Behold Beauty's topics - tribe.net

beauty in food

crystalshade — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 20:41:35 GMT

last night i watched "Tortilla Soup" (again) and was reminded of the incredible beauty that can be found in food.

posted in Behold Beauty - 9 replies

Remembering Beauty

lori — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 03:46:13 GMT

I've been so concerned with the political and ecological disasters going on, so frustrated with homo sapiens sapiens, I've forgotten why I cared so much about life (in all its expressions) in the first place and I need to remember. The joy and beauty of scientific discovery, for example. What is was like to sit in the middle of the Mojave desert in late spring and measure soil temperatures along a transect and verify a correlation between seedling growth and lower soil temperatures (seedling growth under a nurse plant).

Or just the amazing idea that every element is generated in the heart of a sun, or on and on and on, just how amazing and precious and beautiful life is.

posted in Behold Beauty - 2 replies

Ephemeral beauty

EM3 — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 16:23:44 GMT

Of course, if I'd thought about it a few minutes, I would have realized that there MUST be a site that has pictures of clouds.

Some of these are just heartachingly beautiful.

I've been lucky in my life to get a few really neat pictures of clouds. There's one in particular that I like -- maybe I'll post it here.

http://www.cloudappreciationsociety.org/gallery/

posted in Behold Beauty - 5 replies

If you really want beauty

Noel — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 01:47:26 GMT

My roommate and I were discussing some stuff and we agreed on an important point.

You want beauty?

Watch a creative person in the throes of his/her work.

THAT'S beauty.

posted in Behold Beauty - 4 replies

scopophiliacs

jmparker — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 15:39:26 GMT

A new tribe for people who enjoy staring at things.

http://tribes.tribe.net/scopophiliacs

posted in Behold Beauty - 0 replies

A Beautiful Thing

EM3 — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 23:29:00 GMT

In teh past day or so, what beautiful thing have you seen or otherwise experienced? What made it beautiful to you?

posted in Behold Beauty - 15 replies

Photo Contest!

EM3 — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 16:57:09 GMT

Find beauty! Upload it to share!

Let's see where we find beauty in the next few weeks.

Happy hunting!

posted in Behold Beauty - 7 replies

The Heart of True Love Part 1

georgemarc — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 22:04:02 GMT

Remember ~
"Anything will give up its secrets if you love it enough!"
~ George Washington Carver

To Begin........

Breathe deeply, slowly and rhythmically.
Open your heart to tranquility.
Empty your mind of thought.
Allow love to enter.

Now Listen....

Listen to the Heart of True Love
True love is not something one does.
It is not something one has.
It is not a thing.
It is not an action.
It is not even a feeling.
It is the cause.
There is no strife in true love.
It is always at ease.

Listen to the Heart of True Love
The true lover knows herself.
She doesn't try to convince others.
She is content with herself.
She doesn't need the approval of others.
Because she accepts herself,
The whole world accepts her.
She doesn't think of herself as superior
Because she knows herself as a conduit
rather than a cause.
She is gene rous and graciously attracts opportunities
to be of service.
She doesn't care to possess anything or anyone,
because she knos
she already belongs to everyting and everyone

Listen to the Heart of True Love
When the true lover runs into difficulty,
she stops and gives herself to it.
She doesn't focus on her own comfort;
thus problems are really no problem to her.

Listen to the heart of true love.
Love is equally available to the good and the bad person,
but to differing effects.
Love is an inexhaustible treasure to the good person.
No matter how lavishly it is bestowed,
there is always more.
Love is a refuge to the bad person.
it doesn’t judge and endlessly offers yet another chance.

Listen to the Heart of True Love
Love is the mother.
It is also the child.
As the mother, love gives birth to all things;
nourishes and cares for them,
comforts and protects them;
guides and cherishes them.
As the child, love springs forth into life,
unconscious and perfect.
Love takes on a body, grows into fullness;
recognizes itself,
and returns to its source,
only to become again.

Listen to the Heart of True Love
Definitions cannot circumscribe love.
We cannot say directly.
Love both surrounds and pervades everything.
It existed before the universe was born.
Love is before everything.
Everything is born of love.
Love is the heart of all things.
It is so common.

Listen to the Heart of True Love
Love alone endures.
Eventually all things, all experience, all memory vanish into it.
It is formless and perfect.
It is serene, unchanging, infinite and eternally present.
It nourishes worlds both visible and invisible, yet makes no claim upon them.
It existed before all names,
but we call it love.
It is pure mystery.

