When we experience something or someone as beautiful, it creates a cascade of positive emotions and thoughts. Beauty takes us beyond the mundane, helping us to transcend ourselves, spurring the imagination and connecting us more deeply to others. 

Why is transcendence important?

It’s usually pretty easy to connect with the sufferings, deficits, and daily inconveniences we experience in the world. It’s pretty easy to call up something in our immediate psyche that will take us to a place of sadness, frustration, or even anger at its conjuring. Our brains do not struggle to react to the negative. Our negativity bias is actually protective, an intuitive and biological way of protecting and providing for ourselves and others and can even contribute to societal altruism as we are moved by the plight of another.

But in order to thrive in life, we know that the meditations of our heart and mind cannot be solely on our worries. We have to connect to sources of love, hope, and safety—positive emotions—which often requires more intentionality than experiencing negative ones. One of the ways we can do this is through transcendent experiences, which remind us that we are part of something bigger than ourselves and are a way for us to access God’s love and have positive emotional experiences. This can look like reflecting in gratitude, standing in awe of a sunset or another aspect of nature, absorbing the warmth of witnessing an act of kindness, or in the simple, yet profound, embrace of a child or loved one. Awe, joy, compassion, gratitude, love, hope, beauty—all are positive emotions available for us to engage with through transcendence and are a vital part of a thriving life.

What role does beauty play in transcendence?

Experiencing transcendence by engaging with the beauty around us reminds us there is goodness to be had and invites us back to a simpler frame of mind when we felt safe, childlike, and inspired. A world devoid of beauty—of the arts, creativity, dancing, delicious food and the pleasures of the five senses—is a sad world indeed, whether it be lacking in our individual lives or societally. Beauty is so powerful for the human brain that research shows it aids in reducing anxiety and depression. In fact, there is evidence that looking at artwork “increases blood flow to the brain up to 10% — the equivalent of looking at someone you love.”

Transcendence through beauty can happen when we realize that we are loved to such a degree that we have been afforded not just what we need to survive, but endless ways to enjoy our lives—allowing us to feel that we are loved and held. The mere existence of beauty offers evidence that our lives are meant to be more than utilitarian routines—our lives are meant to be savored, and savored with others. Experiencing beauty has inspired creativity throughout the ages, and it’s just plain joyful. Beauty has the power to invoke feelings of connectedness to others and profound contentment.  

Beauty is sometimes overlooked as a way to connect with the transcendent, as other ways like gratitude and love can be more obvious. And because the ugly parts of life can be so loud, we often unintentionally miss the quiet beauty that is all around us, but beauty can act as a salve for our wounds and pains. The value of slowing down to enjoy beauty is not placed at high value in our “hustle” culture, but it might be exactly what we need when feeling overwhelmed and disconnected.

Beauty exists all around us, but it is also within us—we are contributors to the beauty that others see. When we use our creativity (art, music, dance, writing), or our spiritual gifts such as serving others and displaying God’s love, we expand the landscape of beauty that is available for others to interact with on a transcendent level. We are social beings and irrefutably need each other to not only survive, but thrive.

Practice:

Reflect: Have you ever marveled at something beautiful? The depth or meaning of a work of art or work of music? When was the last time you did something for sheer enjoyment and for no other particular purpose?

Engage: Pause for a few minutes and identify something that is beautiful to you. It could be something tangible or it could be conceptual. How does this beauty affect your senses? Do you feel your emotions elevate? Do you smile? Does it lead to other transcendent emotions like awe and wonder or gratitude?

Give: How can you help someone else experience beauty today? Share your own beautiful offerings. In your daily comings and goings, is there someone in your path that could use compassion or a dose of awe? It may end up being a transcendent experience for them!