Under your feet and over our heads, we’re the way the universe knows beauty. We spend our lives searching for it. We get lost in its infinite forms, it’s subtle appearance and disappearance. Forever fluid, infinitely mutable, eternally now, beauty isn’t perfect or complete, it’s an affirmation of existence inseparable from us. Colour, texture, form, and motion. Touch, sound, feeling, and emotion. This is how we interact with nature. Life is what happens when the universe begins to look at itself. It’s the universe’s tendency towards self-organisation into reflective patterns. What you feel, what you believe, and what you experience, are all the same thing. What do you feel when you look into the abyss of a baby’s eyes? What do you believe when you look up at the infinity of space? Why does the little purple flower bloom with no guarantee of ever being seen? Let the beginning be your chance to know beauty and, through it, experience love, the motivating force behind cooperation, empathy, and sacrifice. This is human nature, our ability to self-organise into large, trusting communities. Go for a walk in the wilderness; go further than you planned, deeper than you expected. Quiet your mind as you let names fall away; watch the flight of a bird, see the pattern on a butterfly’s wing, imagine the landscape sensing you. What does the wind feel when it touches your face? Does the mist notice your shadow passing through it as you walk? Is the long grass reaching out for you or you for it? Use beauty as your reference and guide. Do this alone, in silence; receive what returns and know that was everything. This is our human experience in the wild. We don’t need beauty to survive, but we need love to thrive, and, if you follow beauty, you’ll find it. A random act of kindness, a puppy licking your face, the love of a mother, first rain falling on a parched riverbed. You’re everything, all of this, all at once; it’s terrifying. Quietly afraid, more alive than ever, you hold your breath. Falling in love, knowing beauty, makes you nervous because you might lose it and never experience it again. “Life’s beautiful”, I can’t describe why beyond saying it. Photo: @jameskydd