{"id":646,"date":"2013-02-18T10:04:28","date_gmt":"2013-02-18T10:04:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/asenseofplace\/?p=646"},"modified":"2017-04-05T22:38:07","modified_gmt":"2017-04-05T22:38:07","slug":"the-importance-of-beauty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/asenseofplace\/2013\/02\/the-importance-of-beauty\/","title":{"rendered":"The importance of beauty"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I am lucky enough to live in what I consider to be an intensely beautiful landscape. This is especially the case on mornings like this morning, when the sky is blue and the sun shines bright. The hills become honey-coated; the sky is endless.<\/p>\n

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The view from my bathroom window this morning.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Beauty is a vitally important part of my relationship with place. If a place is ugly, it is hard for me to get past that in order to begin to form a relationship, a connection. I shrink back from such places. They make me uncomfortable and defensive.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s one reason why I find it easier to live in the country than in the city. In the country, the beauty of the place shines in ways that are easy for me to see, easy for me to open to and rest into, easier for me to connect with. Grown rather than built forms \u2013 hills, trees, animals, water courses \u2013 evoke a yearning in my heart; my soul crying out for its Beloved. The sounds of those forms \u2013 trickling, whooshing, bleating, chirping \u2013 enable me to sink back and down, deep, into the arms of Life; my mind has no linguistic meaning to latch onto, and releases its hold.<\/p>\n

Here is a recording I made this morning out of my bathroom window:<\/p>\n