Offering Beauty

"Always be on the look out for the presence of wonder." E.B. White

(art by Yuko Nagayama)

I find myself reflecting on a quote from Virginia Woolf’s novel The Waves. In it, she writes, “I will give; I will return to the world this beauty.” As I meditated on her words, I found myself asking: In what ways do I give a return beauty to this world that often offers it up to me?

Now I could easily offer beauty through social media, which all of my accounts are about, but beyond that. What tangible ways do I do this in my every day life, in my community? It is a question I find myself returning to daily as I look at the chaos and cynicism, destruction and death that is going on in the world about me. As I see all of us becoming more and more distant and disconnected from each other.

How can I offer beauty? How can beauty change the world?

These are not mere theoretical ideas I’m contemplating but how can I bring them about in this world, create beauty that allows for connection, for contemplation, for community?