodness is. All three are essential to the wholeness of humanity, but we have grown so skeptical of the truth and so doubtful of goodness these days. Relativism is corrosive and poisonous. I don’t fault too many relativists, it begins with doubt which is good thing to possess. Healthy doubt leads to questions, conversations, criticism and hopefully conclusions (subject to update when new experience or information is provided.) Lingering doubt, inconclusive doubt, cynical skepticism about everything tends to become corrosive to one’s emotional and mental state. I don’t know how any self-professed relativist can be happy or even reasonably content if nothing really matters than the moment and your preference. I prefer the quest for some absolutes in life without becoming a self-righteous absolutist or a close-minded cultist. Sorry for the side-alley, back to BEAUTY!

While some standards of relational beauty between the genders (both of them) are culturally conditioned, I think beauty in nature and many if not most of the arts are more universal. We know it when we see it, hear it or experience it. Perhaps that is wishful thinking on my part, but beauty goes a long way to healing my soul. I think many people have lost the memory of how powerful beauty is for grounding us and opening us to the wonders of existence. Without trying to sound like too much of an elitist, I would like to think the souls that have gathered around Dave Rubin, Bridget Phetasy and other common sense voices know the importance of beauty and seek if more readily that most. I hope you find some beauty today, in nature, in a friend, through a song or other experience that lifts you above the moments and beyond this day. Prayers & Peace, your friendly neighborhood friar.

Natalie Behn - Unsplash