The Power of Beauty

                                             Nick Baylis

Beauty is essentially a form of energy, something that radiates from a fine example of absolutely anything, whether a delightful taste or smell, or a gorgeous sight. This energy is in effect a form of information, nature’s bar code telling us how healthy that attitude is, because health-bringing things increase the likelihood that we and our genes will survive.

Harvard phychologist Nancy Etcoff observes that, with this vital equation very much in mind, our brains behave like a highly sensitive radar constantly hunting a signal. If we’re shown the photograph of a face, it takes us less than a fifth of a second ot make a judement of its beauty.

Much of the language of this energy is hard-wired and universal. Even three month-old babies have been shown to prefer gazing at conventionally beautiful face, and adults from diverse ethnic cultures can all agree on who is exactly how good-looking in other populations.

Experimental studies have also established that the active ingredients include symetry, order, proportion and balance. Since beauty is so powerful and important, we can be thankful that there are many ways to be beautiful, and very many sources. And though we most readily think of experiencing that enery through our five physical senses of sight, sound, taste, touch and smell, other dimensions are even more potent. For example, there is movement—which can be the internal, kinaesthetic sense of our own bodies in dance or sport; or the thrill of seeing an art or craft well performed. Consider, too, how ideas,insights, and solutions, can be deemed beautiful. Among scientists. Einstein’s Theory of Relativity is unanimously praised for its extraordinary beauty.

Yele’s David Gelernter, a professor of computer science, has argued convincingly that “lust for beauty” has driven the great technological discoveries. It is no accient. He would claim, that Mitchell’s Spitfire, with its Merlin engines and distinctive wings, could help win a war shile also seeming wonderful to the eye and ear.

And just as sth plan for a bank robbery, a bridge, or a computer program can all work beautifully, so can a whole personality. We know from the studies of many lifetimes that humnans find a balance of loving and confidence and kindness and humour to be highly atractive and very healthy qualities.

Yet, the greatest source of heauty, for the sheer intensity and volume of positive emotion it brings to our lives, is the beautiful relationship—the one in which we can thrive and flourish and grow beyond ourselves. This fertile bond can exist between two living things, or a person and a place, or a person and a skill, and the world becomes only more beautiful the more deeply we understand it. Therefore, we will find profound happiness in narturing and appreciating diverse beauties in whatever ways we can.

                    美的力量

           尼克·贝里斯 （编译：王科军）

美实质是一种能量，任何美好事物都能产生该能量，比如美食、香气和美景，实际上，这种能量就是一种信息，好似自然界的“条形码”，告诉我们事物的健康指数，正是这些能促进健康的事物让我们子孙后代继承着我们的基因生生不息。

哈佛心理学家南希·艾特考夫指出，因为我们非常清楚上述的重要性，我们的大脑就像一个高度灵敏的雷达在不断地搜索着美的信号。比如说吧，把一张人物照片放在我们眼前，我们会在1/5秒的时间内对它作出美丑的判断。

对这种能量的认识是人类普遍具备的先天特质，甚至3个月大的婴儿也表现出对传统意义美的青睐。不同种族的成年人在判断其他各民族人的容貌美却能达成共识。

研究表明，对称，有序，比例和平衡是影响众判断美的重要因素。美的力量是巨大而不可忽视的，我们应感谢美丽有那么多的表达方式，美源是那么丰富多彩。说到美，也许我们很容易想到通过视觉、听觉、味觉、触觉和嗅觉这5种感官体验它的能量，但其实还有其他更为有效的途径。比如：“动觉”——它可能是我们跳舞或运动时身体内部的肌肉产生的动感（美），也可能是看到一件精湛的艺术品或工艺品时兴奋激动不已。再想想我们又有多少可以被称为“漂亮”的想法、见解和解决方案吧，科学家们不就对爱因斯坦的“相对论”所蕴含的非凡之美给予了高度赞赏吗？

耶鲁大学计算机科学教授大卫·格伦特尔用力证说明了“对美的强烈渴望”成就了他系列伟大的科技成就。他指出，米切尔设计的喷火式战斗机正是凭借其采用的马林引擎和独特的机翼，在取得战斗胜利的同时还能给人带来视觉和听觉的享受。

正如我们可以说一起银行抢劫案、一座桥梁或是计算机程序的设计得“漂亮”，人的整体人格也可称“漂亮”的。从对许多人的生平研究中发现，爱心、自信、友善和幽默是非常健康的品质，拥有这些品质的人是极具魅力的。

然而，就其带给我们的美好感觉的度和量而言，美的最主要来源是我们与外界的美好关系，它给我们的生活带来情感陶冶——让我们茁壮成长，超越自我。这有利而和谐的关系可以在于事物之间，人和某地间，或是人与某种技能间。当我们能更好地认识这些关系时，世界就会变得更加美丽。因此，我们在培育和鉴赏美的同时，也会得到无穷的快乐。