Listen to the Heart of True Love
Love, as the great mother, gives birth to infinite worlds.
The more it is used, the more it produces.
It is inexhaustible.
You can use it in any way you please.
It can only be found within yourself.
Surrender, and love will come of its own accord.

Listen to the Heart of True Love
The true lover is the greatest servant.
She is available to all people and doesn't reject anyone.
She is ready to make use of any situation and doesn't waste anything.
She has no fixed plans and desires no specific outcome.
She follows her intuition.
Free from concepts, she is truly useful and valuable.

Listen to the Heart of True Love
Because she is so rich and her treasure so valuable,
the true lover takes great pleasure in sharing her bounty.
The more she does for others,
the happier she is.
The more she gives to others,
the wealthier she is.
The true lover carefully fulfills her own responsibilities and corrects her own mistakes.
By demanding nothing of others,
she is never in lack.

Listen to the Heart of True Love
Love is a flow which must constantly be given away.
Its source is a mystery.
Because she knows that there is no end to her treasure,
the lover can keep giving.
Without expecting return,
she is free.

Listen to the Heart of True Love
What mystery, the beneficence of the lover!
She holds no concern for wealth,
yet the people around her prosper.
She finds no need to conform to religion or philosophy,
yet the people around her become serene.
She gives little attention to issues of the common good,
yet good becomes as common as water.
She simply lives for love and love encompasses and sustains all.

Listen to the Heart of True Love
The true lover is like the newborn child.
Her spirit is forever fresh.
She doesn't worry.
She is unaware of herself and acts without thinking.
She lets things come and go effortlessly.
She is in love with the world,
but doesn't know why.
She constantly explores,
but doesn't expect to find anything.

Listen to the Heart of True Love
There is nothing more enduring than true love.
She who fully embraces love,
will likewise endure.
Her name will be honored for generations.
Her effect will continue forever.

Listen to the Heart of True Love
The wise lover lives lightly in the world,
without attachment to either hopes or fears.
She knows the world is forever out of control.
She doesn't force issues.
She simply allows life to take its course,
then harvests the results .

Listen to the Heart of True Love
The true lover gives herself to the present
and delights in what the moment brings.
Her mind holds no illusions.
Her body is without resistance.
Her actions flow from a source deep within.

Listen to the Heart of True Love
The true lover lives in love.
That is what gives her radiance.
Love is deep and dark and empty.
How can it make her radiant?
Because she lets it.

Listen to the Heart of True Love
Like water,
love nourishes all beings.
By seeking the low places,
love shapes and nourishes the world.
Love is not a condition to be pursued or achieved.
It arises naturally, from humble origins.
Because she is truly useful to all beings,
the true lover is respected by all.

Listen to the Heart of True Love
If you accept the world as it is,
love will become luminous within you.
You will return to your primal purpose.
With love,
you become the perfect tool for the will of the Creator.
Everything is possible.

Listen to the Heart of True Love
The world is a sacred place.
It cannot be improved.
If you try, you will ruin it.
It has always been this way.

Listen to the Heart of True Love
To love and be loved is the breath of creation
This rhythm is the cause of all existence.
It comes from and returns to the realm of nothingness.
It has no outer or inner limit.
Love is subtle beyond all understanding.

Listen to the Heart of True Love
Love is your destiny, your origin, your life.
You cannot comprehend it.
You cannot grasp it.
It has no beginning.
It will never end.

Listen to the Heart of True Love
See life as it really is.
Do not try to control it.
Forcing things always leads to disharmony, imbalance, conflict
and finally to disaster.
Premature action creates failure.
Trying to grasp and possess causes the loss.
Trying to dominate events goes against the current of love.
Love sets its own natural course.
There is no strife in true love.
It is always at ease.

Listen to the Heart of True Love
Can you step back from your own mind and observe yourself?
Can you deal with matters that seem important by letting events take their course?
Can you love people and teach them without imposing your hopes and fears upon them?
Can you let your body become as supple and responsive as a new born baby's?
Can you let go of the mind's compulsions and keep to the original reality?
Can you relax in calm attentiveness and allow your vision to see nothing but the light?
With true love you can do all this effortlessly.

Listen to the Heart of True Love
Possessive love is not eternal love.
Eternal love is real.
Experiencing it is reality.
It is the same everywhere.

Listen to the Heart of True Love
When true love becomes present in your life,
you will become genuine.
When it becomes present in your family,
your family will flourish.
When it becomes present in your world,
you will see paradise.
Nothing is more sacred than love.
Nothing!

