Where does beauty begin?

Why do we see, hear, touch…? We now know that the senses capture specific physical or chemical stimuli and convert them into an electrical language that the brain decodes. No sense creates or transmits perceptions.

Evolutionarily, the priority among the senses has shifted from smell and hearing to sight, which has become the dominant sense. Even the bony structure of the face underwent a radical change: the snout became shorter, and the eyes moved forward. Vision developed advanced color perception, and the human brain reorganized its processing areas.

The Senses and Perception

This marvelous machine—which we call the body—on which human life depends, gives us the ability to understand our surroundings, but also to feel and express ourselves through it. External stimuli are processed by the brain, evaluated emotionally, and ultimately linked to meaning and recognition.

In the late 1990s, studies in neuroaesthetics brought philosophy, art, and science into dialogue, making it possible to observe some of these processes using brain imaging techniques. Neurobiologist Semir Zeki has studied the relationship between perception and beauty. His research shows that the experience of beauty involves areas of the brain associated with reward, memory, and emotional processing. 

When Beauty Awakens

We could say that the experience begins when something catches our attention; we try to understand it, and when a connection is made, we feel the pleasure of having found meaning. Each of us assigns a value—consciously or unconsciously—to each of these experiences. 

Beauty is, first and foremost, the result of a judgment. It is true that there are universal components of beauty, linked to certain standards that many people find attractive and that our brains seem to process more easily. For example, admiration for nature has been a common factor throughout history and across cultures.

From this perspective, beauty does not lie solely in the object we are looking at. It also takes place within us. It is an experience in which what we see intersects with our memory, sensibility, and history.

Likewise, what is considered harmonious in one culture may seem strange in another. Beauty, then, does not depend solely on the perfection of a form. There are objective elements that can influence our perception of beauty—symmetry, balance, harmony—but our memory and cultural heritage also play a role. We see things through the lens of who we are.

Zeki has quantitatively measured the neural activity associated with aesthetic and moral judgments and suggests a connection between the two experiences. Our brain can react to the beauty of a work of art, but also to the beauty we recognize in a human gesture. An act of kindness can inspire admiration.

Beauty and Kindness

Beauty, when truly understood, can be a form of care. Cultivating beauty in everyday life, in the spaces we inhabit, or in our own actions is also a way of upholding human dignity. Beauty is not merely what we contemplate, but also what invites us to treat reality and others with love.

In the face of the overwhelming power of beauty—and where words fail to convey what a person feels—the language of art emerges. The way beauty is represented speaks to a particular way of viewing reality. Contemporary art has shown us that beauty can also be found in what is broken, in uncertainty, and in that which initially makes us uncomfortable. Sometimes, beauty lies not in the perfection of things, but in their ability to reveal a truth.

In classical tradition and Christian thought, beauty, goodness, and truth have always been closely linked. But perhaps we should avoid turning that relationship into a rigid formula. Beauty does not consist in seeking a reflection of our own standards, but in learning to look at others until we discover in them a truth we had not yet been able to see. 

A gaze that allows itself to be transformed by beauty can transcend difference without denying it and turn the encounter with the other into a form of recognition. In that movement—from contemplation to encounter—beauty can help us understand who we are and recognize, in the other and in the world, the imprint of their Creator.