According to the story, when a young inventor showed Leonardo the blueprints of his latest flying machine, the master took only one look and declared that the contraption would never fly. And how can you be so sure? – panted the scalded colleague. Because it’s not nice – was the answer.
The story, apart from being nice (!), carries a deeper meaning. A secret knowledge, if you like, that has been almost completely lost to our post-scientific age because of the misunderstanding of man living in the age of science. The beauty hidden in the snowflake, in birth, in memory, or in the ticking of the clock is not just a bushel on the hat of reality: it is the deepest and truest meaning of reality itself – at least for us.
For what is it that makes us different from our ancestors, what has evolution given us humans that makes us stand out from the animals? Perhaps empathy, wisdom, the ability to plan? Unfortunately, this is quickly disproved by a glance at the front page of any newspaper. . The gift that man first received in creation is the greatest discovery we have made in the last two million years is: beauty. This discovery opened the door to the other world, it spurred us on to explore the terrestrial world, it shaped our laws and the order of our states, it guarded our greatest enterprises from the pyramid of Cheops to the discovery of Antarctica, it taught us to respect and to desire, it made us human.
Beauty is the daemon that inspires the whole world in our eyes, that gives meaning to bean soup and late-night conversations, to science and the sadness of the aunt on the tram. Let’s cherish this treasure, because through it we have come to love ourselves and the whole universe. Don’t let love shrink in you! Don’t let beauty fade away! Keep the flame alive!
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Author: Máté Hámori
