When you think of the word beauty, what images come to mind?  For some, the typical response may be a captivating sunset, or breathtaking natural landscape.  Others may think of their favourite work of art or piece of music, perhaps an enchanting book or captivating film.  And yet others may find beauty in the squeeze of a baby’s hand, or the company of a beloved pet.  Of all the things we cherish in our society, this experience of beauty is perhaps one of the most coveted and valued.  And while we may not all agree on the particular form that this beauty takes, the experience of beauty within us is the same.  Joy, expansiveness and a sense of deep peace and serenity are just some of the responses we have when we appreciate and are in touch with the beautiful.

So, when A Course in Miracles teaches us that the world and everything in it is an illusion, we can be disheartened when we realise that this also applies to those things we find beautiful.  This can lead us to believe that, as Course students, we are being asked to give up these things, and if we do find ourselves enjoying them then we must not be doing the practice right.  If this sounds like you, you are not alone.  This is a common perception students often face at one stage or another, and the good news is that it is a misperception.  The Course is in no way asking us to deny or give up the enjoyment of beauty in our lives.  In fact, as you deepen your work with the Course, the more likely it is that your experiences of beauty will actually increase.  This is because, as you apply its principles more and more, the blocks that are covering over your true reality are gradually dissolved, leading to a greater experience of your real Self.  This Self is one of beauty.

When it comes to beauty, there is a right-minded way of looking at it, and a wrong-minded one.  Used in a right-minded way, the things you find beautiful in the world can actually assist you in awakening from the illusion while still allowing you to appreciate and enjoy those experiences at the same time.  To learn how this works, we need to remember one of the fundamental principles the Course teaches – that the things we see out in the world are not out there at all, but are all within the mind.  Ideas leave not their source (W-132.5:3).

Just like someone who is having a dream at night, the images we are seeing are still in the mind of the dreamer.  And, like these dreams, these images are symbolic. They are pictorial representations of your inner state.  As the Course puts it – the world you see is the witness to your state of mind, the outside picture of an inward condition (T-21.in.1:5).  If you are perceiving something in the world as beautiful, that image is symbolic of the beauty that is within you.  It is symbolic of your inward condition.  All you are really doing is getting in touch with this inner beauty that is the truth of who you are.  In truth, there is nothing but beauty in you.

We have to be careful to remember to keep this principle of ideas leave not their source in the back of our mind, or we risk falling into the trap of seeing beauty through the ego’s wrong-minded perspective.  The ego tells us that the beauty we are seeing actually is outside of us, in some form within the world.  When we make this mistake of thinking beauty is inherent in certain objects, places or experiences, the result is we then become dependent on having or experiencing these outer things in order to feel this beauty.  This leads us to seek more of these outside experiences and images, thinking they are the cause of our happiness.  We seek more beautiful sunsets and less overcast ones, more beautiful gardens and less overgrown ones, and more beautiful locations over less pleasing ones, not realising that they are all really the same.  Not only are they all equally illusory, but they are also all inherently meaningless.  In and of themselves they don’t mean anything.  It is only our perception of them that gives them the meaning they hold for us, and this perception comes from inside, not without.  This means we are capable of looking on anything outside of us and perceiving beauty, no matter if it’s a beautiful garden or an overgrown one, because the beauty is not in the garden – it’s in us, and it’s always accessible.

The key is to learn to take the inner experience of beauty and apply it to any and all situations.  When you can learn to see and feel this beauty in even the ugliest of outer circumstances, then you will truly know that this beauty really is coming from within you.  Let’s try a little exercise.  Think of something you find beautiful that evokes a deep sense of joy and peace within you.  It may be a certain place in nature, listening to a particular piece of music, or even time spent with someone special.  Feel – really feel – that sense of joy, contentment and deep peace that comes over you when you are sitting with this beauty.  Now see if you can replicate this in a situation that you don’t find so inspiring and which you wouldn’t normally consider as beautiful.  It takes work and effort to do, just like everything in the Course does, but when you start to tap into this beauty within you, regardless of the outer circumstance, this is how you will learn the lesson that beauty is not something outside of you. It is all an inside job.

I personally find great beauty in lying in my hammock in the garden, beneath one of the lovely gum trees.  I love the vivid colours of the green leaves, and the noise they make when they rustle in the breeze.  Watching the clouds drift slowly by, listening to the birdsong and the sound of the bush evokes a sense of great beauty in me, and I don’t have to work at it, it comes quite naturally.  But say it’s a rainy day and I can’t lie in the garden.  Instead, I might lie on my couch inside, where there is no beautiful scenery, just the image of a very ordinary ceiling and fan.  The birdsong and rustle of the leaves is replaced by the hum of the fridge and the sound of my kids squabbling.  While not necessarily an unpleasant scene, it definitely doesn’t evoke the same sense of peace and tranquillity within me as being in my hammock in the garden.

But this is where the practice comes in.  This is where I want to try to remember that it is not the scenery that is the cause of this less beautiful experience, but it is how I am perceiving it.  I think I feel less beauty within because I have judged my outer surroundings as less beautiful.  But this is a choice I have made within and has nothing to do with what is without.  I have made the choice for wrong-mindedness over right-mindedness and am seeing through the eyes of the ego, rather than with the vision of the Holy Spirit.  The ego tells me that what I see outside of me determines my inner state.  But If I instead choose to turn to the Holy Spirit’s perception, he will show me that I can lie on the couch inside and experience the exact same peace and beauty as I do in the garden, because the peace and beauty is not out there in the garden.  It is within me.  Because it is in me, I take it with me wherever I go, and in whatever setting I find myself in.  It is accessible to me at any time, I just have to choose it.  Now the practice is to try and remember when I am not choosing for the beauty within me and change my mind to choose with it instead.

It may be helpful to think of any beautiful experiences you have as a reminder – a wakeup call.  You might be having a rather ordinary, dull day, and then along comes something that stops you in your tracks and takes your breath away – an unexpected moment of beauty in an otherwise mundane illusion.  This snaps you out of the dreariness of your everyday life and flips your experience to one of peace and joy.  In this moment you are being reminded of the truth in you.  Take it as a little alarm going off in your mind that says, “yes, I remember. This beauty is who I am”.  And rather than feeling guilty for enjoying a moment of beauty in the illusion, be grateful that this symbol of beauty has shown up in your dream to remind your sleeping mind of the truth of Spirit in you.

So when you find yourself appreciating a beautiful sunset or an inspiring work of art, or even a heavy metal song if that’s your particular thing, don’t feel guilty for enjoying the illusion.  Rather, remember the truth in you that this experience is pointing towards – that you are as pure and holy as you were created, and that light and joy and peace abide in you (W-93.4:1).