BEAUTY WILL SAVE THE WORLD

“Beauty will save the world”

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Fyodor Dostoevsky is one of the most famous writers of all time. Born in Russia in 1821, in his lifetime he wrote books including “Crime and Punishment”, “The Idiot”, “White Nights”, and “The Brothers Karamazov” which have gone down as some of the greatest books ever written.

In “The Idiot” there is a short sentence attributed to the main character that reads “Beauty will save the world.” It feels like an empty phrase that is devoid of meaning, however it is one of the more profound ideas.

Let’s start from the beginning. What is beauty? Beauty comes in all shapes and sizes. You can find beauty in works of art, business, people, cooking, music, and more. Beauty is divine. Beauty has the power to capture our imagination. To show us things that seem too perfect for human creation. When you stare down the hallway at the Statue of David you are captivated by the size and perfection of that work of art, it feels supernatural, it does seem possible that a human could have created that. When we experience beauty it pushes our boundary of what we believe is possible.

So how can beauty save the world?

Before we answer that we should answer an even more fundamental question. Who saves the world? People. People save the world. Average, ordinary people like us who decide to be great. Who decide that they want to be exceptional, and will overcome any obstacle in their path to become exceptional. Inspired people change the world.

When we see the amazing beautiful things that people who are just like us created it inspires us to be better. To strive. To make the world a better place by improving ourselves.

Create beautiful things, it will make the world a better place.