To paraphrase from Fujimura’s book Culture Care–Beauty is that which is a delight to the senses, a pleasure to the mind, and refreshment to the spirit. It invites our scrutiny and contemplation and then rewards it. Beauty is connected to satisfaction and we should not be content with only cheap alternatives (the cute or the pretty) that ultimately leave us unsatisfied.
Although beauty is satisfying, it can also, in one of the may paradoxes of life, leave us with a deep ache for more. If we do not have a worldview that allows for beauty that ache can be confusing or troubling. If we do have a worldview that understands what beauty points towards that ache can be a pleasant longing for the ultimate reality only hinted at in this life.
Art as Illumination 