Feeding on Beauty | Edited by Gabriele Masserini

A human can live for many days without eating, a few hours without drinking, and a few minutes without breathing. But is that all? Or is there another kind of nourishment that the individual needs? To discover this, we should know what a human being truly is. In some ancient texts, the example of a chariot (the body), pulled by horses (the emotions), led by the charioteer (the mind) is often found. More recently, Gurdjieff “updated” this metaphor using a carriage. Therefore: the mind governs the emotions which move our body… But the one who has the power to decide the direction to go is the master seated inside the carriage.

If we forget to BE that gentleman, we cannot have a full, true, and harmonious existence. The type of nourishment we give him will determine the quality of our emotions, the level of our thoughts, and the health of our body. That gentleman needs BEAUTY, a beauty that is harmony, but also truth, knowledge, and love.

Art, in all of this, can play a fundamental role in refining our impressions and elevating our feelings. It is capable of stimulating our senses, nurturing emotions, enriching the mind, and, above all, it has the power to speak to that part of us which we too often forget, lost in the vortex of daily life. That part is precisely the gentleman sitting in the carriage, representing our truest and most authentic nature. Art, here understood in its broadest sense, whether it be a painting, a dance performance, a poem, or a piece of music, makes little difference, as all these expressions of the human spirit have the capacity to speak a language that leaves us speechless, communicating a beauty so elevated that it is sometimes capable of bordering on perfection. Anyone who has experienced states of profound emotion and a desire for fusion, for instance, by listening to a piece of music or admiring a work of art, knows what I am talking about.