Volume
Vol. 11, Mysticism in Life
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12. Beauty
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Beauty of the Living Being
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Vol. 11, Mysticism in Life
12. Beauty
Beauty of the Living Being
The second aspect of beauty is personal beauty, the beauty of the living being, whether in form and feature, in thought and imagination, in merit and qualifications, or in virtue and higher qualities. What is goodness? Beauty. What is right and wrong? That which is beautiful is right, and that which lacks beauty is wrong. Is there then no such thing as what the religious people call sin and virtue? That which is beautiful is virtue, and that which lacks beauty is sin.
Are these not two opposite poles? They are when we look at them as opposite poles; when we look at the two ends of a line we see that there are two ends, but when we look at the center of the line we see that it is one line. These opposite poles appear to us as two only when we look at the two ends.
When the carpet on the floor is not laid down as it should be then we say it is wrong; but there is no rule as to how it should be laid; it is only the sense we have of recognizing beauty. This sense is disturbed by seeing that the carpet is not laid straight, and so what is wrong is the lack of beauty.
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