Description
Throughout the book we discuss beauty as the order of coherence. Order means arrangement. Coherence means connected, consistent, and harmonious. We can define beauty as follows: Beauty is the connection of parts arranged in a harmoniously consistent way.
INTRODUCTION
This book is an exploration of coherence.
Beauty has long been treated as a surface phenomenon — something to be tasted, measured, expressed. But this book does not explore beauty as an object of perception. It explores beauty through coherence.
The approach taken here is simple but radical.
We do not ask: what is beautiful?
We ask: what makes perception incoherent?
For when perception is coherent, beauty reveals itself as the order of that coherence — Beauty is the order of coherence.
Coherence can exist through thought, perception, behaviour, and society. And, when it does, beauty is revealed.
Incoherence can exist through thought, perception, behaviour, and society too. And, when it does, beauty is concealed.
Coherence and incoherence can coexist. It is possible for the order of coherence to relate to the disorder of incoherence.
Example:
Perception becomes incoherent through fragmentation — such as self-centred desires that oppose the well-being of others and the world. While the fragmentation is incoherent and disorderly, awareness can embrace that fragmentation to establish an order in perception at a deeper level — the whole sees the fragments.
The order in the coherence of awareness embraces the disorder of the incoherence in thought.
The writings that follow are derived from direct observations of the mind.
The book begins by discussing the different types of coherence beauty may reveal itself through, and culminates by uncovering beauty in its most fundamental form.
The book is written to be concise, simple and clear — to value the readers time.
In this spirit, the influence of Jiddu Krishnamurti and David Bohm is present throughout. But this is not their book. There are no echoes, only the action of insight that listening makes possible. Krishnamurti’s radical negation of the observer — and Bohm’s vision of coherent perception — are not explained here. They are lived through the rhythm of the reflections.
STRUCTURE OF THE INQUIRY
Chapter 1 — The Order of Coherence
Order means arrangement. Coherence means connected, consistent, and harmonious. Beauty is the connection of parts arranged in a harmoniously consistent way.
Chapter 2 — The Coherence of Pure Perception
When thought is silent, the mind is pure perception. In that silence, there is no fragmentation, and coherence reveals itself as the natural order of perception.
Chapter 3 — The Coherence of Thought
Thought enters perception in the form of meaning. When the meaning is incoherent with perception, thought distorts perception. When the meaning is coherent with perception, thought extends perception.
Chapter 4 — The Coherence of Insight
Insight is a perception into our conditioning. The perception transforms our conditioning in a coherent way. The transformation is immediate, total, and irreversible.
Chapter 5 — The Coherence Between Thought and Perception
Perception is shaped by thought. When thought comprehends its interference, it ceases to distort perception and coherence between thought and perception is restored.
Chapter 6 — The Coherence of Sensitivity
True sensitivity is not emotion — it is the ability to perceive subtlety. The ability to perceive subtlety is a form of coherence.
Chapter 7 — The Coherence of Behaviour
When the mind acts without seeking approval, its movement aligns with the order of nature. In that authenticity, behaviour becomes coherent.
Chapter 8 — The Corruption of Beauty
Beauty is incorruptible, but the idea of what beauty is has been corrupted by society — society bombards individuals with false notions of beauty. A coherent mind is resilient to these false notions of beauty.
Chapter 9 — The Desire for Beauty
When beauty is believed to lie outside of ourselves, desire arises to possess it. Desire fragments the mind — incoherence is produced, and beauty is concealed.
Chapter 10 — Beauty Through Creation
Beauty can arise through what we create — music, art. To act with beauty, thoughts about the creator must be absent. When thought reflects on itself, beauty fades.
Chapter 11 — Beauty is
Awareness, stillness, and silence are one — they are profoundly coherent. They are the substance perception is formed from. When perception is incoherent, its substantive elements remain coherent — there is always the presence of coherence in incoherence.
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