Question No. 3044 31 August 2022 Official answer by Master Ali Saei (Abdullah Meshkat) verified Content level: Intermediate

What Are the Defining Features of Beauty?

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Dear questioner, Master Ali Saei

Tracking code: #Q-3044

What are the defining features of beauty? (Setting aside notions of good and evil and their application to attributes.)

Subject category: Theology and Creed Theology and creed

The essence and first answer at a glance (60-word summary)

Beauty itself is the sole criterion of beauty: an objective, external reality created by God. Beauty is not judged by reference to specific characteristics; rather, those features and characteristics are signs that reveal it. Beauty is bound up with the soul and inner reality of things, and the disclosure of that inner reality is beauty made manifest. The faculty of reason plays a role in recognising it.

Answer by Master Ali Saei (Abdullah Meshkat)

Teacher and researcher in the intellectual tradition of wisdom and the Ahl al-Bayt | Soroush Bamdadān Cultural Center

The only true measure of beauty is beauty itself. Beauty is an objective, external reality—an entity created by God. It is not assessed by reference to particular features; rather, those features are merely signs that point to beauty and help us recognize it.

Beauty can be found. To reach it, we must be skilled readers of the map. For that, the human faculty of reason must be in sound condition; otherwise, we will go astray in recognizing beauty and reading its map.

Beauty is inherent in every created thing; it is woven into the life and inner reality of things. When that inner reality comes to light, its manifestation is beauty.

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What Are the Defining Features of Beauty?

The essence and first answer at a glance (60-word summary)

Answer by Master Ali Saei (Abdullah Meshkat)

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