Diamond Absolutes

What is beauty? Something that we appreciate, yearn for, and love, is beautiful. Beauty is, of course, subjective. There is no equitable criteria to measure this quality. Or measure it at all, for that matter. How do we quantify beauty, then?

If we consider artwork, beauty is often associated with the smoothness through which the colours blend together, complementing and contrasting one another to create visual manifestation of the artist’s thoughts. If we consider beauty in terms of interpersonal relationships, it could be attributed to how someone affects us emotionally. The issue here is that in each circumstance, beauty can take on a different benchmark. Beauty doesn’t necessarily have to be physical. Can we come up with a more generalized way of assessing the beauty of something?

A beautiful thing is something that one desires to possess. This desire can be birthed due to an infinite number of reasons, but it is present. The actions and thoughts of an individual are fully directed towards such a thing. It is, therefore, puzzling, that people are often left unsatisfied despite obtaining the thing their heart so desired. It is a mystery that remains unsolved, a mystery of how we can love and desire something so much, yet have it only be so temporary.

The reason for this is the underlying assumption that they now have possession of it forever, that it will last for eternity, like a diamond, absolute. Once we obtain something, we tend to forget about why we wanted it in the first place, eventually discarding the item. We forget why possessing it mattered, why we desired it. Only when we lose it is when we realize its significance.

Beauty, therefore, is borne out of ephemerality. What is with you for but a fleeting moment is the only thing you can truly appreciate.

Nobody likes change. We want things to stay the way they are, particularly when they are good. We want this shining aspect of our lives to be present for aeons, resisting the tide of time, never fading away. There are times in life, however, when the situation changes. Everything spins out of your control. You feel your grasp on your life slipping away, about to freefall. These are the times when you fight to regain control, to take back what was once yours. You want things to go back to how they were. But, what falls, is fallen.

This does not necessarily entail that you can never regain what you once had. Your connection with something, or someone, is, in most cases, transient. People will enter and exit your life, occasions will come and go, possessions will be found and lost. The thought of having something forever is simply the state of being in denial regarding its fleeting nature. We delude ourselves by reassuring our subconscious that everything will work out. We paint a beautiful picture. We lie to ourselves. A beautiful lie.

Human tendency dictates that we tend to hold on to things for too long. We believe that what we have should stay with us forever. I disagree. Things are only worth having because they are temporary, not in spite of. Perennial possession diminishes the sentimental and practical value of something or someone.

One of the most basic concepts in economics is the law of diminishing marginal utility. It states that as the available supply increases, the marginal utility — which, for the purposes of this metaphor, can be equated to the intrinsic “value” of the item — decreases. As something becomes more accessible to us, we ascribe less meaning to it. This may range from something extremely trivial, such as WiFi access, to essential necessities for survival, like food. This fundamental principle is eerily apt for this scenario.

As a collective, we tend to cling to the past, to what we consider to be ideal, and resist change. Admittedly, I have been guilty of the same. I often find myself dwelling in fear, overthinking, over-planning important moments in life. Sometimes, you just have to take a leap of faith. Start running, and jump into the unknown, believing that you can face anything that comes in your way.

There is a Hindi movie I particularly love, titled Kal Ho Naa Ho, that loosely translates in English to “Tomorrow May Not Be.” The protagonist, Aman, who suffers from chronic heart failure, is about to die soon. Thus, he uses the aforementioned motto as a philosophy to live out the rest of his days, and ascribes the same philosophy in those around him, compelling them to live life to its fullest instead of ruing over the past.

Permanence is a pipe dream. Make your life beautiful by letting go of the past, and diving into the unknown. Who knows what tomorrow may bring?

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