Beauty and The Brain
What if instead of a ‘stay at home’ order we were ordered to ‘stay at college’ and had to design a major for ourselves? What would spark your curiosity and comfort your soul? For me, I’d like to understand how beauty works. I suspect a deep exploration into the subject of beauty would improve our understanding of ourselves, others and the planet.
The course material would pull from all academic disciplines— not just the visual arts. How is beauty defined in cultures that are diverse in time, geography and religion? How is a collective definition of beauty different from an individual’s definition? How does our contemporary understanding of beauty relate to our bodies, our buildings and our behaviors? Anthropology, psychology, social justice and science are just some of the lens through which beauty can be explored.
The “stay at college’ quarantine thesis would be title something like, “Safety, Fairness and Beauty—Currency that Matters.” I would note how money is obviously one kind of currency. But what good is money if you live in an environment that is unsafe, unjust and uninspiring? I would boldly claim that we need a currency system that strives to make all of our lives safe, fair and beautiful.
I’d demonstrate that all virtues fall into one of those three categories. For example, kindness makes us safer, respect promotes fairness, joy nurtures beauty. Everything we think, say, feel and do can be a virtue if it makes the world a little bit safer, more fair or more beautiful.
Additionally, a hierarchy and interdependency of those three virtue categories would be established. Safety being the most immediate, fairness the most foundational and beauty the most meaningful.
Hopefully the academic work would successfully conclude that to the extent our society can seek beauty we are by definition creating a healthier and more just world.
Denise Derr is a Seattle neighborhood activist promoting civic engagement and urban livability. Trained in psychology, she is currently working on a children’s book exploring virtues as empowering tools for health and happiness.