“It has become the habit of our times to mistake glamour for beauty. This concern is expressed trenchantly by Robert C.Morgan: “Beauty is not glamour. Most of what the media…the fashion world…Hollywood…the art world has to offer is glamour. Glamour, like the art world itself, is a highly fickle and commercially driven enterprise that contributes to..the “humdrum.” It appears and disappears…No one ever catches up to glamour.” …Glamour too has but a single flicker. In contrast, the Beautiful offers us an invitation to order, coherence and unity. When these needs are met, the soul feels at home in the world.”  – John O’Donohue, P. 5, Beauty, The Invisible Embrace.

“ The human soul is hungry for beauty; we seek it everywhere – in landscape, music, art, clothes, furniture, gardening, companionship, love, religion and in ourselves. No one would desire not to be beautiful. When we experience the Beautiful, there is a sense of homecoming. Some of our most wonderful memories are of beautiful places where we felt immediately at home. We feel most alive in the presence of the Beautiful for it meets the needs of our soul. “ – John O’Donohue, P. 2,  Beauty, The Invisible Embrace. 

“Beauty is the illumination of your soul.” -John O’Donohue, Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom

 John O’Donohue talks a lot about how beauty brightens what is around us, connects us to all and wakes up the soul to make us feel at home in the world. What an elevating perspective on beauty, and a profound case for why it matters.