There are no doubt very good evolutionary reasons for things that we find beautiful here on Earth. Beautiful fruits and grains show us where the good food is. Beautiful sunrises encourage us to live to the next day. Beautiful, smiling, or peaceful faces can make people feel connected. But the vastness of space is manifestly not shaped by human evolution much less influenced by the human aesthetic. Yet there they are: flashes of incredible beauty.
A universe of mostly empty space offers all the more reason to celebrate incidents of sublime beauty and stand in awe and wonder at this beautiful thing called life, the universe, everything, an’at.
The cultivation of beautiful things may well be an evolutionary necessity of a life filled with sorrow and physical hardship. Since life can also be full of emotional and spiritual hardship, cultivating inner beauty becomes a spiritual necessity.
Beauty has inspired the great artists of every time and place, secular and religious. How might beauty inspire your soul? Who might beauty, inner, spiritual beauty be calling you to be or to become?