A Hard Beauty

On a radio program this morning I hear this question: truth or beauty? Let's say you had to choose. I'd choose beauty. Somebody once said, (exploding the question): 'truth is beauty.' Once you get past the tautologies: "Truth is what is true," "Beauty is what is beautiful," things start getting fuzzy. The classic defining statement: "I know it when I see it," says it all, and also begs the question.

It seems the most fundamental, important things in our lives are those that we "know," but have a hard time defining. Reminds me of Wittgenstein's: "what we can say, we can say clearly, but we cannot speak of the most important things." (Or something like that!).

So, yes, a life without beauty is unimaginable, life without truth, seems like the typical human enterprise! In fact, much of our existence seems to be an avoidance of truth, or of all the minor and major truths we'd rather not face! Of course, there's something beautiful about truth too. Maybe a life well-lived is a life filled with the beauty of hard truths learned and integrated into our humble, fallible, ephemeral existences! (Or something like that!).