Listen to the Heart of True Love
Simplicity, Patience and Compassion;
these are your greatest lessons.
Simple in thoughts and actions,
you rest in the source of your being.
Patient with both friends and enemies,
you accept what is.
Compassionate toward yourself and others,
you are at one with your world.
These are also your greatest teachings.

Listen to the Heart of True Love
The world sometimes seems full of difficulty.
Love is the easy way.
Naming is the beginning of separation and the origin of manifestations.
When things are out of balance,
breathe deeply and become serene.
Reside,
once again,
at the center.
Return to love.

Listen to the Heart of True Love
Love speaks for itself.
Teaching without words is the skill of the lover.
She allows things to happen.
Because she lets go of her personal desires,
she is perfectly fulfilled.
The lover is respected,
because she is content.

Listen to the Heart of True Love
The skillful lover simply allows the world to be.
In not doing she expresses herself completely.
Doing nothing,
she leaves nothing undone.
Centering herself in love,
her world transforms itself in its own natural rhythms.
Love never does anything,
yet through it all things are done.

Listen to the Heart of True Love
When you fully open your heart to love,
you become love,
and can express love completely.
Open yourself to love and trust your natural responses.
If you want love to come,
then love.
Everything will fall into place.

Listen to the Heart of True Love
True lovers willingly give up everything for love,
and thus have everything.
Only in being lived by love,
can you be yourself.
You know this is true.

Listen to the Heart of True Love
Love the world.
Love it as yourself.
For in truth it is.
The world is but a robe for the mystery within.
The body is its instrument.
Love sees through these eyes, listens through these ears, dances through this body.
The world is its sacred temple.
Honor it!

Listen to the Heart of True Love
In the absence of desire,
we experience the flow of eternal love.
Caught in desire,
we see only the manifestations.
Eternal love and the manifestations arise from the same source.
The source is nothingness, emptiness within emptiness, beyond all comprehension.
It is the beginning of all understanding.

Listen to the Heart of True Love
Some say that this teaching of love is nonsense, lofty but impractical.
But to those of less judgment,
who patiently look within themselves,
an understanding of the inner meaning shows that this teaching makes perfect sense.
And those who put this teaching into practice,
find that it has roots that run deep.

Listen to the Heart of True Love
The true teacher does not add to.
He takes away.
The teacher demonstrates emptiness and availability
to the entry and action of love.
The teacher empties the mind,
weakens ambition and creates confusion.
The teacher undoes people
and helps them to lose both their hopes and fears.
The teacher creates the space for love to enter.

So Enter!

posted in Behold Beauty - 0 replies

necessary?

Sakari — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 17:19:10 GMT

Is beauty a necessity? Clearly it's not necessary for physical nourishment.......but I find the experience of beauty very soul-nourishing, and according to my acupuncturist there's no true separation between the physical body and the spirit (an idea that's still up for debate, in my mind, as I can't see how it could be proved or disproved--my favorite kind of stuff to think about!), so......

Can we live without beauty?
Do we, perhaps, change our perception of beauty in order to adapt to surroundings we don't initially find beautiful?
Did I, just possibly, not have enough coffee this morning--or too much?
;-)

posted in Behold Beauty - 5 replies

Beauty is...

lori — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 22:59:05 GMT

a human being, stepping out of the prison of beliefs handed them at birth and creating their own wings, the ability to be true to all that they feel and know from their own being.

posted in Behold Beauty - 1 reply

Quantity or quality?

jmparker — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 10:57:08 GMT

I just realized that in Turkish, to say something is very beautiful, you use the same qualifier you use to make something plural.
So "your apartment is very beautiful" literally translates to "your apartment has a lot of beauties."
That is all.

posted in Behold Beauty - 2 replies

Beauty in my Ears

EM3 — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 18:16:37 GMT

I keep mentioning this song because everytime I hear it, I am struck by how beautifully simple, or simply beautiful, the idea is and the words are.

"We Got Us", performed by the Muppets.

I know, there are songs that touch the sublime extremities of the human condition, performed by brilliant vocalist divas, but every time I hear this song, it becomes a really happy, very beautiful moment. Simple, astonishing, and beautiful.

