Now, what is beauty?

Now, what is beauty? This is one of the most fundamental questions, it is not superficial, so don't brush it aside. To understand what beauty is, to have that sense of goodness which comes when the mind and heart are in communion with something lovely without any hindrance so that one feels completely at ease - surely, this has great significance in life; and until we know this response to beauty our lives will be very shallow. One may be surrounded by great beauty, by mountains and fields and rivers, but unless one is alive to it all one might just as well be dead.

I saw this all the time when I was taking people on tours. Especially the Japanese were completely unmoved by where they were in the middle of a rainforest. It was my job to open their eyes and their hearts as much as it was to show them a good time and educate them. The best reward of any tour was when I saw that happen.