Beauty is...

I find myself in the midst of an ancient debate over the definition of Beauty. Plato opened up the dialog in this way:

"And this is the true discipline of loving or being loved: that a man begin with the beauties of this world and use them as stepping-stones for an unceasing journey to that other beauty, going from one to two and from two to all, and from beautiful creatures to beautiful lives, and from beautiful lives to beautiful truths, and from beautiful truths attaining finally to nothing less than the true knowledge of Beauty itself, and so know at last what Beauty is."

Somewhat later Joseph Addison in the early 18th century said it this way:

"But there is nothing that makes its Way more directly to the soul than Beauty, which
immediately diffuses a secret Satisfaction and Complacency through the Imagination. . . ."

Yet I am quite sure Beauty is a reflection of Nature and of our Soul - Byron understands:

"Are not the mountains, waves, and skies, a part Of me and of my soul, as I of them? "

And, of course, Shelley understands:

"Poetry lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the world. . . ."

So, we have Love, Nature, and Soul...perhaps Beauty is the synthesis of these three. Or, not.

I continue the Search for Beauty. Perhaps I found it today in the miracle of a rainbow...