5.4 How beauty can be quantified  (Page 5/6)

If you’re just jumping from a sight to a feeling (you shouldn’t get a strong feeling when you look at something because it is just something visual) then you don’t have a clear state of mind. Make sure your mind is clear when you look at things in order to get a sense of its true beauty. You won’t be able to take any pleasure looking at something if you are associating it with something else, because the fact is you can take pleasure from looking at anything in life, since it is all visual stimulation. You must have a preconceived notion about how someone that looks like what you are looking at should look to get that false feeling. That false feeling could come from anything, some inner fear you have of the world manifesting itself. A lack of self confidence leading you to believe you are a failure and worthless. That would lead to you think you are ugly,

if you think something, then when you look at it all you have to do is associate that thought with the object you are looking at.

So when you look at something and are appreciating it for its beauty, you should get a sensation, not a feeling. That’s because everything visual is a sensation, not a feeling you get that would result from something psychological, or something deeply psychological. You know what a sensation is compared to a feeling because sensations are shallower things resulting from a different part of your brain. Sensations like touching, if you touch an object it might result in a feeling, like a feeling of a remembrance of a memory of when you were near that object before, but you can focus on the feeling from the physical sensation of touching it, or the physical sensation of seeing it, not thought or feelings that come up from deep inside your own mind which don’t relate to how the thing actually appears or looks. And the feelings those looks or touching it or whatever causes you.

Only if you have an exceptionally strong feeling associated with the object would the feeling override the sensation of looking at it. It’s logical to feel a sensation when looking at something because that is what you’re doing, looking. You’re not thinking about something that might cause a different feeling or any feeling at all, looking at things simply shouldn’t result in feelings, just sensations. Looking and touching and smelling aren’t deep emotions or feelings at all. Well the sensation of looking might cause a feeling of the sensation, but not a feeling of a thought in your head (say that you are ugly). There shouldn’t be any thoughts when you look at something, just your natural, unhindered appreciation of how it looks. I say appreciation because it takes work to look at anything, and that work makes your mind contented by relieving it from boredom.

So it’s clear that if the connection between an image and the sensation of that image is broken, you have a problem. Every image should have a sensation, because that’s what seeing is, it’s a sensation not an emotion. That sensation is just a sensation, and nothing more. The only reason it might be connected (the image) might be connected to an emotion is if the sensation you get when looking at something you have thoughts about, ah that sensation is an ugly sensation, or that sensation is a good sensation, therefore the object must be pretty. You just need to relate the image to a sensation, then the sensation to an emotion or feeling, not the image directly to an emotion. Your intellectual mind is overriding your natural feelings. It is very hard to explain why that is happening.