These are the lyrics, but the full effect really is best when you hear the recording: http://www.lyricsdownload.com/muppets-we-got-us-lyrics.html

posted in Behold Beauty - 5 replies

Okay

ali-cat — Sat, 15 Apr 2006 16:35:19 GMT

l've been all distracted by a couple of evil, evil tribes (good evil) and now, all of a sudden, when l'm wanting to come *finally* check this one out, it's showing up N/A. ls it over? Done? Finito?

Phooey. Dollar short, day (or forty) late.

posted in Behold Beauty - 13 replies

Haskovo, Bulgaria

jmparker — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 06:40:01 GMT

In June, some kind of flowery trees bloom EVERYWHERE and the whole city smells like the kind of soft, boring flowery perfume your grandmother would wear. You walk around breathing perfume.

posted in Behold Beauty - 0 replies

Beauty in a dream

EM3 — Wed, 31 May 2006 17:16:44 GMT

Two nights ago, I dreamt I was in Australia, visiting a friend. She lived in a house that was made from many tents that had been erected over a period of time. The night was bright with a full moon and a wind had kicked up. All the lights were off as I wandered from room to room, and the moonlight came in through various slits and holes, and even shined through the single-layer spots.

She lived in the desert, away from most city things, and in this silvery-lighted space, the only real sound was the wind flapping at the heavy canvas of the various tent pieces. The rippling of the roof canvas, the slapping of fabric against fabric, and the bucking of the structure during the occasional gust.

I just stood there, listening to this gruff chorus all around me, the singing of the canvas in the wind, and thought it must be one of the most beautiful things I'd ever heard.

posted in Behold Beauty - 7 replies

Unexpected Beauty

EM3 — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 01:13:11 GMT

How have you found Beauty in a place where you did not expect it, or where it would seem counterintuitive to find Beauty?

posted in Behold Beauty - 33 replies

Bird of peace

sharkgoddess — Mon, 10 Apr 2006 18:04:19 GMT

One of the unexpected joys of my new home is that there is a little dove who comes to my feeder every day. He's definitely not a native bird, probably a lost pet. He'll let me get quite close but won't let me handle him. Maybe he's been on his own for awhile - I'm not sure. He seems awfully familiar with people, though, and not too afraid.

He's such a beautiful little bird, all cinnamon-colored with flecks of black and grey and cream. I love the early mornings when it's quiet in the house and I can go spend a few minutes out on the deck with him in companionable silence.

posted in Behold Beauty - 0 replies

...is beautiful

lori — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 05:36:09 GMT

Ok, anyone who reads Edwards blog knows this is out and out theft but here goes...

The rule is whatever you post has to end in is/are beautiful.

For example,

Desert mornings are beautiful.

posted in Behold Beauty - 42 replies

first memory

jmparker — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 05:42:50 GMT

What's your first memory of a visual image?
The first thing you remember seeing?
(doesn't have to be beautiful)

posted in Behold Beauty - 5 replies

When are you most vulnerable to beauty?

battlestarsarcastica — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 00:00:23 GMT

It seems as though beauty impacts me the most when I'm full of joy or full of sorrow. I tend to miss things in between and need to be shaken up by something extraordinary to truly appreciate all the beauty that surrounds me.

It's easy to find beauty in joy. One tends to beget the other.

But beauty in sorrow interests me more, it's that much more stark in contrast and that much more valued. Tell me a tale of when all seemed lost and a thing of beauty crept in to remind you that you still had so much more.

Forgive the florid prose, I'm in my melodramatic post-breakup brooding phase. But still, I think it's a good discussion topic.

posted in Behold Beauty - 12 replies

the warmth of a lover's skin

supdegrave — Mon, 06 Mar 2006 15:49:10 GMT

waking next to a lover, skin to skin
gentle kisses on the back of the neck
consciousness trickling in through a loving embrace
mmmmm

posted in Behold Beauty - 10 replies

Beauty in time

EM3 — Thu, 16 Feb 2006 18:34:46 GMT

Wolf writes in another thread: "Therefore beauty is likely a transient thing. "

Which reminded me.

Beauty has a temporal component. Something can be unremarkable until March 17, 1976. Then, it is suddenly seen as beautiful, until January 26, 1978, at which point it becomes hackneyed. (for example, Wyland paintings)

Beauty includes a chunk of time. Something can be beautiful, then it's not anymore, then it is again, but for different reasons.

