In the eye of the beholder

True beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  That was the topic in our Toastmasters table topics competition today.  Thankfully, I didn't participate.  I can only imagine what nonsense I would have blabbered on about if I was tasked with talking about this for 1-2 minutes, impromptu.   As a member of the audience, though, I had the benefit of a whole day to think about it.

I thought of how much of what we see is as much a reflection of our selves as it is of what we're looking at.  Sheikh Mukhtar Maghraoui talks about this with respect to what we see with our hearts.  Just as the eyes are organs of perception, so is the heart.  The heart can sense and be moved by beauty in the world around it.

But not all hearts see equally well.  Hearts can become clouded by evil thoughts and actions.  Such hearts may no longer be able to see beauty or they may see the beautiful as ugly.  So we struggle to purify our hearts with good thoughts and good actions.  In the hopes that we can see clearly again.  In the hopes that we can see and be moved by beauty.