Why Do Most Humans Seek Beauty?

Laura Tambre Bryant
James Johnson
One Love: Marley, Language, and Learning Reflection 3
04/17/2013
Why do Most Humans Seek Beauty?
Why most humans seek beauty is as interesting as it is deep. In order to contemplate why most humans seek beauty, I had to look at what is “beauty”. To ask what is beauty, I had to look where beauty can be found. After reflecting on this very question, I found in my thinking that beauty could be found in every single thing that exists, by at least someone. Not only on a physical plane but also on a non-physical plane. Could I be so bold as to say that beauty is what people refer to as God, or all that is, and that people seek God or “beauty” to find meaning or verification of their very existence?
Although many can agree on certain things as being beautiful, beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder. If what is beautiful to one may not be beautiful to another then beauty can be described as an opinion. One can have an opinion and another can agree, however, both are opinion. So what is beauty? How and why do humans seek beauty? If I can easily come to a conclusion that beauty is as individual as we are human. Then I had to ask myself how do we experience beauty. Is it experienced through our sense of sight? We experience a beach, or mountain as being a beautiful thing we are looking at. Yet the answer is not so simple. Why is that beach or mountain beautiful? What about the things that happen to us that can be just as beautiful? I think that when we experience beauty, we experience beauty through all of our senses based on the meaning we put behind our thinking of its beauty. Does this mean that people seek out that which is meaningful to them and find that beautiful?
In the book “Catch a Fire”, a biography on the life of Bob Marley by Timothy White, I found examples of my thinking. After Bob Marley recorded and released his first song, he spent most of his wages playing his song for three weeks in a local jukebox until the shopkeeper removed the song because he was sick of listening to it. Bob thought hearing his music on the jukebox was beautiful. The shopkeeper did not see or feel the beauty Bob Marley felt. I can relate to both sides of this coin. I have too experienced the beauty in creating music and the thrill of listening to my music on the radio. It was truly a beautiful thing to me because I had reached a goal and that made me feel good. On the other hand, having been in the music business, I have been handed many a demo tape, which is a sample of someone’s music. I can tell you first hand that I felt like that shopkeeper. I did not see the beauty or feel the same excitement as the musician. To tell you the truth, sometimes it was pretty painful to listen to these. Then I had to decide how I was going to break the news to the musician that I didn’t share the beauty in his music. I am sure many did not share the beauty I saw in my own music either.
Another example from “Catch a Fire” is Bob Marley’s mother Cadella. She saw Bob Marley her child, as beautiful. I think that every mother in the world can relate to seeing her children as beautiful. I can’t think of a more beautiful thing than my children. Mother’s see the beauty in their children because they love them unconditionally. Even after the trials and tribulations of raising your children, the relationship may change but the bond does not. No matter what, that beauty never fades. When you have a child it is like falling in love like never before. So do we seek beauty to fall in love and the feeling we get from that connection?
We can see that people do seek out beauty in connection with someone or something. One of the most beautiful things in life is to see someone that is connected to their passion, whatever that passion is. This beautiful connection produces the height of one’s contribution to the world through the action of their love of something and thereby connecting or identifying with others that share the same passion or a “lover” of their works. People seek beauty and connect with one another. Connection is a basic human need of all people, weather it is the connection with another human being, an art piece, a musical composition, a message, themselves. The list is endless on the how, why, and what people find a connection to.
The most complete explanation of why humans seek beauty could be found in the meaning we put behind something taken in by the eye or mind, the feeling we get by putting a meaning in a thought or experience that feels good, a language that speaks to our soul that we can identify with that can produce life-transforming pleasure. We humans seek beauty because it gives us pleasure and puts us in a state of bliss. Seeking beauty is the road to happiness.