Beauty as experience and transcendence

Beauty is often defined only intellectually and with such variety that it often dismissed as an unworkable concept for academic study. This paper takes various definitions as a point of departure to examine beauty experientially. Beauty is taken to be inherent within the world. It is experienced through a depth state of resonance with that which one perceives as beautiful. Beauty is also perceived when we experience truth, justice, perfection, goodness, virtue and wholeness. The perception of beauty is directly related to the perception of these ultimate values. As such, beauty can be understood as the transcendent archetype, the experience of spiritual essence. In understanding beauty as a resonance state directly related to the transcendent, it is possible to see beauty and its place in our lives in a new way. Beauty is not mere decoration or an afterthought to a practical task more important; on the contrary, beauty is central to healthy psychological functioning and to every task that we undertake