What does this say about Beauty as an assignment?

posted in Behold Beauty - 24 replies

The Beautiful simplicity of terror

EM3 — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 05:43:46 GMT

I've been exploring terror over the past couple of years, reading some of the works of H. P. Lovecraft (well, I'm sorta' OBLIGATED to) and of course, I blatantly ripped off Paige's icon for the shark picture and noticed Kitty's picture of a black widow. (I used to catch black widows as a kid and have experienced a bite -- fortunately only a medium dose)

I have been terrified in my past. In those moments, there was a peculiar clarity in my perceptions, a sense of everything being clockwork perfect, beautiful, crystalline, pure. I can agree with the oft-repeated stories of how time seems to stop. In that moment, that pause, even the motes of dust in the air seem exquisitely, painfully, startlingly real.

Have you experienced this sort of beauty before? How did that happen? What are your stories?

posted in Behold Beauty - 29 replies

beautycheck

supdegrave — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 20:20:26 GMT

a research project in Rostock and Regensburg, Germany has recently released its report on what makes for a beautiful face.

http://www.beautycheck.de/english

if it can be quantified thusly, perhaps beauty is objective after all?

posted in Behold Beauty - 4 replies

Necessary requirements?

EM3 — Sun, 12 Feb 2006 21:32:44 GMT

What is required for "Beauty"? Can something be beautiful without some other similar object against which it can be compared?

posted in Behold Beauty - 25 replies

TRUE Beauty

EM3 — Thu, 16 Feb 2006 17:40:54 GMT

In a different hread, debs writes "Can one die from experiencing beauty in it's true naked form?"

The phrase "true naked form" struck me (as it is wont to do).

Is Beauty that we perceive genuine?

In other words, can there be such a thing as false Beauty? If it's not Beautiful because we see it is only gold paint on dogshit, then it is simply not beautiful anymore.

There is no "false" beauty.

What do you think?

posted in Behold Beauty - 9 replies

What is the sense of Beauty

EM3 — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 22:28:13 GMT

Can we SMELL something that we describe as beautiful?
Can we HEAR something that we describe as beautiful?
Can we TASTE something that we describe as beautiful?
Can we SEE something that we describe as beautiful?
Can we FEEL something that we describe as beautiful?

"See" seems to be a given. I'm not sure yet about "hear". A symphony can be beautiful, but is the symphony beautiful or the imagery it evokes beautiful?

What senses would we consider are direct "triggers" of the perception of beauty? Sight, but the rest? I'm doubtful.

So, Beauty is maybe something that is unique to vision? Beauty comes through the eyes, or the eyes of the mind?

posted in Behold Beauty - 8 replies

Beauty defined.

debs — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 16:30:46 GMT

The quality or aggregate of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit.

~ Merriam Webster Dictionary

posted in Behold Beauty - 1 reply

The power of beauty

EM3 — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 17:08:40 GMT

Anyone read this:?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061097942/qid=1139850334/sr=1-9/ref=sr_1_9/104-7479150-1032762?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

Our Looks, Our Lives: Sex, Beauty, Power, and the Need to Be Seen by Nancy Friday

Friday examines the power of beauty through her own eyes, from growing up, to exploring her own first attempts at sexuality, through a divorce, and on into the rest of her life. Although there are a few times she seems to repeat bits and pieces of the basic message, I was able to read it through quite well.

Anyone else read it?

posted in Behold Beauty - 1 reply

Greetings!

EM3 — Sun, 12 Feb 2006 05:45:28 GMT

Hello!

Well, it was a strange conversation with JM, and it ended up here. I thought the Beauty tribe was too cool and had to much potential to just lose, so he slid it my way. I'm grateful. Thank you, JM. I hope you stick around and I hope you enjoy how things shift and change.

I don't think we've been properly introduced, so this may serve, I suppose, as well as any.

"Beauty" is a force, no doubt about it. We crave it in ourselves and we seek it out in others. Standards of beauty may change or may not, but there is still something marvelous about the word, about the idea. I've uploaded a bunch of pictures, just as a sort of springboard for discussion.

Explorations and discussions of beauty touch on powerful nerves in many of us and obviously it's not only a subjective topic, but a deeply personal -- almost intimate -- thing. I have been thinking a lot lately about beauty and how it shapes our thoughts and perceptions and I would not be surprised to find that everyone here has many things to also say about it.

I look forward to learning! 8)

posted in Behold Beauty - 9 replies

when you're asking

jmparker — Thu, 25 Aug 2005 19:16:25 GMT

I had an idea in the metro the other day.
It was that the most beautiful people aren't the ones who know they're beautiful.
They're the ones who seem to be asking if they are.

posted in Behold Beauty - 1 reply