Friday, April 16, 2010

Beauty is . . .

היום שבעה עשר יום שהם שני שבועות ושלשה יומים בעמר
Today is the seventeenth day, making two weeks and three days of the omer
תפארת שבתפארת
A day of compassion in a week of compassion

For my translation of תפארת - Tiferet, the sephirot of the heart - I use the word compassion. The translation you will see most often is beauty. Because that word too often comes with the baggage of judgement, I choose not to use it. But for today, this day of beauty in a week of beauty, I bring you thoughts on beauty from Vanda Scaravelli, a transformative teacher of yoga who truly understood the integration of the practice into one's life. This excerpt is from her book, "Awakening The Spine," which contains her yoga teachings, paying homage to the unity of body, mind, and spirit that is yoga.
Beauty is not only in the spectacular glow of a sunset, in the delightful face of a child, in the incredible structure of a flower, in the joy of bright colors, in the shape of a sculpture, in the words of a poem, in the voice of a song, in the notes of a symphony. There is beauty also in the acknowledgement and expression of a feeling, in the logical process of thinking, in the discovery of a truth, in the realization of harmony, in the astonishment arising from observing the perfection with which a tree or a plant is put together. . .

Beauty brings us back that state of vulnerability, innocence and abandon in which, like a child, we are taken by the hand to disclose the kingdom of wonders and marvels thus putting us in touch with Nature where the miracle of existence is renewed each day.

We need beauty around us, Beauty is like a perfume impalpable but yet so very strong. Beauty is the essence of life. Its feeling pushes the artist to create, opens the heart to love, leads the brain to clarify, invites the mind to comprehend and brings the body to participate.

You find yourself in Beauty, unexpectedly absorbed by Beauty.

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