The ancient philosophers would ask one another, “What is beauty?”  These words were like a starting pistol because as soon as the words were uttered they would be off to the races to describe, define, and delineate beauty.  In time, it has become generally agreed that “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder!”  This has allowed some dust to settle on the field of philosophical battle.

At the risk of raising a another dust storm, nature has taught me that beauty is not so much in the eye of the beholder as it is in the world itself for the attentive human spirit.  The image, at the left, is of two tiny bits of nature that are not generally regarded as beautiful; tree fungus and slugs.  However, there is a beauty about them.  They have a special color and texture that intrigues the attentive eye.  They play a interesting role in the growth and decay of the forest that intrigues the attentive mind.  They each go on about their business, unconcerned about the world around them and thus are intriguing to spirit that constantly engages in intellectual wanderlust.  This beauty is not in the eye of the beholder, but in the creature and object themselves.  They have a humility that whispers of an understated beauty to the attentive spirit.

Humility grows out of the same root word as humus or dirt.  Humus is the very stuff of life, plain and simple.  It is the “ordinary” from which all else grows.  Humus knows who and what it is.  No more!  No Less!  It fact, it is hard to imagine humble humus calling itself proud dirt, any more than an arrogant fungus or pompous slug.  They go on about their way accepting themselves for who and what they are.  Their beauty rises from within them in an understated sense of presence.

Real beauty flows from within.  It is the person within that shines through illuminating our world with their radiance.  Many morality tales  speak of the being who is shunned because of their ugliness.  Yet, they becomes a prince or princess because of the person within.   Often times, such beauty cannot proclaim itself too boldly or draw too much attention to itself.  It must rise out of the humus of life, as a humbly understated beauty, doing what is does without fanfare.

This slug and fungus are part of the majestic cycle of life.  They help break down the forest into the building blocks for the forest that is yet to be.  They are part of the decay that gives rise to new life.  Their color and texture bring the forest floor to life as they go about their quiet work.  They continue their calling unconcerned about things that swirl around them.  They know that their work is too important to the future to be hindered by vain imaginings of disaster or distress.  They have an understated beauty that speaks to the soul who pays attention to the whispers of the understated beauty in our midst!