“Our situation today shows that beauty demands for itself at least as much courage and decision as do truth and goodness, and she will not allow herself to be separated and banned from her two sisters without taking them along with herself in an act of mysterious vengeance. We can be sure that whoever sneers at her name… can no longer pray and soon will no longer be able to love.”
– Hans Urs Von Balthasar, The Glory of the Lord
Having been drawn to Beauty all my life, this ‘pull’ has in no small way directed me down a path later in my adulthood to begin thinking seriously about it – that is, Beauty’s essence, necessity, and – sad to say – and see – its (increasing) absence in today’s world. And along the journey, it has been my good fortune to encounter great thinkers such as Hans Urs Von Balthasar, Friedrich Schiller, Sir Roger Scruton, D. C. Schindler, Soetsu Yanagi, and Josef Pieper whose written works have been a source of comforting assurance, surprising insight, and deep inspiration to me, not least in validating my love for Beauty but also learning how they see the world. This blog, thus, is an offshoot to such an encountering, which seeks to emulate the viewing of the world ‘with aesthetic eyes’ – albeit in a distinctive style and manner. Therefore, in my so doing may you, dear reader, find much pleasure and (let’s hope:) enrichment, as it has been the case for me in writing and sharing my perspectives with you, that also together we may discover and love Beauty: love Life.
Eugene Lee
Singapore, March 25, 2025
*Home page image and Site icon: Painting by Utagawa Hiroshige: Asakusa Ricefields and Torinomachi Festival, from the Series One Hundred Scenic Spots of Edo
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